Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
Wendell Berry was born on this day in 1934. His thinking, writing and life by example have had a profound affect on me, and I suspect you, too. Happy birthday, Wendell. Thank you.
Happy Friday.
How We Live
Things that make Lyz Lenz's readers feel hopeful
Photo by Matthew Hintz, MplsStPaul Magazine
Lyz Lenz publishes one of my favorite newsletters, Men Yell at Me, a letter she describes as sitting "at the intersection of patriarchy and politics in red state America. Think of reading this newsletter as sitting down with a good friend over bourbon and yelling about politics and chatting about life. This newsletter is personal, political, sometimes funny, and always raises hell."
To this accurate description I'd add that because she is so personal the letter is often moving, and it is way more than 'sometimes funny'. It is often hilarious, especially her weekly column, Dingus of the Week.
This week she shared that she is "reading Rebecca Solnit's Orwell's Roses and thinking a lot about the things we look to for comfort, and solace, and meaning in times of loss and despair. So as the summer blazes away, let me know the people and stories and things that are giving you hope right now."
The resulting conversation with her readers is so welcome. You're right, Kay Martinez, I do feel that with my wife and ex and her husband, putting two non-toxic males out into the world makes me feel really hopeful. Not to mention, in your words, "a daughter who appreciates such men".
Thank you, Lyz.
Thread: Things That Give You Hope
Learning
Updating the way we look at the world is critical now, and so hard. How can we get better at doing it?
"You’re not ready for what’s coming.
"You’re also not alone in your unreadiness.
"I increasingly think none of us are ready. We’re not ready for the depth of planetary crisis we already find ourselves in, and completely unprepared for what's on the way.
"Here’s the biggest way we’re not ready: We’re trying to understand an unprecedented future with the worldviews of an older age, formed on a different planet. We’re working with slightly broken brains." - Alex Steffen
Article: Old Thinking Will Break Your Brain.
How We Live
We need to see and embrace a bigger story of who we are as humans.
"Over the past few years we have been researching a book called Citizens, in which we propose a more hopeful narrative for the 21st Century. In this future, people are citizens, rather than subjects or consumers. With this identity, it becomes easier to see that all of us are smarter than any of us. And that the strategy for navigating difficult times is to tap into the diverse ideas, energy and resources of everyone.
"This form of citizenship is not about the passport we hold, and it goes far beyond the duty to vote in elections. It represents the deeper meaning of the word, the etymological roots of which translate literally as "together people": humans defined by our fundamental interdependence, lives meaningless without community. It's a practice rather than a status or possession, almost more verb than noun. As citizens, we look around, identify the domains where we have some influence, find our collaborators, and engage. And, critically, our institutions encourage us to do so.
"Seizing this future, however, will depend on seeing and embracing a bigger story of who we are as humans. So, how do we do that?" - Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad
Article: Citizen Future: Why We Need a New Story of Self and Society
Regenerative Design, Biomimicry
New design paradigms for a planet in crisis
A traditional living root bridge near the Khasi village of Mawlynnong in Meghalaya, northern India. Engineering firm Buro Happold collaborated with members of the local community to imagine how nature-based infrastructure could work in cities. Photography: © Amos Chapple
"It seems a radical idea, but as the climate crisis deepens, ‘sustainable design’ and ‘doing less harm’ are not enough to avert catastrophe – we have to find ways to replenish ecosystems while meeting our own needs. ‘Humans need to return to a state where they are co-evolving with nature,’ says architect and biomimicry expert Michael Pawlyn. ‘If we carry on believing that it is something to be plundered for resources, it will be our undoing.’
"Pawlyn is one of the architects leading the charge for a shift towards ‘regenerative design’, which ‘supports the flourishing of all life, for all time,’ as he puts it in his new book Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-written by Sarah Ichioka. While sustainable design focuses on mitigating problems, regenerative design is about restoring the damage wreaked by human hands, nurturing biodiversity and taking carbon out of the atmosphere while we produce homes, infrastructure, furniture and food. ‘We’ve got to get to a point where we integrate all our activities into the web of life that surrounds us, overcoming our separation from nature,’ adds Pawlyn.
