Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
This Wednesday was special.
In 2019 I invited Tony Beranek and Jeffrey Weaver to join me on some client projects. I had met each just once in person, and they had never met each other. We began working virtually, with no idea that a pandemic would keep us from being together physically for more than two years.
This week, after working together remotely and very successfully since then, Tony visited the valley from Chicago. On Wednesday the three of us hung out in real life for the very first time.
Cool news. The trusting field we had planted digitally took root easily in Jeffrey's very groovy living room in Hatfield. He hand-picked some amazing vinyl, poured one of the valley's best beers, and we had pizza delivered.
During this delightful hang Tony shared an insight from Ram Dass: "We are all just walking each other home."
Happy Friday.
History, Futures Thinking
"No matter how terrible things are, people can usually make a change for the better. That’s not wishful thinking, but the very essence of history."
"If we think the world has always been the same, and that how we live now is the only way for humans to live, then it’s natural to feel that change is impossible and that the problems we face are unsolvable. Even if things are very unfair, what can we do? That’s just how the world is, we tell ourselves. But by studying history we learn that humans didn’t always live like we do, and that the world is changing all the time. People made the world what it is – and people can therefore change it. Of course, that’s no easy task, but it’s been done many times before.
"That’s why history is so powerful. It is the key to changing the world. So much so that, in many places, governments are afraid of history. Leaders seldom ban people from learning mathematics or physics. But many governments forbid people – and especially young people – from learning at least certain parts of history. It all goes back to those dead kings who ruled thousands of years ago, their icy hands reaching out from beyond the grave to grasp our minds and freeze change.
"After all, it was those long-dead kings who invented and spread various stories about gods, nations, money and love that so many people today still believe and adhere to. To gain some freedom from these narratives and behave differently we need to understand how they were created and spread in the first place. Otherwise, we will never see them for what they are: just stories. Children asking 'why?' are a powerful force that can rock these old tales to their foundations." - Yuval Noah Harari
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestselling Sapiens, released his latest book, Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World, this week.
Article: To Change Our Future, We Should Change How We Teach History to Children
Evolution, How We Live
How grandmothers may have helped our species evolve social skills and longer lives
"According to the hypothesis, grandmothers can help collect food and feed children before they are able to feed themselves, enabling mothers to have more children." Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas via Pexels
"For years, anthropologists and evolutionary biologists have struggled to explain the existence of menopause, a life stage that humans do not share with our primate relatives. Why would it be beneficial for females to stop being able to have children with decades still left to live?
"According to a study published (this week) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the answer is grandmothers. 'Grandmothering was the initial step toward making us who we are,' says senior author Kristen Hawkes, an anthropologist at the University of Utah. In 1997 Hawkes proposed the 'grandmother hypothesis,' a theory that explains menopause by citing the under-appreciated evolutionary value of grandmothering. Hawkes says that grandmothering helped us to develop 'a whole array of social capacities that are then the foundation for the evolution of other distinctly human traits, including pair bonding, bigger brains, learning new skills and our tendency for cooperation.”' - Joseph Stromberg
Article: New Evidence That Grandmothers Were Crucial for Human Evolution
Evolution, How We Live
How evolution made us laugh
"Everyone laughs. And most people, most of the time, would prefer to have more of it than less. So it’s no surprise we like to be around people who can get us laughing. The fact that everyone wants to laugh suggests that laughing did something big in our evolutionary history. But what? Robin Dunbar, who heads the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, has an intriguing proposal: Laughter is what allowed human social bonding to scale with the increasing size of our groups beyond what conventional forms of social grooming, between closely tied individuals, could possibly provide. When primates groom one another, combing through fur to remove entangled bits and pieces of vegetation and bugs, the hand movements trigger the brain’s endorphin system, which, according to Dunbar, underpins the creation of friendships in primates and possibly other mammals.
"As our societies grew, we needed something that could work more efficiently in holding us together." - Brian Gallagher
Article: Why is That Funny?
Community, How We Live
Communes are on the rise, but we’ve been here before.
Coleridge followed Wordsworth to the Lake District. Photograph: Simon Whaley Landscapes/Alamy
"Friends who have lived in communes tell me the worst thing is the endless meetings. All those issues a household bickers into resolution – who will sort the recycling, who finished the milk – are decided by committee. Yet from Findhorn ecovillage in Moray to the co-housing community at Postlip Hall, in Gloucestershire, Britain has more than 400 “intentional communities” or communes, and in the post-Covid era they’re fielding more inquiries than ever.
