I love the idea of my journal being more than a book that I write in. I go back and forth between not taking it too seriously and treating it as something that makes up so much of who I am. It’s almost become this living thing in itself because there is so much of me in there that I don’t choose to share with others. I will most likely hang on to them and leave them to my children when I’m gone because I want them to know who I am and was, how I felt when they were growing up, the struggles that we went/go through as a family, moments that were innocuous to them but brought me great joy. In many ways my journals have become the most authentic representation of who I am as a person. They’re where I go to think, where I go to wonder, where I go to remember, where I go to vent, where I go to hope. In the grand design of things, so much that I do will never matter, but my journals are a footprint that lets me know that I was here. Time flies when you’ve got two young kids, but everyday when I write in my journal, I’m here. Even though the majority of my days goes to parenting, I sit down and I put down my thoughts. They become tangible. Journaling has become a habitual part of my day that it is intrinsic to who I am. Even when I’m just screwing around in there and doodling, it’s something that I do solely for myself and I’ll never take the importance of it for granted. Apologies for rambling, I just got going and couldn’t stop. Have a great day everyone!
Fantastic as always! I’ve been meaning to subscribe for ages and so glad I did! Regarding the Practice more Suck less concept, have you read The Gap and the Gain? It’s about perfectionists hanging out in the gap instead of what they’ve gained /progress etc. ?
I too was blown away by all the art from such an amazing group of people. It’s a good reminder of all the art quietly--or not--being created out in the wild. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking the art is only worthwhile if it’s for something especially money! But I’m doggedly working on a 100 Day Project of just practice and curiosity.
I'm so stoked for Asteroid City. One of the comments for the trailer said "Just when you think it can't get more Wes Anderson, it gets more Wes Anderson." I love it.
I love Paulus Berensohn. I never met him; I wish I had discovered him when he was still teaching at Penland. I learned about him via a class that taught me how to make my own sketchbooks and journals. Making your own journal is like decorating the place you like to hang out completely in your own style, to your own tastes, which adds magic to the journaling experience. A few years ago, I found Paulus' "recipe" for making a paper cover for a journal and kept it. You can download it here (Dropbox account not needed): https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qe098j2h0twf9w/paste-paper-notes.pdf?dl=0
Perhaps this summer I'll finally set up a table on my deck to make several sheets. "Soul's Kitchen" also shows journal-making process. His focuses on paint, but you could collage your cover too. Doesn't it look like fun?
I think the name of your Friday Post should be You Friday Rabbit Holes.
Regarding the Rabbit hole of curiosity, I am a curious Elder. When I worked at an elementary school a few years ago, the Floss was the thing. This kids tried to teach it to me and the memory of my disaster and their speed still makes me laugh.
Now, I get to connect with kidsin nature and see where their curiosity leads us.
Loved the pieces about journalling and it being a place to hang out, and to let things simmer in the unconscious. And those journals in the Paulus Berensohn video were so beautiful!
Random comment but did you see the big shoutout you got in the No Expectations substack? I don't know much (ok, anything) about Nick Lutsko but it sounds like STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST is an important book to him.
Re: Tolkien - recently reread LOTR for the first time in 30-40 years and yeah, it took a while :) Found myself glossing over passages where he was describing architecture or landscape (I swear, the British have eleventy hundred and eleven words for "valley".) For the life of me, I could *not* mentally create a picture from his descriptions—which felt like a really specific form of aphantasia (as you've posted on) to me.
Lastly, Tolkien has a rep for intricate planning but I'd swear I saw a post recently (Kottke?) which claimed he was indeed winging a lot of it. I'll follow up once I track it down.
I've really enjoyed Apple's new Classical app! I've already found a few things I never knew existed and look forward to diving in more. I always tell people Spotify sounds like a bad hamburger, like you ordered a burger and all they brought you was the meat, without any buns or toppings. They have such a great UI and it's a shame the music is so compressed that you can't hear all of the great stuff in the high and low frequencies!
On journaling...I've been tweaking my AM routines - b/c I no longer neeeed to get up at 5a since kiddo started college last fall. This post reminds me that my journaling practice has fallen off, and contributing to my sense of feeling adrift this year. I've been blowing off my safe space to hang! So okay, April starts tomorrow: 30 days of AM journaling. Thanks for the accountability challenge/timing/reminder/synchronicity.
I came across Tom Hart's memoir Rosalie a few years ago and bought it, though I had no idea what it was about. It blew. my. mind. Not just the subject matter, which is devastating. But the artwork also, which is so roughly and freely executed that it had a real influence on my own work. I joined SAW's memoir comics group for a time at the beginning of the pandemic, but eventually had to move on to other things. I've read Rosalie twice, and have also read his The Art of the Graphic Memoir twice.
