today

1/1/2022

Some of the words, music, and art that kept me nourished (and sane) in 2021

I'm living with limits this year and am not a paid subscriber to all the newsletters I list here. I hope that changes, soon.

Story Club with George Saunders
“But I also have to admit that this is what I crave from the writers I love. I want to hear how they wrote a particular story. Not so much what they think the story means, but how it actually came about. What I’d really love is a keystroke-capture recreation, that I could watch to see how the thing grew along the way – like one of those fast-motion films of the lifespan of a tree.”
“The Falls”

The Red Hand Files (Nick Cave)
"You will discover that love, radical love, is a kind of supercharged aliveness, and all that is of true value in the world is animated by it. And, yes, heartache awaits love’s end, but you find in time that this too is a gift — this little death — from which you are reborn, time and again." What can you tell me about love

Dense Discovery
"What I was trying to highlight, and what the podcast made a great case for, is that we need more intellectual provocations that prepare us for the inevitable changes to come. Regardless of your views on degrowth, I think most of us can agree that GDP growth is a dismally blunt tool to measure the good life." Issue #168

Austin Kleon
“I used to steal magazines from a store on Genesee Street, in Waukegan, and read them and then steal them back on the racks again. That way I took the print off with my eyeballs and stayed honest. I didn’t want to be a permanent thief, and I was very careful to wash my hands before I read them.” —Ray Bradbury Lifted Type Collages

From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
"The way we think of abundance in the United States has nothing to do with banana trees that bear fruit and edible flowers. It has to do with how much is in the supermarket, how much false choice there is between the products of just a few agribusiness conglomerates. This is an obvious statement, of course, but it’s worth repeating that the ways of eating in the U.S. are against nature—meaning actively working to destroy nature—and for capital." On Abundance

This has been the year of short sentences. Stitching three or four words together—working on cadence—what pleasure. No Masterclass required. Writing a poem a day in long hand has helped. Poem of the Day.

The music I use for 'today' is drawn from a messy and meandering playlist. Listen on shuffle. There are bonafide gems here. Remember, I was the girl who hung out by the stereo at parties. Deborah's 2021 playlist.

A few of the poets, painters, potters, photographers, writers, and cooks who inspire me.