Days With Uno
Laurel Schwulst, Charles Broskoski, Devin Kelly and links
Dear reader
On Wednesday, I sat on a bench with Ana by my side and the phone on maximum volume. It was Uno’s first hour in kindergarten. After nearly a year of playing with him at home, I didn’t dare to walk further than five minutes away. The kindergarten didn’t call. And when they called Thursday, it was only to say everything was going well.
It is strange to glimpse regular caretaking-free hours on the horizon. Since we arrived in Athens, most of my days have been filled from Monday to Sunday, from sunrise to sunset. I have done everything else, including writing this newsletter, in the odd hours: after dark, early in the morning, when Ana had a calm moment, or when Uno was deeply engaged with his Duplo.
I’m grateful for Ana to give me the space and opportunity to be with Uno. He is curious, funny, kind, empathic, and remembers everything. In other words, the perfect companion. Time collapses with Uno: we sleep when it is dark and eat when hungry. Rarely is anything fixed beyond the day of the week: Monday, Ere is closed. On Friday, we go to the market. And on Sunday, we rest. I wonder how long I can maintain this calendar attitude when other life duties resurface.
One remark on today’s newsletter: it is responding to the popular File over app blog post, a piece of writing I struggled with for nuances that might be understood if you read the three texts in the Field notes. If not, feel free to write me. I should soon have time to respond.
With care
Kristoffer
Wayside flowers
British Seaside is a realistic holiday simulator.
Ramen Haus is a sunflower seed.
Ambient is fullscreen.
Field notes
On Writing & Worlding — Part 1 of 2
It is a gift to exist in the world at the same time as
. Her work rhymes with my taste and her words resonate with my thoughts. In this post, Laurel explains how dedicating a notebook to a specific purpose is like creating an environment for certain words to thrive.For those of us who feel different, who don’t easily fit into structures of this society or this world, we have to make our own structures, definitions, and taxonomies to feel at home — that is, to build our own world. And while others might be confused why we spend so much energy inventing new names and containers seemingly constantly, it’s important to remember doing this helps us simply exist … so that we can connect in this one world we share. — Laurel Schwulst
Are.na Is Where We Go to Find Ourselves Online
My favourite online environment is Are.na. It is where I first touch most of the links in this newsletter. Many of the links I would not know how to surface if Are.na didn’t exist. Fortunately, their ambition is to be around for 100 years rather than become gigantic.
It’s very clear that social networks play a large role in how people perceive reality now. And if it’s always this single type of person who is making these spaces, then that singular perspective is going to keep driving us in one direction. — Charles Broskoski
Naomi Shihab Nye's "The Art of Disappearing"
I’m picking up more poetry because of
’s newsletter. In each edition, Devin reflects on language and life through a specific poem. It is simple in format, pleasant to read and I feel more intelligent afterwards. A good taster is this post about why not everything we create must be a stone and why it is okay that much of the year is flammable shopping lists.I wonder if the question should be more like we live most of our lives invisibly, and there is a kind of goodness here, in this invisible work of a life — how can we acknowledge, celebrate, and live in this invisibility, rather than attempt to make every moment more brightly visible? — Devin Kelly
Collections
Unusual Internet (requires a bit scrolling and clicking)
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