Desktop Holiday
Remember that Denmark won against England in a simulation different from the one you are sitting in now.
Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly — Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
Dear readers,
Last week I asked you to send me questions I can answer in the newsletter over the summer holiday. I received plenty of sweet, thoughtful, and curious questions, thank you very much.
I promise to answer every single one of your questions over the next weeks. And should you have a new question, please do not hesitate to reply to this email, because in that way we can make the holiday last longer.
With care,
Kristoffer
EYE CANDY
ASK ME ANYTHING
I’m using the holiday season to answer your questions for me. So if you have anything you’d like to ask me, big or small, important or not, please hit reply to this email and I’ll answer your question within the next weeks.
Reader: What makes you hopeful for the future of the world?
Kristoffer: I’m not. Neither do I find myself in a position to be fearful. I believe my intellect and senses are too limited to judge the desirable faith of something as complex and entangled as the future of the world. I also don’t have sufficient faith in technological progress, capitalism, religion, or any of the other major narratives that otherwise would provide me with an order of the world from which I could be hopeful.
I find a soft calmness in accepting my insignificance. It allows me to focus my energy away from fighting the tide to caring for my immediate environment, shifting away from highbrow principles to daily actions. For example, since I care for gender equality, I should start by taking equal responsibility for our home and Uno. Maybe this answer is unsatisfying for you. In that case, it does make me hopeful that we can forget and be forgotten. The Earth has been good at that for 4.5 billion years.
Reader: What are you reading now?
Kristoffer: I’m reading Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘Primeval and Other Times’. The first half of the book is full of my bookmarks, it is so good that I can’t finish it. Her casual portrait of human stupidity and evil gets to my bone in the same way as Lars von Trier’s ‘Dancer in the Dark’. So I might recommend you to start with one of her two other books translated to English.
While I am finding the courage to finish ‘Primeval and Other Times’, I have been reading Amalie Smith’s ‘Marble’, Vigdis Hjort’s ‘Long Live the Post Horn’, Haruki Murakami’s ‘Men Without Women’, and Annie Ernaux’ ‘I Remain in Darkness’. For you specifically, I’d highly recommend Annie Ernaux’ notes on losing her mother. For the other readers, I can’t recommend Amalie Smith’s ‘Marble’ enough.
Reader: What do you wish for your upcoming birthday?
Kristoffer: Books, curated by you. And if you can speed up time, I’d like to wish for Ocean Vuong’s ‘Time is a Mother’, Tove Ditlevsen’s ‘The Trouble With Happiness’, and Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘The Books of Jacob’.
Reader: What would you say to someone who asked you what the meaning of life is?
Kristoffer: Your question is my answer. I believe there is no meaning to life, only the search for meaning. Before you quit your job and sell your house to go searching for meaning, I do want to say, that I find stillness, silence, and darkness, to be enlightening spots to search for meaning. Maybe meaning shines brighter in the pauses of being?
ROADSIDE FLOWERS
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly — Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Last week this letter was sent to 763 people. Thirtytwo are crazy enough to chip in every month/year to support me making time to write. Logo by Studio Hollywood. Print by Luka. Photograph by Ana Santl.