“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.”
– Mary Oliver
Don’t Hesitate
Selfportrait (Quarantine)
What a stunning self-portrait by Ingrid Emaga. (You can buy it as a print!)
New York Is My Kind of Town
Downtown 81 is a rare snapshot of an ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan, starring Basquiat.
(via Julie)
Link Pack
My love for Keith Jarrett runs deep.
– In April, I almost had to shut the doors on my labor of love Tattly. I am a bit emotional as today we launched our famous annual 50% birthday sale. We made it, we actually turned 9! It didn’t look good there for a moment. Watching your orders come in has me in tears. All of the gratitude from remaining team Tattly.
– This website allows you to write a letter to your future self.
– Collins launched ideas. Stories on creativity and collaboration. Impressive.
– Wow! What does YouTube look like for a Liberal, a Conservative, a Climate Denier… etc
– How to feel better when you don’t know what’s wrong. (via)
– By The Books is an online literary festival to support rising voices.
– Video Call Bingo brings delight to your next online video meeting. (via)
– Whena.re puts your colleagues on a 24-hour dial to help you visualise where (or rather when) in the day they currently are. (via)
– Rep. John Lewis wrote this for us as he was dying. What a beautiful soul. What a remarkable man.
– The 100 best books of the 21st century
– Universal Basic Income is Capitalism 2.0
– The photos! Wow! When We Were Bread Heads
– Wow, the bedside-table shelf in the first photo caught my eye.
– Keep your inbox protected with burner email addresses. Hide your personal email address, control who can send you emails, and generate new burners with one click. (via)
– WOW! Reconstructing Journalistic Scenes in 3D
– How to read more books (via)
– I used to watch this as a kid. So many memories.
– Who doesn’t want to braid colorful pompoms into their hair?
– Hire talented black illustrators for your next project: Illustrator Hub
– Pick a year from your past (1951-2015) and The Nostalgia Machine will warp you back musically and link you to videos of the top Billboard Hits of that time. (via)
– Michelle Obama interviewing Barack Obama. Be still my heart!
– Today we hosted our 4th Digital CreativeMornings/NYC with Baratunde Thurston as our guest. It was wonderful. See for yourself.
Degree of Presence
“Stop measuring days by degree of productivity, and start experiencing them by degree of presence.”
— Alan Watts
Tattly’s Yearly Birthday Sale
A few minutes ago, we launched our yearly, crazy big birthday sale over at Tattly. I am feeling quite emotional about it as I honestly wasn’t sure earlier this year if we would make it to 9. We persisted and now I am hoping we will make it to 10. I love this little mighty company so much. I bootstrapped Tattly with my amazing team and have paid out of 1.4 million in artist royalties to our artists. I am proud of that! Thank you to all of you who have supported us over the years, who have helped spread good art and joy. I appreciate you! And if you feel so inclined, go stock up on some wearable fun. It’s easy to ship to friends!
ps: If this pandemic has taught me one thing: SHOP SMALL! Your direct orders makes a huge difference (hello there, bigger margins!). Found something on Amazon you want? Make an effort, look up the brand’s website and order directly. If we don’t, only Amazon and highly funded startups will be left.
Baby Girl
20 Black dancers performing an impressive choreography by Tomeography to Chloe x Halle’s “Baby Girl” on Zoom.
(via Popsugar)
Black is King
On Friday, Beyoncé will release “Black Is King,” a visual album connected to Disney’s remake last year of “The Lion King,” on the Disney+ streaming platform. Stunning.
(via New York Times)
Intentional Integrity
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to hear Robert Chestnut present some of the ideas in his brand new book Intentional Integrity. What he was saying resonated so deeply with me. As someone who cares about workplace culture I can not wait to read this.
Blue Mind
I have been spending the past 1.5 weeks on a small lake in upstate New York and am feeling a deep sense of clarity being so close to water. I posted about it on Instagram and someone suggested I look up the Blue Mind Theory. This makes so much sense.
The Life of Cucumbers
I am not sure what I am watching here, but it is soothing.
Don’t Complain
“Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards, and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that plowing that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
— Maya Angelou
If You Can
Film student Hanna Rybak created this animated short film illustrating Sir Winston Churchill’s poem entitled “If You Can”.
Young Americans
David Bowie and Cher sing duet of “Young Americans” and other songs on 1975 Variety Show. Wow.
Snoring into the Icelanding Countryside
You might have heard of an app that lets you scream into the Icelanding wilderness. It reminded me of Swiss performance artist Roman Signer who amplified his snoring into the Icelandic countryside in 1996. I love everything about this.
Link Pack
(via Chris!)
– Tips that actually help with Zoom and video call fatigue. (via)
– DusenDusen makes bedding? Take all my money!
– Hide-a-Mask: On-Demand Face Mask That Pops Out of a Baseball Cap
– “”When you work remotely, mentorship is stifled because there is no learning via osmosis. … When you’re young, you don’t need “focus” or to “get things done.” You need exposure to new ideas and people. You need the serendipitous fortune of sitting in on the right meeting, attending the right happy hour, or earning the respect of the right observer. All of the above is more difficult in a remote environment.” Our remote work future is going to suck (via)
– Cats Versus Dogs, And Change
– Share the best advice you’ve ever received. (via)
– Good read: You can hire better. (via)
– This instagram post wins the internet. Full of happy.
– So much respect for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
– Arms for your chickens. OMG!
– Help stop Fascism, by Albert Wenger
– Rethink: A BBC podcast series with lots of great thinkers offering their perspective on how the world should change after the pandemic. (via)
– This time we are in has taught me one thing: I need to be kind to myself. This Tattly is a daily reminder.
– CreativeMornings has a job board. Did you know? Cool job alert: Design Milk is hiring two positions.
– A big thank you to blue nose creative for sponsoring my blog this week.
Code of Morals
“When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles which have hag-ridden us for two hundred years, by which we have exalted some of the most distasteful of human qualities into the position of the highest virtues. We shall be able to afford to dare to assess the money-motive at its true value. The love of money as a possession — as distinguished from the love of money as a means to the enjoyments and realities of life — will be recognized for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity, one of those semi-criminal, semi-pathological propensities which one hands over with a shudder to the specialists in mental disease.”
― John Maynard Keynes
Ostrichpillow
The Ostrich Pillow from a few years back could come in really handy for those of us, stuck at home, wanting to get some peace and quiet.
Shine Like A Beacon
“Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant. Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates… Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice. And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a beloved community that is finally at peace with itself.”
— John Lewis
♥ / blue nose creative
A big thank you to blue nose creative for sponsoring my blog this week.
blue nose creative is all about craft, creativity, and sharing. Our handmade quilts add color, personality, art, and warmth to spaces while our cards help you say something. . . happy birthday, thinking of you, or more seriously, condolences.
In our little corner of the creative space, we pour ourselves into the creations we share with the world. . . we hope you love them as much as we do! And from July 20-26, you can snag a quilted item or card (or both) for 25% off! Handmade quilted items are in the blue nose creative Etsy shop; handmade cards are in The Paper Frenchie Etsy shop.
Site Shack
Need a place to work from during this pandemic? You have a backyard? Site Shack might be just what you’ve been looking for. It is a tiny prefab that sets up anywhere in a space. Site Shack is outfitted with a desk, storage, and wiring.
Quarantine Pod
This seems to be the perfect quarantine pod.