off season in the cyber studio
a visual poem, reader replies, and our online lives
Hi friends,
An extra hello to those of you who discovered hyperdisciplinary through my narrative strategy piece. You've joined during off-season, where I muck around and throw paint on the walls of this cyber studio. A time for the neurons to run amok before lining back up for the next thinky piece.
Like how yesterday I was listening to Kendrick while trying to read George Saunders while transferring metro lines in DC, which feels akin to playing DDR on extreme while getting brain surgery next to Radio Raheem's boombox. By the third paragraph I swapped out the tunes for Doja Cat, which added no more cohesion to the reading experience.
This is all to say: somehow the below relates to strategy-making; interpret it on your own.
the poem: breath where you least expect
Today we start with a visual poem, inspired by the weird wondrous state of existing in NYC. Thanks to Behzod Sirjani for the image. Sign up here for Yet Another Memory, his newsletter delivering a daily photo and words from the heart.
To first cleanse the palate — an excerpt from Joy Harjo's "The Path to the Milky Way Leads Through Los Angeles":
We matter to somebody,
We must matter to the strange god who imagines us as we revolve together in the dark sky on the path to the Milky Way.
We can’t easily see that starry road from the perspective of the crossing of boulevards, can’t hear it in the whine of civilization or taste the minerals of planets in hamburgers.
But we can buy a map here of the stars’ homes, dial a tone for dangerous love, choose from several brands of water or a hiss of oxygen for gentle rejuvenation.
friends who talk: coming soon
I’m producing the next edition of friends who talk, an editorial series where I gather weirdo friendos to chat on topics related to our on/offline lives. HK-based Eugene Kan and Charis Poon join me to noodle on tech and creativity and community, supported by Midjourney visuals (the free DALL·E). Experimenting with form for this one so if you’re interested in pre-reading and giving feedback on the UX, let me know.
Catch up on the last two editions below — also jazzed to finally share back reader commentary:
The messy, unscalable intimacy of community
with Jess Waal and Anyā Likhitha
“As somebody completely outside the tech / social media industry (grinding mechanism machine?), this conversation was fascinating. But even though a lot of the industry jargon was new to me, I still saw resonances with the theatre industry—especially when it comes to questions around community engagement.
Because who is your community, really? Acknowledging that the vast majority, if not nearly 90%, of longstanding regional theatres are some combination of a) led by white senior staff; b) led by a mainly white board; and c) have an audience that is primarily white, rich, and 65+. You can't discard that audience just because they reflect badly on the communities you now, as a theatre with enlightened politics and understanding, want to serve.
So—the opportunity, as I understand it, is to build community with humility and awareness of your past history, without foregrounding that past as the reason WHY you want to expand who you serve, and how. You know: simple! Especially for organizations who are learning as they do. Which as we all know personally, is not an inherently graceful process.”
— Sarah Cooke. Sign up here for Small Good Things, her newsletter delivering…you guessed it :)
“This was a fascinating issue! “Democratize, decentralize. (But don't unionize!).” What a perfect way to summarize how for-profit companies take the language of movement builders without taking on the values of collective work.
I’m thinking a lot about community these days—probably because I feel my current circumstances lack it most, so your conversation resonates. Even moreso as I watch my workplace struggle to create community virtually, and through what are ultimately business transactions.”
— Secret anon subscriber (̿▀̿ ̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿)̄
The aesthetics of tech
with Kelly Pendergrast, Kyle Paoletta (check out his upcoming book, American Oasis!), and Behzod Sirjani
“I've really appreciated your newsletters – thanks for taking the time to put them together and covering such interesting intersections.
Re the invisibility of technology and smart home devices in particular, I'm very interested in the ethics of inviting someone into your home with such a device or being invited. When we look at the invisibility of something like Google Glass, it most frequently happens in public, where there is already a degree of acceptance of loss of privacy (the ethics of it notwithstanding). But the home device is in a private space. And it’s one thing when all members of a household agree to its presence. Or at least know about it. But it seems a lot trickier when a guest comes into that private space, perhaps expecting a degree of privacy.”
— Another secret subscriber (⌐■_■)
want more?
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off season in the cyber studio
That Joy Hard poem—OH. "We must matter to the strange god who imagines us as we revolve together in the dark sky on the path to the Milky Way." Yes yes & yes.
And I happen to love these studio pieces! There's a really lovely freedom to your writing and work in that environment, and it's a joy to see "the [your!!] neurons run amok."