Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
Today marks the second Friday in a row that Debbie and I have been slowed by COVID. In hindsight I appreciate the forced slow-down. I am especially grateful to the colleagues and clients who have allowed me the space to pause, and to the friends, neighbors and family who help us.
Happy Friday, with a deep bow to veterans worldwide.
Design, Futures Thinking
Changing the focus from a human-centric approach to human rights will help us advance environmental agendas with an inter-species recognition.
"The recent UN General Assembly’s historic recognition of the right to a healthy environment and the proliferation of rights of nature legislation and jurisprudence are not isolated developments. On the contrary, they are part of a broader interest in charting a new relationship with nature which is evident in many fields, from the sciences to the humanities and arts to culture and spirituality.
"I believe that this 'ecological turn' poses one of the most potent challenges and offers some of the most promising responses to the shortcomings of human rights concepts and practice. If we are to fully embrace the potential of this paradigm shift, we would do well to follow the lead of the scientific fields that Richard Powers has eloquently called the 'humbling sciences'—ecology, botany, ethology, mycology, microbiology, geology, chemistry, and other natural sciences—that are effectively blurring the categorical distinction between humans and non-humans, as well as challenging the anthropocentrism and human supremacism that has dominated fields like human rights. In so doing, the humbling sciences are joining the much older claims of Indigenous cultures that are based on the inseparability of humans and nature and are couched in a 'grammar of animacy' that recognizes human and non-human life and agency alike." - César Rodríguez-Garavito
Article: More Than Human Rights: What Can We Learn from Trees, Animals, and Fungi?
Futures Thinking
What you can’t imagine clearly, you value less.
 Sangil “Arthur” Lee
"What makes us discount the future? Sangil “Arthur” Lee, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, in a new study with his colleagues, pins it at least partly on our powers of imagination. When we think about what hasn’t yet happened, it tends to be abstract. Things right now, on the other hand, we think of in more tangible terms. Several behavioral studies have supported the idea that what we cannot clearly imagine, we value less. We tend to have more intense emotional feelings about things we can imagine vividly. Being depressed doesn’t look like anything in particular, but a vision of a diabetic patient on dialysis can be disturbing. In fact, having depression is generally much worse than having diabetes. Yet people tend to say they’d prefer to get depression. Since future things are similarly thought of more abstractly, we feel less emotional about them and underestimate their value." - Jim Davies
Article: Why Your Brain Isn’t Into the Future
Communications, Relationships
Research: "People routinely misunderstand how others will react to their honesty because they misunderstand how people react to honesty in general."
“'People generally assume that others will react negatively towards increased honesty,' study co-author Emma Levine, an assistant professor at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, tells Quartz. 'As a result, people assume that honest conversations will be personally distressing and harm their relationships. In reality, honesty is much more enjoyable and less harmful for relationships than people anticipate. In fact, focusing on honesty when communicating is no less enjoyable and no more harmful for individuals’ relationships than normal communication or communication that focuses on kindness.'”
Article: Psychologists Have Great News for People Afraid of Being Totally Honest
Communications, Writing
"Literature should not disappear up its own asshole," and other craft imperatives
Vonnegut is known for his use of the Smith-Corona 2200 typewriter. This one is on display at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis. Photo by Sarah Rose Sharp
Emily Temple describes Kurt Vonnegut as "one of the greatest American writers—and, no matter how he tried to deny it, one of the greatest writing teachers. Certainly one of the greatest writing advice list-makers, at any rate. Vonnegut’s many thoughts on writing have been widely shared, taught, studied and adapted (designer Maya Eilam’s infographic-ized version of his 'shapes of stories' lecture springs vividly to mind) because his advice tends to be straightforward, generous, and (most importantly) right.
"Plus, it’s no-nonsense advice with a little bit of nonsense. Like his books, really. Find some of Vonnegut’s greatest writing advice, plucked from interviews, essays, and elsewhere, below—but first, find some of Vonnegut’s greatest life advice right here: 'I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.' Okay, proceed."
Article: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Writing Advice
Learning
The real point about Shinichi Suzuki's method is human potential.
