Just art, type, and 45 things I know
Drawings and aphorisms, Summer edition
First: Things are pretty bleak these days. Wishing you calm and strength, and hope you are able to access any support you need, be it democracy or climate related.
Hello lovely humans,
I wrote this list when I was 35 (when Medium was a thing!), and I think it still holds up, except #2 - the older I get, the younger I get. I’ve added ten more climate-y ones (because I think about climate more than cake pops now) to commemorate the wisdom I should have accrued this decade. Send me your lists?
45 things I know
I could be Tavi Gevinson’s mother.
Not having the energy to explore all the new emoji does not make me old. Being over fifteen makes me old.
I interviewed Nora Ephron a few years ago because I wanted her to expound on her “put a bikini on and don’t take it off until you’re 34” line. Respectful amendment: Put on whatever the F you want.
I hate prescriptive lists.
Especially those cloying ones written to younger selves.
Younger self, you really should have bought grandma the cigarettes when she asked you to.
You should not have spent all that time doing really unbearable community musical theatre.
I forgive you.
Segues are generally useless. Never use the phrase, “For his part.”
You can put almost anything in a smoothie except molasses and steel wool.
Acknowledge the weirdness of the phrase self care. Practice self care.
Do not stand in front of large speakers at loud clubs.
Automatic savings.
No bread after 4 p.m. and you will generally feel pretty good.
16.
17. Everyone already knows that moist is the grossest word.
18. French vanilla cappuccinos are never a good idea.
19. Learn how to take naps.
20. Always jump in the lake.
21. You really only need to read one book by Haruki Murakami to get the drift.
23. Don’t make fun of people for liking things.
24. Do make fun of cake pops.
25. Don’t judge people who are older than you, thinking you’ll be so much smarter/richer/fitter/more together when you’re their age.
26. Nobody is old. Just wizened. But only if it’s pronounced wizzened.
27. Wizz.
28. End.
29. No one ever wants to hear about your dream.
30. Ever ever ever.
31. Spell cheque.
32. No matter how much you floss, the dental hygienist will always give you that smug look that makes you feel like a lying bag of twerp.
33. The optimal number of people for a dinner party is six.
34. Regret is a useless emotion. Except you really should have ordered the club sandwich. And not done alllll that musical theatre.
Be kind.
What Saul says:
Agency is the antidote.
I’ve been thinking about this ‘action is the antidote to despair’ framing a lot since reading this post from my pal Britt. She’s a genius, and I think I disagree a bit. In general, I’m of the “do what works for you persuasion,” but also I think this is the framing I like best. You don’t have to use the antidote, it might not work for you, and it’s not meant to bypass the temporal space of processing climate grief, but it’s a thing to file in your cranium, if you even have such a luxury. There’s a neat framework here from Panu Pikhala.
Honour your past and let it permeate you. Memories and the people who carry them disappear faster than you think.
What will you do with your one wild and precious life is beautiful and hard. And it’s OK if sometimes what you’re doing with your one wild and precious life is watching garbage television with your kids.
Grieve, breathe, seize. (repeat).
We don’t need moonshots and miracles. We need efficiency, heat pumps, and community. Also, buy only watt you need.
Heat Pump Homage to Wayne Whyte. Always compliment and uplift people for putting the scary stuff out there. Don’t leave anyone on a climate or hard topics cliff. And if you like their shoes, tell them.
Together, with music and parties and humour.
Just try to undumpsterfire the world a little bit every day.
Gratitude. For everything.
Stuff
Come to Rewiring America’s quarterly Electrifying Research session? It’s climate comms goodness, with an electric twist. July 11th, on a Zoom near you.
New Canadian climate comedy and they are sooo good. Hot Globe. This one’s my fave:
The artist June Leaf died last week. I somehow hadn’t really known her. I love this fabulously crusty interview she did with T Style a few years ago.
Love this from psychologist, artist, educator, aspiring Elder Sky Sage on page 35 of this beautiful report:
We can do this.
An excerpt from Community Engagement/Climate Action/ Personal/Collective Growth (Things we see as inseparable)
To reconnect humanity, we are going to need more than a few Ministers of Loneliness. This task belongs to us all. We don’t have to resign to a fate of white-knuckling through life, clinging to our own little rafts, drifting further apart due to perfect storms. Science has shown us why it may take a bit more effort to go beyond our comfort zones or nudge ourselves into the wild unknown. Now we need to practice admitting how much we rely on each other to show up in a respectful way.
21 made me laugh out loud, but much of this list rings true and I’m 5 yrs ahead of you. 😬
But that Hamburgers sign… what a delight! We laugh and wonder and shake our heads… every time we pass by.
Your list is epically wonderful and down to Earth, our Earth!!!!!