“Write to entertain yourself first. Because if you’re bored, your reader will be bored too. This applies even to client work with specific briefs and notes you may not actually agree with. Find a way to keep yourself interested and engaged and it’ll reflect in the work. Pander or try to write for an imagined audience and it will show.”
“Write every day, but set a minimum boundary. Graham Greene only wrote 500 words a day. Some people set ten minutes of full focus a day. Putting your body in front of word-making materials for a period of time is the thing, and if that ever seems hard to you, think about Jean-Dominique Bauby, who had to dictate an entire book using only his left eye to signal with. Books are written only by the people who show up to write them, even if it’s only ten minutes a day.”
Also: “Always know when to leave the stage and what to leave behind.”
Many great tips from an expert in the field who's been around long enough to give it to you straight.
“Sometime around 1957, in a fluorescent-lit lab at the University of Wisconsin, psychologist Harry Harlow carried out a study that would come to haunt the field of behavioral science.”
“The experiment, which would be difficult to receive grant approval for today (for good reason at that), involved separating newborn monkeys from their mothers just hours after birth (evil!). The infants were then placed in solitary confinement with two ersatz 'mothers'—one, a minimalist wireframe fitted with a bottle of milk; the other, soft and wrapped in fabric, but offering no sustenance...”
The next RESTRICTED FREQUENCY is scheduled to drop on Sunday. In it, we draw on a chilling monkey experiment from 1957 to illustrate how comfort is often sought after over truth—nationalism, corporate “families,” and expat illusions are all explored within. Plus: a poster giveaway, smoothie recipe, and sharp cultural picks.
An issue not to be missed! If you haven't already, sign up now to make sure it lands in your inbox and makes it in front of your eyeballs.
In 2014, coal made up almost half of Greece’s energy generation. Just a decade later, solar and wind has tripled to 43%, with coal now only accounting for a meagre 6% — Via OUR WORLD IN DATA.
NATIVE LAND: Interactive map that lets you explore the traditional territories, languages and treaties of Indigenous peoples worldwide.
THE FIRST AMERICAN REVOLUTION examines surviving traces of the settlements “Pueblo people” built atop mesas following the Pueblo Revolt, which won back independence for the Native American population after nearly a century of Spanish rule in the American Southwest — ARCHEOLOGY.ORG
The Dollar's Crown is Slipping, and Fast — Via REUTERS
Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) has signed three new project agreements with leading Chinese companies operating in the textile industry worth approximately $52.6 million. This I'm assuming is part of China's big geopolitical strategy to get around US tariffs — Via ALCHEMPRO
On average, 17 American war veterans have taken their own life every day since 2001 — Via THE HILL
JAN PLECHAC makes some of the most stunning glassware I've ever seen.
“It currently seems possible that our galaxy lays right in the middle of a two billion light year wide void in the universe... You know how impossible you are? You’re from a barren universal ditch, and yet here you are.” — Via Warren Ellis' ORBITAL OPERATIONS.
“When there are so many signs of a system near collapse, accumulating enough money to avoid needing people feels like a deeply flawed approach. Instead, we ought to work harder at becoming the kind of person people want to help – and turn to for help – when the time comes.”
“Some days I don’t want to touch my phone, when the competing demands create a kind of cognitive vertigo – not because I’m too busy, but because I get anxious about sending the wrong signal by forgetting to respond or not responding soon enough.
“Writer Miski Omar has the perfect term for this modern affliction: ‘multiverse fatigue’ – a kind of existential buffering that occurs when we interpret responsiveness as a proxy for care.”
Shall we go to the bathroom, I suggest, as he snatches a piece of lettuce from the bowl I left out on the dining table.
“No, I'm fine” he says, munching on lettuce.
Dad, I can smell it. It's time to change your diaper.
He shakes his head, snatching another piece of lettuce.
I can smell it, dad.
“What do you smell?” he asks, annoyed, munching on lettuce.
I can smell the shit in your diaper! Let's go!
“No, there's nothing of the kind”, he insists.
Okay, let's make a bet; we go to the bathroom and check. No shit, I owe you a 100 pounds. We find shit, I get a hundred out of you.
“Deal”, he says, excited.
This was a bet I would rather not have won because said diaper was indeed full of shit in addition to plenty of piss. So much so that the old man's crotch was smothered in the stuff like Swiss fondue. This is a time when all manner of social inhibitions and psychological holdups are completely obliterated, and you become laser-focused on one thing and one thing only: Cleanup.
San Francisco — Open from July 5 to September 21 is MOURNING AND MELANCHOLY: ARTISTS' BOOKS FROM THE ARAB WORLD AND ITS DIASPORA, a group exhibition curated by Maymanah Farhat at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Highlighting artists' books, ephemera, zines, and video art, the exhibition brings together an incredible range of pieces from an eclectic selection of artists such as:
Islam Aly
Joyce Dallal
Ganzeer
Ghassan Ghaib
Kaleem Hawa Fattaleh
Rhonda Khalifeh
Lena Kassicieh
Yazan Khalili
Donia Maher
Ahmad Nady
Zeinab Saab
J. Reem Salloum
Andrea Shaker
Patricia Ward
For Ganzeer's participation, Maymanah chose to include a number of all-collaborative publications such as THE APARTMENT IN BAB EL-LOUK (created in collaboration with Donia Maher and Ahmad Nady, with translation by Elisabeth Jaquette), WE ARE ALL THINGS (with Elliott Colla and introduction by Molly Crabapple), and the Ganzeer-edited ZINE EL-ARAB #1 and #2.
Both THE APARTMENT AND BAB EL-LOUK and WE ARE ALL THINGS are available from their respective publishers (Darf and Radix, respectively) and ZINE EL-ARAB is available for free download.
