Things I Learned This Week
Art, books, and music are good. Plastic is bad. And VOTE already!
Halloween is over, thank goodness, even if the real scare is yet to come. Be safe and sane in the coming days, all. Here are some things that floated to the top this week.
I do not want to add any more doom into your life this week because we have enough, but sit your family down at some point when you are all in a good place and watch A Plastic Ocean. It really got me when they showed plankton under a microscope eating nanoplastics. As a human being, it is a must-watch, and it has made me rethink how I shop and double down on things I am already doing. Tin foil and paper bags are your friends, folks. We can blame most of it on this guy, Leo Baekeland, who in 1907 invented Bakelite, “the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature.” But aren’t we really the single-use monsters? Now that I’ve told you something shitty about the human race let’s move on to the uplift.
I’ve been following Zak Foster on social media for a while but have only just started exploring his art collection. He makes quilts as art; notably, this series struck me: South White Amnesia. He says he draws from traditional quilt language to critique White America’s historical reluctance to examine the past. As someone who grew up with an appreciation for church banners in the South, I adore his take. Anything made by hand is a celebration in my book.
Speaking of made-by-hand, I know I just ranted about social media, and I know that I am a self-proclaimed flexitarian, but this artist in China making bone and wood inlay is astounding to watch. Humans make plastic and oil refineries (which, even though evil are—in their own screwed-up way—a miracle of human invention), but it is the one person laying hands and creating something time-consuming and beautiful that is a thrill to watch. This reel is worth it.
Since we are talking art, if you are not acquainted with Kara Walker, she is this fantastic silhouette artist, among other things. I love this video where she talks about being a teacher and creating, and I especially love when she says it is OK to “declare yourself an artist, then figure out how to be an artist.” This is an empowering statement everyone should strive to live up to. Imagining your own life, imagine!
This week, I was writing a paper that made me dive deep into Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. There is an excellent piece in The Conversation from last year about how the piece got associated with all things spooky. I also read Hamlet this week, and I am blown away by the fact that we are reading this stuff more than 500 years later. Bach was born in 1685, and EVERYBODY knows this song. People keep creating, just like we did a zillion years ago, we can do great things when we get our heads out of our asses!
Today is the last day to early vote. Anything can happen between now and Tuesday. If you still need to vote, what are you doing right now!?!
Quote of the week?
“The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.” — John Milton, Paradise Lost (written in 1667 people!)
‘Til Tuesday kids.
Burgin
(I’m finishing college at 50+, follow along and read my story here.)