Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
This week the Hummingbirds left. On Sunday they were here. On Monday they weren't.
Debbie wears a T-shirt that proclaims: "It is weird being as old as old people."
This is how it happens. The Hummingbirds leave again.
Happy Friday. Happy Equinox.
Futures Thinking
"Set in 2062, The Jetsons captured the technological optimism of 1962 by inviting viewers to imagine the dazzling possibilities that a wave of technological achievement could one day realize."
The technology that Jane Jetson used to talk with her husband, George, looks eerily similar to the first iMac. Photo illustration by Slate. Images via Hanna-Barbera Productions and Apple.
"While The Jetsons might have made fun of the easy lifestyles that the technological future would produce, it completely missed the impact on the humans who would live in that future. It did not speculate about what would become of our bodies if we were to eliminate physical movement from our days; if we were to abandon cooking and feed ourselves with food prepared by machines; if we were to forego nature and deprive ourselves of its sights, sounds and smells. There was no recognition, no anticipation of the consequences to our health. In fact, nearly all the characters in The Jetsons are (cartoonishly) skinny.
"...That task would be left to another cartoon: Pixar’s 2008 animated film Wall-E, in which morbidly bloated humans were shuttled around on reclined “hoverchairs,” with built-in screens and with sodas available on demand, delivered by drones (a sort of aerial refueling, perhaps). In this world, humans had become so physically dependent on their technology that, once fallen, they literally could not get up." - Stephen J. Downes
Article: The Jetsons, Now 60 Years Old, Is Iconic. That’s a Problem.
How We Live
Physician Gabor Maté argues that we’ve created a world that’s fundamentally unhealthy.
“'The Myth of Normal' seemingly arrives at just the right moment. The Covid-19 pandemic, inequality, climate change, and political divisiveness have contributed to a creeping sense, for many people, that something is fundamentally awry. Mental health diagnoses are escalating across the developed world in all age categories, Maté points out, with 21 percent of U.S. adults — or nearly 53 million Americans — experiencing mental illness in 2020. And all of this is in spite of 'spectacular economic, technological, and medical resources,' he writes.
"Yet the reasons behind this suffering remain elusive, as do the solutions. For Maté, though, it’s not that we’re getting sicker, it’s that 'our social and economic culture generates chronic stressors that undermine well-being in the most serious of ways.'” - Rachel Nuwer
Book Review: Exploring the Root of What Ails Us
Futures Thinking, Story
"In 19th century Iceland, reframing aggressive nature as a source of belonging shaped a myth that built a more resilient future. We can do the same."
"Abilities to proactively, and equitably, adapt are shaped by stories of whose security and safety is deemed important, what safe and secure conditions look like, and how much control is required to make them real.
"As 19th century Icelanders showed, shifting those stories of security and change is possible. Collective myths spur and shape collective action. Fiction and imagination are extraordinary shared tools, ones that allow us to craft new identities and ideas about what we value most. Regardless of age or size, all nations, cities, and communities are the product of shared fictions. Those fictions are both constantly re-written and fundamentally shape the directions we choose to take. Challenging ideas of identity and land can be a powerful means of telling new stories about the paths we want to take moving forward.
"For some, the trail to the Fagradalsfjall fissure offers a version of what those new stories could be. Getting close to the lava makes many hikers cry. Groups stand with mouths agape, hands pressed against their cheeks. They sit, sometimes for hours, mesmerized as the lava unfurls. Maybe it’s the force of the planet revealing itself that sparks their awe. Maybe the magma pulses remind them of the bigger geological picture, that human life exists on thin crusts of rock and soil floating on molten metals burning nearly as hot as the sun. People cling to each other as they watch, reaching out as the earth flames and shifts before them, making itself anew, building its future from its past." - Johanna Hoffman
Article: Mythmaking for Burning Ground
How We Live
We all need "cognability", no matter our age.
"People who live in neighborhoods with ready access to civic and social organizations display higher cognitive scores than those who live in neighborhoods with no immediate access to such organizations." (Credit: Getty Images)
"A new interactive map allows you to plug in your address and assess how your neighborhood could support healthy cognitive aging, a theory the researchers call “cognability.”
"The study in Social Science & Medicine shows that unequal distribution of hazards such as pollution and access to amenities such as museums and recreation centers, and civic organizations, where people can gather and connect, may help account for inequities in cognitive health among older adults.
“'I wanted to think about how neighborhoods contribute to risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia,' says Jessica Finlay, a research investigator at the Institute for Social Research Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.
“'There are hints in the literature that neighborhoods actually could play a really big role, but they’re largely overlooked. We don’t often pay attention to the neighborhood context for people as they develop and navigate cognitive decline as they age. The goal is to make this work accessible.'”
