leaving like a father, running like water
Greetings, earthlings.
It’s good to be back here after an impromptu skip last week. I thought I’d preschedule a newsletter before I took off for a cabin trip in southern Vermont for a friend’s birthday, but… I didn’t!
I’ve been thinking a lot about routines lately: the ones I have, the ones I want to tighten up, the ones I want to cultivate. My life is largely unstructured right now and it’s up to me and me alone to build the structure I want. This is a privilege. This is also daunting.
I wanted to pick a “word of the year” this year. I initially chose “discipline” before changing it to “devotion.” The former feels cold and punitive, and the latter feels like it’s at the heart of discipline. To be disciplined in my creative practice is to send this newsletter every single week, no matter what. To be devoted to my creative practice is to show up consistently for it while also making sure I nourish my spirit by saying yes to other opportunities that emerge, even if they momentarily knock me off my routine.
How do you strike a balance between being disciplined and being fluid? How do you balance taking control and ownership over your life while letting your business/creative practice/relationships/life evolve organically? Do you have thoughts on this? Articles I should read? Send them my way.
Here are three things I’m dog-earing for you this week:
1. Mary Holland’s emails
My solstice and equinox bandannas are inspired by Mary Holland’s book Naturally Curious, which I can’t shut up about.
This book is worth every penny, but Mary Holland will also send her seasonal nature observations to your inbox every week for free.
I haven’t been spending much time in nature lately. These emails feel like delicate threads keeping me tethered to a world I miss.
A recent missive from Mary begins, “Have you ever wondered how waterfowl that spend all or part of the year on the ocean can survive drinking salt water?”
No, Mary, I haven’t, but now I am!
Some other recent missives:
Porcupine Dens (spoiler alert: they fill the entrance to their dens with THEIR SHIT!)
2. The music video for Taylor Swift’s cardigan
If you happened to see me driving in my car over the past few weeks, chances are quite good that you would have observed me screaming this song at the top of my lungs. I cannot stop digging into the lore around this song and video, from the first “rough” version of the song Taylor sent her producer in a voice memo hours after he sent her the original backing track, to the “footnotes” about the making of the video–both the symbolism about the lifecycle of a relationship, and the technical aspects of making a music video in the height of the pandemic in 2020.
And the lyrics:
“Leaving like a father, running like water”
“I knew I’d curse you for the longest time, chasing shadows in the grocery line”
“I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss, I knew you’d haunt all of my what ifs”
I am a resident of Swiftie Nation.
3. Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study post: How Did You Buy Your House?
I’m coming up on the second anniversary of buying my house. When I was going through the process I had frank discussions with friends and acquaintances about how they were able to buy houses. I was really surprised to learn how people were able to do it, and it generally came down to “1) systemic advantages and 2) luck,” as Anne Helen Petersen describes it.
I’m excited to see a smart person with such a large audience writing about how transparency and specificity around money and privilege could be both personally and culturally transformative.
One of my goals for 2024 is to make one zine each week.
I reorganized my studio a few weeks ago and I decided to hang up my favorite attendance cards from my artist residency with Burlington City and Lake Semester:
My goal last week was to make a zine fast. This zine doesn’t include any of my own art except for a little doodle on the back. This was liberating. I was able to focus on the workflow with my scanner, layout software, printing, and binding.
Also, the artwork for the 2024 NOFA-VT Winter Conference is now out in the world!
Event branding is one of my favorite freelance projects to take on.
I’m also presenting at the conference on 2/18. Come find me there! It’s an amazing conference for anyone who works in or cares about our food system. Additionally, it’s a gathering of a lot of super hot people. 10/10 recommend. Learn more here.
Also! I’m trying to clear out all of my inventory to make room for new things, so bandanas, shirts, jewelry, stickers, etc in my shop are deeply discounted. I’m sharing about this megasale here first because quantities are limited, especially on Skunk Cabbage Appreciation Society shirts.
Christine Tyler Hill
Website: tenderwarriorco.com
Email: tenderwarriorco@gmail.com