Collecting and planting seeds

Believing in tomorrow

The quote “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” is attributed to actor Aubrey Hepburn. I prefer the original version with tomorrow instead of the version in the photo above that uses the future. Tomorrow is immediate. The future could be hundreds of years from now. Tomorrow is tomorrow.

It’s a platitude that would normally make me roll my eyes, but for some reason it hit different this week.

I want to believe in tomorrow. My kids need me to. I have to.

From age 18 to 24 I was convinced I would die young. I wasn’t exactly sure why, I just sort of accepted I would never become an old person. Today, at age 30, I put two small children to bed hoping that I live to be very, very old.

Tomorrow is real and it’s currently our responsibility to make it what it needs to be, for everyone.

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This week I’m planting a garden of ideas that I will water, fertilize, prune, and harvest tomorrow. Hopefully butterflies and bees from my garden fly to your garden.

These things are potentially insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe, but are creatively important to me. I view everything I put into these newsletters as part of my garden, but I can sense myself starting to drift so I want to set down some anchors.

In The Creative Act Rick Rubin writes about the creative process. The first phase is to collect seeds.

Collecting seeds typically doesn't involve a tremendous amount of effort. It's more a receiving of a transmission. A noticing.

As if catching fish, we walk to the water, bait the hook, cast the line, and patiently wait. We cannot control the fish, only the presence of our line.

The artist casts a line to the universe. We don't get to choose when a noticing or inspiration comes. We can only be there to receive it. As with meditation, our engagement in the process is what allows the result.

Below are some seeds.

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1. Artists are essential to society.

   1. The role of an artist by Wendy MacNaughton

   2. How to work within power structures that don't work for you by Ann Haeyoung

   3. No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear: Toni Morrison on the Artist’s Task in Troubled Times from The Marginalian

2. Technology can be used differently and more intentionally.

   1. Unplugging Is Not The Solution You Want by Matt Klein

   2. i love living by Spencer Chang

   3. On Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (also his book Digital Minimalism)

3. Jokes are important.

   1. The Onion bought InfoWars. No joke.

   2. We watch SNL every week and sometimes we laugh. This review is spot on.

   3. Thank God for Jokes by Mike Birbiglia

4. Design is changing and so should design education.

   1. Reimagining design education in the age of AI by Carly Ayres

   2. A new school of thought by Carly Ayres

   3. Do You Want Typography or Do You Want The Truth? by Erik Carter

5. It’s okay to prioritize whimsy and wonder.

   1. Cyanometer Postcard by Macarena Ruiz-Tagle

   2. Wish Cards

   3. We just bought this riso calendar from a print shop in Milwaukee called BearBear with art created by 12 Wisconsin artists

6. It’s worth the time to make things by hand.

   1. Stop-motion animation for the 10th anniversary of Over the Garden Wall (and of course: BTS)

   2. I love these wood carvings (sculptures?) by Brett Stenson and Erikas Chesonis

   3. Trace Loops got a hold of a Prixel (and of course: BTS)

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I’m sure I’ll have more seeds next week.

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“I ate the two cookies before you could grab them. You never know what’s going to happen.”

👋 M, C, K & O

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