"The architect sees biomimicry – the design of materials or structures modelled on biological systems – as one way forward. ‘We can learn from nature, looking at how it stewards things in closed-loop cycles,’ he says. His practice, Exploration Architecture, co-initiated the Sahara Forest Project Foundation, an environmental platform that aims to revegetate low-lying desert areas and grow food. The 2012 pilot plant in Qatar incorporated a greenhouse inspired by the Namibian fog-basking beetle’s method of harvesting fresh water in the desert, quickly returning biodiversity to this arid region." - Malaika Byng
Article: Regenerative Design: Meet the Creatives Taking a Rooting Interest in Learning from Nature
Linguistics
We never known the term 'Ambient Stress' before. Now we do.
I follow Stowe Boyd for his futures thinking, specifically about the future of work. This week he compiled a list of five new terms we never knew before, but that we need now.
Article: New Terms for New Times
Branding
Good thinking about modern brand architecture
Barkley describe themselves as "an independent creative idea company that builds whole brands for modern consumers, employees and all stakeholders." They promote an idea that they call The Whole Brand. They define a whole brand "as one that sees everything it does, inside and out, as the brand. Guided by a strong purpose, these brands measure success holistically — looking at profit, performance and the impact they have on the people, planet and communities they serve."
In a very good piece of content marketing, they promote their invitation to potential clients with a State of the Whole Brand report. No, it's not scientifically objective. They are selling themselves, but they've done enough research to be believable, useful and relevant. It's worth giving up your email address to download and read it. Colleagues, clients and readers will recognize themes that I espouse.
Article: How to Build a Whole Brand — and Why You Want to
Download: State of the Whole Brand, 2022
Advertising
"Instead of behavioral ‘science’ this book concentrates on actually selling."
"...But for my generation, old-fashioned was how the craftsmen we learned from did it (Bill Bernbach, David Abbott, John Webster) it’s classic and timeless, the proper way to do it.
"An example of this is a book I’ve just read: Reality in Advertising by Rosser Reeves.
"It was written in 1961 and it’s full of the lessons most people still haven’t learned.
"It begins by debunking the delusion that advertising should only be judged by sales: “It’s a good campaign if sales go up. It’s a bad campaign if sales go down.”
"Reeves gives an entire page of reasons that may affect sales other than advertising.
"Next, he gives examples to convince us that most people don’t even notice our ads, so impact must be paramount.
"He explains why changing a campaign too often is wrong and wasteful.
"He explains how crucial single-mindedness is to communication.
"He explains the difference between an advertisement being merely decorative or functional.
"Most importantly he explains where most advertising goes wrong (and remember this was written 60 years ago)." - Dave Trott
Book Review: Reality in Advertising
One-liners
Article: 1960s children imagine life in the year 2000
Article: The public library is the new WeWork.
Playlist
Video: St. Vincent & Stay Human "Dreams" - The Late Show's Commercial Breakdown
"Last week, St. Vincent had a musical residency on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. At one point during her stay, Annie Clark and the house band Stay Human covered the Fleetwood Mac classic 'Dreams.' The band put a funk and jazz–inflected spin on the standout Rumours single, with solos from guitarist Louis Cato, saxophonist Louis Fouché, and trumpeter Jon Lampley." - Rob Arcand
Have I ever mentioned how much I love a good cover? This band is so good. She is so good with them.
Article: St. Vincent Covers Fleetwood Mac's “Dreams” with Stay Human
Image of the Week
"Duke Riley, #34 of the Poly S. Tyrene Maritime Collection (2019), salvaged painted plastic bottle, 30.5 × 18.4 × 7.6 centimeters Image courtesy of Duke Riley Studio"
"Despite thousands of years of research and an unending fascination with marine creatures, humans have explored only five percent of the oceans covering the majority of the earth’s surface. A forthcoming book from Phaidon dives into the planet’s notoriously vast and mysterious aquatic ecosystems, traveling across the continents and three millennia to uncover the stunning diversity of life below the surface.
"Spanning 352 pages, Ocean, Exploring the Marine World brings together a broad array of images and information ranging from ancient nautical cartography to contemporary shots from photographers like Sebastião Salgado and David Doubilet. The volume presents science and history alongside art and illustration—it features biological renderings by Ernst Haekcl, Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints, and works by artists like Kerry James Marshall, Vincent van Gogh, and Yayoi Kusama—in addition to texts about conservation and the threats the climate crises poses to underwater life." - Grace Ebert
Article: A New Book Plunges into the Vast Diversity of the World’s Oceans Across 3,000 Years
What's Love & Work?
Love & Work is the weekly newsletter by me, Mitch Anthony. I help people use their brand - their purpose, values, and stories - as a pedagogy and toolbox for transformation.
If you get value from Love & Work, please pass it on.
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