I love the idea of my journal being more than a book that I write in. I go back and forth between not taking it too seriously and treating it as something that makes up so much of who I am. It’s almost become this living thing in itself because there is so much of me in there that I don’t choose to share with others. I will most likely hang on to them and leave them to my children when I’m gone because I want them to know who I am and was, how I felt when they were growing up, the struggles that we went/go through as a family, moments that were innocuous to them but brought me great joy. In many ways my journals have become the most authentic representation of who I am as a person. They’re where I go to think, where I go to wonder, where I go to remember, where I go to vent, where I go to hope. In the grand design of things, so much that I do will never matter, but my journals are a footprint that lets me know that I was here. Time flies when you’ve got two young kids, but everyday when I write in my journal, I’m here. Even though the majority of my days goes to parenting, I sit down and I put down my thoughts. They become tangible. Journaling has become a habitual part of my day that it is intrinsic to who I am. Even when I’m just screwing around in there and doodling, it’s something that I do solely for myself and I’ll never take the importance of it for granted. Apologies for rambling, I just got going and couldn’t stop. Have a great day everyone!
Fantastic as always! I’ve been meaning to subscribe for ages and so glad I did! Regarding the Practice more Suck less concept, have you read The Gap and the Gain? It’s about perfectionists hanging out in the gap instead of what they’ve gained /progress etc. ?
again the best thing about friday is stealing time at my pod job to read this and follow all the paths that austin provides us :)
“A journal is a magic space to hang out.” Love this. My favourite place too.
I too was blown away by all the art from such an amazing group of people. It’s a good reminder of all the art quietly--or not--being created out in the wild. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking the art is only worthwhile if it’s for something especially money! But I’m doggedly working on a 100 Day Project of just practice and curiosity.
DAMN I love the idea of a journal as a place to hang out. That’s exactly what it is.
I'm so stoked for Asteroid City. One of the comments for the trailer said "Just when you think it can't get more Wes Anderson, it gets more Wes Anderson." I love it.
I love Paulus Berensohn. I never met him; I wish I had discovered him when he was still teaching at Penland. I learned about him via a class that taught me how to make my own sketchbooks and journals. Making your own journal is like decorating the place you like to hang out completely in your own style, to your own tastes, which adds magic to the journaling experience. A few years ago, I found Paulus' "recipe" for making a paper cover for a journal and kept it. You can download it here (Dropbox account not needed): https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qe098j2h0twf9w/paste-paper-notes.pdf?dl=0
Perhaps this summer I'll finally set up a table on my deck to make several sheets. "Soul's Kitchen" also shows journal-making process. His focuses on paint, but you could collage your cover too. Doesn't it look like fun?
I think the name of your Friday Post should be You Friday Rabbit Holes.
Regarding the Rabbit hole of curiosity, I am a curious Elder. When I worked at an elementary school a few years ago, the Floss was the thing. This kids tried to teach it to me and the memory of my disaster and their speed still makes me laugh.
Now, I get to connect with kidsin nature and see where their curiosity leads us.
Loved the pieces about journalling and it being a place to hang out, and to let things simmer in the unconscious. And those journals in the Paulus Berensohn video were so beautiful!
Random comment but did you see the big shoutout you got in the No Expectations substack? I don't know much (ok, anything) about Nick Lutsko but it sounds like STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST is an important book to him.
https://joshhterry.substack.com/p/nick-lutsko-interview-primus-dark-crystal
Re: Tolkien - recently reread LOTR for the first time in 30-40 years and yeah, it took a while :) Found myself glossing over passages where he was describing architecture or landscape (I swear, the British have eleventy hundred and eleven words for "valley".) For the life of me, I could *not* mentally create a picture from his descriptions—which felt like a really specific form of aphantasia (as you've posted on) to me.
Lastly, Tolkien has a rep for intricate planning but I'd swear I saw a post recently (Kottke?) which claimed he was indeed winging a lot of it. I'll follow up once I track it down.
UPDATE: yep, via Kottke
https://kottke.org/23/03/how-tolkien-conceived-of-the-one-ring---by-muddle-not-masterstroke
Boring nerdy question, but I've been wondering for ages how you get your links to show up in red on Substack?!
I've really enjoyed Apple's new Classical app! I've already found a few things I never knew existed and look forward to diving in more. I always tell people Spotify sounds like a bad hamburger, like you ordered a burger and all they brought you was the meat, without any buns or toppings. They have such a great UI and it's a shame the music is so compressed that you can't hear all of the great stuff in the high and low frequencies!
On journaling...I've been tweaking my AM routines - b/c I no longer neeeed to get up at 5a since kiddo started college last fall. This post reminds me that my journaling practice has fallen off, and contributing to my sense of feeling adrift this year. I've been blowing off my safe space to hang! So okay, April starts tomorrow: 30 days of AM journaling. Thanks for the accountability challenge/timing/reminder/synchronicity.
Don’t you just love the palettes of Wes Anderson’s movies. I love the lavish use of warm tones, such a change from cold dystopian palettes.
I came across Tom Hart's memoir Rosalie a few years ago and bought it, though I had no idea what it was about. It blew. my. mind. Not just the subject matter, which is devastating. But the artwork also, which is so roughly and freely executed that it had a real influence on my own work. I joined SAW's memoir comics group for a time at the beginning of the pandemic, but eventually had to move on to other things. I've read Rosalie twice, and have also read his The Art of the Graphic Memoir twice.