No.277
February-ending-March-beginning, a list:
In the grocery store I saw a woman climb right up onto the refrigerated display in order to reach a mango from the boxes on the top shelf
Towards the very end of Words to Love a Planet, within a chapter titled ‘Being’ is the Korean word 소확행, sohwakhaeng, which is defined as a small but distinct happiness or comfort—I expand on that definition in the book, but that would be too much for this list—and give the example of putting one’s face into laundry just out of the dryer. I’m not sure whether this is a widely-enjoyed practice, but I do it every single time, though recently I discovered that the very immediate putting of one’s face into a pile of dry, hot clothing can in fact come with downsides because as it turns out metal buttons and zippers can become too hot. Even better though is if someone else takes the laundry straight out of the dryer and brings it to wherever your face is
Furthermore: it is troublesome to live in Scotland without a tumble dryer, and we don’t, we brought the dryer with us when we moved here from Ireland (also a place where laundry can be troublesome without a dryer) but there are plenty of people who do, and all winter long I’ve seen the occasional but determined washing line strung up with garments, sheets, socks, sagging either under the weight of rain, or ice, or just the feeling of winter, but I suppose things dry eventually, even if it takes days on end
In the Old English version of Beowulf is a line ‘eorlum on ende ealuwæge bær’, with a 1922 commentary (Fr. Klaeber) supposing the ‘on ende’ to mean continuously, consecutively, from a kind of beginning to a kind of end. I have always felt the phrase ‘days on end’ suggested more of a never-ending feeling though, like the German ohne Ende, even if that is utter nonsense
At some point this month it was once again possible to see the texture of a certain wall in the house—all winter the sun’s tiresome position means there is never direct light on this wall, and so for months on end I can believe it is quite flat, smooth, even-of-texture, but the other week the sun spilled across and it was both freshly shocking and freshly delightful to remember that this wall was, in fact, the furthest thing from smooth or flat. Like it was making itself known to me again
Across the road a couple of men looking somewhat purposeful used what was essentially a very long hoover to clean out the gutters of the house opposite but I doubt very much this was actually effective as everybody knows sodden leaves can be extremely stubborn
In newsletter No.276 I had various thoughts on continuing to be a person in the ever-rapidly-encroaching landscape of AI, and yesterday I published an extended version of those thoughts, initially sent out to paid supporters but now available for everyone to read, in case you feel similarly, in case you don’t, but I do strongly believe there are some important notions in there to consider. And if you feel so inclined, or so enraged, please share it:
The illustration above is also taken from Words to Love a Planet, and is a Native American Hopi word, koyaanisqatsi, which, briefly because we are in a list, means a life out of balance, a life in turmoil—I don’t think there is really much more to say about that, other than to say it is slightly cropped compared to within the book
I go outside in the cold sun of late afternon and peer closely at the buds on things, especially those on the fruit trees and the shrubs-that-are-berries, and feel astonished that they have come back, again. Is it strange that a heart can leap at the sight of a leaf bud? Most of these buds are still intact and waiting, but in a few places there are the tiniest bits of bright green beginning to show, and they seem to have been unfazed by the few recent times the temperatures have dipped back below zero because they are fully hardy. This seems a good way to be, fully hardy? Or half-hardy? What other hardinesses of plants are there? H7 is fully hardy. A good many people have no choice but to be fully hardy, and I think a good many of those many people would probably like to be more half-hardy—that is, more time to rest, to think, to love, to gaze, not having to worry quite so much about how to remain alive
Did you know that illustration is from the Latin term illustraio, which means ‘to illuminate’? I like the idea that I am illuminating things, and should perhaps like to decribe myself as an illuminator as opposed to an illustrator
Speaking to a friend here some while back, we somehow landed on the phrase ‘Tell me something meaningful or let me move on’ which we both liked hugely as thing, as an idea, as I suppose a sort of manifesto. A lot of what we are told and sold is the furthest, very furthest from meaningful, but we are not permitted to move on, we are kept trapped, churning, skittish, purchasing, and none of it means much anything at all. So I’ve kept this in the back of my mind, that if we could make that demand more we might be able to pull away from the lurching, insatiable, frothy-mouthed beast
Usually I would be delighted to end on 11, but then felt another small offering was needed to follow talk of a frothy-mouthed beast, and so this: I’m knitting a friend a hat, and tonight I’ll make soup, and sometimes we inexplicably find a woodlouse or two roaming around in the bathtub
THIS WEEK I FELL IN LOVE WITH:
More paintings by Miranda Hine, who was first fallen in love with around the time of newsletter No.244—otherwise known as the August of 2024, which already feels roughly one thousand years ago. I don’t even remember who I was?
Yet in the midst of all this, one could still see, on one’s bookshelf, books that were hundreds—even thousands—of years old, that were relevant today. Yet none of the books which were twenty years old were the least bit relevant anymore. How a book has to make it through that awkward stage—when it is twenty years too old, yet not quite old enough—before it becomes something natural, an integral part of human civilisation, as solid and inevitable as a tree. To become a tree—for a book—is its greatest hope.
— Sheila Heti, Pure Colour
AGAIN AND FOR HOWEVER LONG NECESSARY: Reading list for a Free Palestine. / Ten free ebooks for getting free from Haymarket Books. / Support verified Sudanese support campaigns. / Email templates and support options for a Free Palestine.
You are without question an illuminator! ✨
You are pure delight!