"Some people turn to co-housing to be able to afford a roof over their head. But many, according to the website of umbrella organisation Diggers & Dreamers, are looking for a more values-led, potentially unorthodox way of life. There are echoes of the 1960s and 70s experiments in communal self-sufficiency, when food was farmed organically, kids were home-schooled and some communities went entirely off-grid. But the roots of the movement go much further back than that." - Fiona Sampson
Article: From Romantics to 21st Century Radicals: Coleridge, Shelley and the Roots of Communal Living
Corporate Social Responsibility, Branding
Public stances and donations are being considered as people decide where to shop.
"A recent report from Horizon Media found that in addition to addressing pricing concerns amid inflation, brands can “gain a significant amount of favor by contributing to solutions” people are most concerned about, including the climate crisis.
"With costs up and midterms on the horizon, experts said people are thinking critically not just about which politicians should get their vote, but which brands should get their business—based on where they stand and how they spend their money." - Katie Hicks
Article: Customers are Researching Brand Stances and Voting with Their Dollar Ahead of the Midterms
Community, Living With Nature
"Gardening has the power to help us as a society regain feelings of freedom and peacefulness."
Ron Finley is the ‘Gangsta Gardener’ who fought back against LA's law and won the right to plant in public spaces. Photo by Lucky Atkare
"How does gardening fit into the modern world? At odds with screens, instant gratification, and rigid timelines, the ancient and venerable practice remains a constant in many cultures. And moreover, new, communal forms of gardening are spreading across the globe, often in connection with creative and cultural spaces.
"While gardening has been around for centuries, recent years have seen sharp surge of interest in the natural world. During the Covid-19 pandemic, mandated isolation prevented many from going further than their garden gate and fueled a new attentiveness to (perhaps neglected) rose bushes and unruly weeds. But the past years also coincided with a wider draw towards the earth, towards self-sufficiency, paired with a keener, sharper understanding of a flawed system.
"Departing from traditional forms of gardening, many creatives began to explore gardening and farming on their own terms, harnessing it as a tool for gathering people, sharing skills and perspectives, and expressing resistance. In awe of this diversity, (we) spoke to the founders of four gardening projects about their own interpretation and approaches to gardening." - Friends of Friends
Article: What Community Gardens Can Teach Us About Creativity, Advocacy, and Navigating the Present
Advertising, Social Messaging
How did the campaign behind the Partnership for a Drug Free America’s iconic commercials develop, and why were its products so memorable?
An advertisement by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America
One of my all-time favorite Onion headlines is "Drugs Win War on Drugs."
This is a great article on the ad campaign that sparked that war. What made the ads in this campaign so iconic? Writing in Journal of Social History, Joseph Moreau says: “Television advertising necessitates a relatively straightforward style, but this spot goes well beyond the demands of the medium. It relies on a conscious, unapologetic refusal to engage in debate with a hypothetical opponent.” Any questions?
Article: The Story Behind “This is Your Brain on Drugs”
One-Liners
Article: Why is the American right suddenly so interested in psychedelic drugs?
Article: A U.K survey finds that younger workers are more likely to return to the office if there’s art around.
Article: Queens is now home to the biggest curbside composting initiative in the nation.
Article: There’s a reason you love Scandinavian design so much.
Playlist
Ángela Álvarez at the Ávalon Theater in Los Angeles.
"The reboot of the film 'Father of the Bride' has three important revelations: Gloria Estefan’s growth as an actress; how spectacular Miami looks on the big screen; and the clear and magnificent voice of Ángela Álvarez singing 'Quiéreme mucho.'
"Who was that beautiful lady singing one of the most beloved tunes in the Cuban songbook over Arturo Sandoval’s trumpet? And how is it that we are just discovering this talent?
"Better late than never. That 95-year-old, who played Aunt Pili in the film, was nominated for Best New Artist by the Latin Grammy Awards for her album 'Angela,' produced by her grandson, Carlos José Álvarez, a film soundtrack composer who grew up listening to her sing at family gatherings." - Sarah Moreno
Song: Quiéreme mucho
Album: Ángela Álvarez
Article: Meet the 95-Year-Old Cuban Singer Nominated for a Latin Grammy as Best New Artist
Image of the Week
Lace Collocation by Minghui Yuan
Article: International Garden Photographer Of The Year Macro Art Winners
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.
|
