no. 19: when life gives you 🍋,

making meaning out of the raw material at hand

Hi friends,

YouTube recommendations have been getting more and more niche, and this week our home page featured a video of a baby barn owl hearing thunder for the first time. We don’t have anything groundbreaking to say about this image, apart from the fact that this owl’s expression oddly seems to resonate with us on a deep level. Been thinking about it all week. 

This is the last week before our minds become cluttered again with useless textbook knowledge, so it’s a good time to share more creative snippets! To the readers who, like us, are starting school again – may this baby barn owl be your good luck charm for the weeks ahead. 

J:

Dear Senior Justine,

In freshman year, I started a tradition: at the end of every semester, I’d write myself a letter. They are less so streams of consciousness than they are tidal waves: countless observations, memories I wanted to preserve, lessons learned, hopelessly optimistic resolutions. 

some of my favorite discoveries:

(while this one didn’t age well, it still makes me smile. In hindsight, 2019 was a solid year)

To be honest, calling this a tradition is still a bit of a stretch. After digging through my Evernote archives, it seems that I only kept this up for the first two years of college. My most recent note - what would have been an ode to my junior spring - remains blank. 

I am known to go symbol-searching at times, but this does seem like a very accurate representation of my brain right now. Still trying to process everything that did (and didn’t) happen, and now in disbelief that my last year of college begins in just a few days.  

I guess this week’s big ideas section is a way of reminding myself to find time to keep up this old habit. As temptingly poetic as a blank page can be, I do miss coming across these old letters. The variation in thought amuses me: important conclusions about the inner workings of the male brain followed by highlights from the dining hall dinner menu. For freshman Justine, both can be of equal importance.

(To the sweet potato fries at Stommons - I hope we’ll see each other soon.)

N:

The essence of the thing is the thing itself?

(more writing here)

I’ve come to the conclusion that the hardest thing about writing is forming complete and meaningful thoughts. It’s so easy to spout a string of beautiful words, but far more difficult for those words to carry significance. 

Sometimes, we are too in love with our wordy expressions and this obstructs elegance in thought. In thinking about this topic, I remember being in awe of Haruki Murakami’s translation/writing process. He independently translated some of his Japanese novels to English then back into Japanese in order to keep only the most essential words on the page.

It reminded me of Picasso’s ‘Abstraction from Realism’ where in his sketches his final product was the essential ‘bare bones’ nature of the animal, rather than the realistic one. 

This is a skill I’m still fumbling to learn: to build up and then pare back down.To find what is left after things have been shaken up, the dust has settled, and hold onto it. 

New Writing

 ‘for now’ (fiction, still unedited, but it’s cool to share the process!)

‘something recognized’ on labelling ourselves in society

J:

In one of the first Kopi Club newsletters, I wrote about this idea of songs-as-memories. Songs that take you back to a specific moment in time: a long train ride, a friend’s birthday party, a solo walk in the city. After spending so much time at home, it only seems fitting that the Summer 2020 equivalent is associating particular songs with different household chores. Here are some highlights from what I’m calling “Homebody: The Official Soundtrack” 

1. For wrestling my quilt when making my bed: Shakedown Street by Poolside 

2. For disinfecting the kitchen counter after a successful (but messy) cook: Moon Pie by Papooz 

3. For folding laundry at 11 PM: Peter Pan by Polo y Pan

N:

I am loving this new podcast I found called ‘Behind Her Empire’ by Yasmin Nouri which showcases personal stories of female CEOs, founders, and investors. 

New App Alert: Mixing podcasts and music into workouts with Shift (another incredible Product Hunt find… thinking of documenting these at this point, I’ve found so many gems)

J:

Purple Justine is Back 

For those of you that have yet to be acquainted with my true persona, 

Meet @purple_justine. 

It is no understatement when I say that everything in my wardrobe as a kid (even the classic 2010’s rectangular glasses) was the same garish shade of purple. It’s a strong departure from the current state of my belongings, which appears to be an exercise in identifying every possible variation of the color beige. 

As it turns out, I missed my alter ego. While I will still forever stand by my neutrals, there’s something about being around the color purple that puts me in a great mood. 

Here are some recent purple_justine highlights:

N:

And from @hey.luisa some cool hot air balloons made out of fruit 

J:

“In leisure, there is…something of the serenity of ‘not-being-able-to-grasp,’ of the recognition of the mysterious character of the world, and the confidence of blind faith, which can let things go as they will.” - Josef Pieper

N:

“Break often – not like porcelain, but like waves.” – Scherezade Siobhan

J:

Some Comic Relief, I Guess: 

Hearing your apartment’s fire alarm go off while in the shower seems very on-brand for this year. This is a nightmare I’ve played out many times in my head; it feels only fitting that it finally happened, in 2020.

N:

A Positively Disheveled Picture of My Dog (a *ruff* day… if I might say so…)

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Hugs,

J & N