Things worth slowing down for
This week in Slow Learning
RIP Barbara Ehrenreich. Proponent of hedonism and self-declared exercise nut, who wrote the book on dying of Natural Causes did just that last week. You might know her for her undercover investigative work, Nickled and Dimed, On Not Getting By in America.
It was this book, Dancing in the Streets, A History of Collective Joy, that opened my eyes to the rich history of ecstatic dance, costumed pageantry, and Dionysian revelry in European pre-reformation pagan/Catholic mashup culture (all doomed to hide underground due to the deadly control of the Calvinists and capitalism). Too busy to read Ehrenreich? You might enjoy this very funny interview. Party on, Barbara.
FOCUS! AND THAT MEANS YOU! Trying to write? Having trouble focusing? Here’s some help.
CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK: My dear friend Elsa challenged me to go swimming before the season ends. And I so I did, all by myself, in the middle of the day. This was no small feat for me. I was so afraid of the public humiliation of not knowing how to swim well and not having a real swimsuit and not having friends to go with me and being old and all that. But I took the plunge anyway.
Water lifts a body up! Who knew how easy it would be once I jumped in? And who cared what I looked like? Absolutely nobody.
How could I have a clear, clean, free resource so close to my home and never take advantage? What other opportunity lies right under my nose that I’m avoiding because I think it will make me look bad? Seriously, what am I missing? What are we all missing? Feel free to send me your challenges. (Be kind, but not too kind. I’m a sucker for a dare.)
SKETCHNOTES
“You don’t have to tell them everything.” —Elizabeth Kronenberger, AKA Grandma
My daughter, Liz Landis, asked me to help her with something quick to help explain the importance of understanding audience when presenting complex information. We came up with this.
“A big part of science communication is choosing language that keeps your audience engaged. As a scientist I find that this sometimes requires restraining myself from telling the whole story right away, and prioritizing the experience of the audience. When an audience feels like they could be included in the language, they feel empowered to ask more questions and keep the conversation going.” -Liz Landis
TV: We made it midway through the second season of For All Mankind, alternative history/ science fiction series in which the Soviets win the space race to the moon. The show’s cringingly inaccurate picture of the 1980s makes me question their portrayal of the Russians. Oh yeah, it’s an alternative history where women’s hair perms actually looked good. Though it’s more like a soap than a space opera, I do enjoy feeling superior pointing out all its flaws.
FOUND: One of our local Little Free Libraries offered this up by one of my favorite dark and smart and funny novelists.
“When there is enough out-of-placeness in the world, nothing is out of place.”
DeLillo’s work never fails to make me laugh, unless David Cronenberg (no relation to Grandma) makes a film of it. We also watched Cosmopolis this week, free on Kanopy. Though I found the inside of the stretch limousine oddly beautiful, the film put me to sleep. A few times.
HOW TO BE A WRITER: I’m working my way very slowly through Ursula K. LeGuin’s Stealing the Craft. It’s not an easy book. She even warns of this in the introduction. The exercises are mind-bending and time consuming. For slow learners, she offers encouragement.
“To make something well is to give yourself to it, to seek wholeness, to follow spirit. To learn to make something well can take your whole life. It’s worth it.”
INSTAGRAM HACK: I’m attempting to train Meta’s evil algorithms to feed me only dance and mobility reels. That way when I get tempted to waste my precious life scrolling, all I see are people doing amazing moves that I have to try. How? I’m liking and tagging all the dance videos. So far it’s helping a bit, though they still think I’m shopping for glasses. Maybe I am, friggin mind readers.
SHOUT OUT to Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist, and Show Your Work. Kleon’s newsletter inspires this one. So, straight from my notebook, I show you my work.
COMIC: And finally, since it’s back to school time, you might need help getting dressed. WHERE’S MY OTHER SHOE? offers a suggestion.
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts and doodles with you. Feel free to let me know what you think, what you’re learning slowly, and any challenges you might suggest.