"Suzuki (pictured in Tokyo, in 1967) was convinced that children could learn music the way that children learn language—naturally, through ample exposure and repetition." Photograph by Hiroji Kubota / Magnum
"What matters most is not making music but finding meaning in music. A crucial clue to Suzuki’s story here is seeded by his biographer, even if it is easy to miss. Hotta tells us that Suzuki credited his eureka moment, listening to the Elman recording of Schubert, to his having been exposed, not long before, to Tolstoy’s diaries. One form of emotional growth activated another. The range with which we extend our experience of music horizontally may help explain its extraordinary vertical depth. The more connections we make to music, the more significance music has. What we do know is that early exposure to art and music gives kids a longer familiarity with art and music. The sooner you start, the more you sense. It’s a self-evident truth, but self-evident truths can be, for children and countries alike, essential to independence. The parents and nonparents may worry loudly about what the kids sawing away up on the platform are doing and where it will get them, but the kids don’t hear them. They’re making music." - Adam Gopnik
Article: What the Suzuki Method Really Taught
Branding, Visual Identity
Rebranding a modern funeral company that prioritises transparency and choice
"Alex Ostrowski, founder and creative director at Lovers, says: 'This is such a sacred topic to help portray.' It was only through a process of shadowing the team at Poppy’s that Lovers arrived at a way to approach the brief. Its response is built on the thoughtful communication and openness central to the way Poppy’s works." - Liz Gorny
Article: “Death and Branding Don’t Often Meet”: Lovers Rebrands Funeral Company Poppy’s
Advertising, Social Messaging, Corporate Social Responsibility
What it means to stretch for another
I am a sucker for emo-ads, and this one brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes every time I watch it.
It opens with a middle-age man learning how to skate board. He fails magnificently, again and again. But he never gives up. The reason isn't revealed until the closing frames where we learn that he and his wife have invited a foster kid into their home, a kid who skates.
The ad is the annual holiday ad for John Lewis and Partners, a high-end department store in the UK. The ad's effectiveness is revealed by the fact that most of the on-line comments about it are from people who were once in the child care system themselves.
"As someone who’s been in the care system myself as a child, this really feels close to home. And it did make me shed a tear, that's how I know it’s a John Lewis advert. And it does make you think about how powerful adverts can be, even if they are simple and basic."
Beautiful.
Video: The Beginner | John Lewis & Partners | Christmas Ad 2022
One-Liners
Article: Wealth redistribution promotes happiness
Article: Life would be better if we added this line to every email
Article: The trend to mend: how repair shops are leading a fixing revolution
Article: Thousands have joined Mastodon since Twitter changed hands. Its founder has a vision for democratizing social media
Article: Want to build affordable housing in the heart of Paris? Make it chic.
Playlist
My brother Dale turned me on to Yo La Tengo in 1992 when he gave me a vinyl copy of their fifth studio album, May I Sing With Me, as a birthday gift. I have been a serious fan ever since. So I was thrilled a few weeks ago when one of my favorite music writers, Kevin Alexander, celebrated their staying power in his always worthwhile letter, On Repeat.
"Early 90s indie music was marked by a lot of bands burning bright & burning fast.
"They came, they rocked, and they imploded. Often in spectacular fashion. Some never to be heard from again. Others climbed out of the wreckage of one band and went to form a new one with a new sound. Meanwhile, Yo La Tengo was always there, steady as ever and churning out records.
"They were content to be your favorite band's favorite band...." - Kevin Alexander
Then this week I was doubly thrilled to learn that the band has a new album, This Stupid World, that they will release in February. And that this week they dropped a song from that album.
Sometimes same as it ever was is just right.
RIP: Low’s Mimi Parker Has Died
Image of the Week
Steward Second Class Allen Wallace of Springfield, Ohio. Photo by Zach Coco
"As a member of the only African American family in a rural Ohio town, Allen Wallace faced discrimination from an early age. In high school, he was barred from competing in athletic events and voted 'least likely to succeed' by his classmates. Even the mayor exhibited blatant racism, pressuring the school system into holding Wallace back so the local leader’s son wouldn’t end up in the same class as him.
"After Wallace joined the Navy as a steward in 1943, he continued to experience pervasive prejudice—a recurring theme echoed by many black, Hispanic and Asian American veterans. But he refused to accept this treatment, instead acting with dignity and adhering to advice offered by his father: 'If you are a man, be a man.' Thanks in large part to this outlook on life, Wallace told Coco, he eventually won the respect of his white officers and fellow sailors." - Meilan Solly
Article: See 12 Stunning Portraits of World War II Veterans
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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