the first is Becca Rothfieldās book of essays all things are too small ā really beautifully written with intriguing ideas about contemporary culture and consumption and excess and minimalism. mildly esoteric at times, but Iām a sucker for aesthetic and affective analysis soā¦.
the second is from the book 21st Century Yoga: Culture, Politics, and Practice, which is a FABULOUS collection altogether. The specific essay that I legitimately have not stopped thinking about since I read it 5+ years ago is āModern Yoga Will Not Form a Real Culture Until Every Studio Can Also Double as a Soup Kitchenā by Matthew Remski. 10/10 recommend as a yogi but also as someone fascinated by collectivity, compassion, and contemporary culture.
Sep 30, 2024
Related Recs
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you know when you read good theory (or good anything really) and then you canāt help but see further examples of whatever is being explored in the book IRL?
This book is giving that to me.
From Van Gogh immersive experience yoga to Uber eats, speed and immersion dominate so much of how things are delivered to us these days- whether thatās food or art.
The intro is really compelling. How Kornbluh connects the dots between immediacy in the sense of NOW! as well as the more hidden meaning of the word as without mediation. I saw a meme recently that showed future generations watching react videos of react videos of react videos which certainly speaks to this mass cultural wasting of the practice of mediating.
The mission this summer is mediation. come at me raw universe, Iām ready to think about ya and spit out feelings or something.
Apr 29, 2024
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1. The crane wife - really popular a couple of years ago, a fantastic personal essay about relationships and a field-trip https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/Ā
2. Why keeping a pet is fundamentally unethical - very interesting essay, I donāt necessary agree with the premise but I think it made a great attempt and has changed how I see pets and our power in relation to other beings in https://aeon.co/essays/why-keeping-a-pet-is-fundamentally-unethical
3. Is Justified True Belief Knowledge. This is really cool philosophical (logic) paper, and i am bringing it to you in two parts - read the link first, it is an explanation of the paper (for those of us who are not philosophers). then read the paper itself (search The name of the essay in google- east to find a pdf) https://jsomers.net/blog/gettiers
4. Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native - fantastic essay on what it sounds like, by Patrick Wolfe, the originator of the field of settler colonial theory. For me (stem guy, no arts background) itās pretty confusing and dense but I keep returning to it and taking a little more every time, especially bc of the great Australian specific analysis. PDF easily available online
Sep 30, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason itās still standing is bc itās unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isnāt just charting the attention economy but also attempting to āsolveā it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024
Top Recs from @its_just_kate
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at least casually. donāt delete the accounts but donāt have the apps on your phone either.
rediscover your love of reading thru the magic of recognizing titles strangers are holding on the subway. become a subway reader.
donāt use sound as an escape from your thoughts/feelings/surroundings. grocery shopping without headphones is actually kind of beautiful!
pick up a new hobby or two or three. one of them should be something youāre not good at, and at least one should be no- or low-cost.
never. stop. learning. the library, the parks and rec department, and nearby museums offer great materials already but also usually have free lectures or courses.
go outside more. like, a lot more.
(took this much less literally, so apologies if itās not what youāre looking for lol ā as a narcoleptic I have no tips on how to Not Sleep since Sleep is basically my job)
Sep 30, 2024
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destined in the stars
Jan 1, 2025
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keeps it funky, keeps it fresh! a book for outside, a book for downstairs, a book for bed, a book for the subway, a book for the bathtubā¦..
Nov 30, 2024