I will not be able to tell you much about this week, as it has been relatively slow, relatively filled with the kind of life that isn't particularly noteworthy, but is very necessary. These days have been languishing ones, administrative ones; not lacking but the details of them will probably be forgotten soon enough. I've also been reading even more than usual about linguistics, about the magnificence of miscommunication. This in particular struck me:
Langauge is a kind of pleasure, after all. Bilingualism strikes me as a kind of synesthesia. Instead of seeing colors associated with letters and words, instead of hearing melodies, what I hear with language is the play and echo of the other language. The option to say it differently, and thus to live it differently. Language is not only a means of communication or description. It’s a framework in which we process existence. Yi writes: “It is hard to feel in an adopted language, yet it is impossible in my native language.” As every bilingual person and translator knows, there are certain words—a feeling, a way of being—that is absent in one language but perfectly brought to life in another. A word that, by existing, gives permission to be. What if you need that which does not exist in your language?
— Yoojin Grace Wuertz, Mother Tongue
ON THE JOURNAL THIS WEEK, ETC:
There was some talk of a morning, and it's possible I should have remembered to write or note some more things down, but I didn't. I posted a few hand-lettered lines of Pablo Neruda to Instagram though (these quotes remain one of my favourite things to do), and I adore being able to routinely curate all sorts of beautiful nonsense on Tumblr (below).
Speaking of quotes, I should mention in case you're in need that I still have a few original ones in my store—I would love to put some more up, but I am terribly slow when it comes to photographing and uploading artwork. Because you are lovely, please use this code for free tracked shipping on anything your heart desires: SHIPFORFREE.
THIS WEEK I FELL IN LOVE WITH:
These paintings by LA-based Rikki Niehaus, who has a series titled 'Swedish Landscapes' which features this reasonably expressionless chap in a suit in various IKEA . I'm unsure why I like them so much, but I do.
The end.
I'm currently in Brighton, visiting some good people and feeling delighted at the 3-hour train journey in either direction where I get to read, write, and do some very serious boketto (an untranslatable Japanese word that refers to gazing vacantly into the distance while thinking about nothing in particular, which you will maybe already know of, as it's in Lost in Translation).
Farewell, see you next sometime.
Copyright © 2017 Ella Frances Sanders, All rights reserved.