Article: Try It: Map Rates How Well Your Neighborhood Protects Cognition
Social Messaging, Graphic Design
"Making the Movement: How Activists Fought for Civil Rights with Buttons, Flyers, Pins, & Posters"
"Protest graphics are the products of a specific kind of urgency. This vital energy does not serve the time-pressured needs of a brand message or the clarion call of capitalism for design to grease the wheels of our economic engines. The buttons, pamphlets, flyers, and posters in this volume, from multiple generations in the Civil Rights struggle, are fury made visible. Across time and space, the objects in this volume capture a series of calls and responses of the dire needs of Black communities in pain, networks of human beings fighting for civil rights who have faced and continue to face oppression. Each material artifact shown speaks to the demands of activists making designs in matters of life and death.
"Call-and-response is a musical structure that is made up of two phrases that form a rhythmic dialogue. This pattern of musical refrain begins with an initiator who makes a “call.” That opening phrase can be sung, played, or danced, or it can be a medley of all three, and it is always answered by a reciprocal expressive response. Call-and-response as a musical structure has its origins in African music—though you also find it in African American gospel and rhythm and blues, Colombian cumbia, and Peruvian huachihualo forms. This multiplicity of geographies and diasporas was created by the forced migration of Africans through the transatlantic slave trade. The resulting musical aesthetics highlight improvisation and collaboration—skills necessary for community cohesion as conquests by colonial empires stretched across the Americas." - Silas Munro
Book Excerpt: Fury Made Visible: Call and Response for Civil Rights through Graphic Design
Branding, Visual Identity, Circular Economy
A new sustainable household goods brand is trying to turn the tide on plastic waste
"HoldOn’s compostable tie and toss bags are made from biodegradable polymer PBAT, polylactic acid derived from organic, renewable sources and cornstarch. Once the bags hit a landfill, they dissolve in a matter of weeks—not years—when exposed to heat and air. Additionally, they emit no methane gas or toxic residue as they degrade. As a product that transforms mundane chores into a gratifying experience, HoldOn positions itself as a no-brainer alternative suggesting that sustainability doesn’t have to be this hard." - Nooneh Gyurjyan
Article: HoldOn: A Plant-Based Trash Bag for a Sustainable Future
Retail
How grocers and brands can enhance the store to make it a richer and more communal experience for shoppers
"New research from the PSFK team shows that America still values their grocery store trip and this presents opportunities for both the retailers and the brands whose products are sold there. For a start, shoppers want to get more out of a trip – the rise in dining options is well reported but people also want spaces to meet up, learn, get fit and bank. There's a real opportunity for a consumer brand to come in and develop additional services within the store – and earn brand-love, loyalty and drive in-direct sales.
"Too often, retailers are investing in the wrong technology in the store. Sure, give people optimized purchase paths when online but no one wants the greeter to welcome them by name. Step away from the investments in personalization and meal planning apps – and just tool up people's phones so they can scan and pay from the aisle. They also want their phones to find out a lot more about the product, its journey and its impact (e.g. Carrefour)
"And maybe the biggest opportunity can be found when we truly understand that the local store is a cornerstone of the community. Our grocery store is where people see each other, it's where they earn money, it's where they make deliveries too and from. As such, folks want stores to be accessible to all members of the community and they want them to lead when it comes to sustainability – so that the local environment is cared for (e.g. at Kroger)." - PSFK
Article: People Love Their Local Store, They Want Brands To Love It Too
One-liners
Article: Doctors in Brussels are prescribing free museum vsits
Article: Increasing the density and use of green spaces within urban environments has been found to decrease the amount of loneliness felt by the population.
Article: Current status of world’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Article: Americans’ civics knowledge has dipped again.
Playlist
Sometimes only rock and roll will do, and few today deliver it as consistently as Courtney Barnett. This week she brought a band to Late Night with Seth Meyers and rocked the house. They performed "Turning Green,” a cut from her 2021 album Things Take Time, Take Time, a song that closes with a satisfyingly crunchy fuzz guitar and feedback solo. Rock and roll is best played live.
Video: Courtney Barnett: Turning Green
Image of the Week
From the series Newsstands, 2012-2019, by Trevor Traynor
"On 7/17/12 I shot my 1st newsstand near 6th Ave & 46th St. Drawn in by the vibrant colors & organized product placement, this series began its journey providing an instant time stamp via magazine covers and headlines.
"All photographs were shot on the iPhone 4s - 11promax.
"Cities included: New York, Jersey City, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Barcelona, Lima, Cusco, Punta Arenas, Venice, Milan, Rome, Naples, Pozzuoli, Jerusalem, Dar Es Salaam, Tokyo, Kamakura, Cairo, Marrakesh." - Trevor Traynor
Portfolio: Trevor Traynor, Newsstands
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.
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