Hi friends,
Welcome back to Kopi Club!
It is Week 12, and in light of this checkpoint, we’ve been doing a lot of thinking as to what we want Kopi Club to look like going forward. We’ve thus far been focused on reflection, creative writing, and experimenting. However, we’ve realized that we also want to move more towards a curatorial role. Like friends sharing new favorite songs and exchanging snippets of life through the most recent photos on our camera roll, we want to inject lightheartedness in your mailbox every week and bring back that spirit of shared conversation. This change reflects how creative projects (and ourselves!) are dynamic and always shifting. Likewise, we want this newsletter to continue to grow alongside us.
On fresh starts: we will be releasing Kopi Club every Monday now!
PS: We’ll be including a lot more ~ art and design ~ elements in the coming newsletters; the best way to view Kopi Club is by clicking on the title and going to Substack!
N:
forms of water
Once More to the Lake: an ode to recurring summer and growing old. A father and son relationship. White brings his son to the lake he went to when he was a kid and starts feeling the uncanny feeling that he is simultaneously his child and his father.
Speaking of bodies of water, I’m fascinated by this insightful photo series by Giulio de Sturco which depicts the pollution of the Ganges River, the life source of many Indians.
“If the Ganga lives, India lives. If the Ganga dies, India dies." Vandana Shiva
Finally, David Foster Wallace‘s (author of Infinite Jest) 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College "This Is Water”:
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?” …… The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.”
J:
lessons from arth294
I’ve mentioned this in an earlier newsletter, but one of my favorite classes from last semester was ARTH294: Art Now. It was my first time taking an art history course on modern art, and it’s interesting to see how my perception of that field has shifted since. I used to think that “older” art - works from the Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionist eras - would be the ones soaked in richer histories; that modern art would lack that cultural resonance. But if anything, I almost find it to be almost the opposite now. That modern art feels all the more embedded in important and relevant stories. It’s exciting to see art responding to histories being created now, as opposed to those made centuries ago.
On isolation and quarantine: “Edward Hopper and American Solitude”
(A personal favorite - Sunlight in a Cafeteria, 1958)
This image of David Hammon’s “African American Flag” (1990) printed on the cover of the New York Times
Jenny Holzer’s text-based art, and the many ways her words continue to ring true today
N:
Ocean Vuong, A Life Worthy of Our Breath – on language, its limitations, its connecting qualities, and its importance in a world that seems to value monologues over conversations. Listening to this reminded me why I want to write: that language can shape and beautify the world. That in many respects it can save it.
Lost Songs (Found) 2020 EP by Two Door Cinema Club (I LOVE the techno, funky beat of ‘Tiptoes’)
J:
“At Home With…” is the answer to the question, “what would Nicole and I talk about if we were 30 years old and living in London?”. I’ve been following the podcast hosts, Anna and Lily, on YouTube since I was in high school and I am obsessed with their friendship. I’m also probably an entire decade younger than their target audience, but I feel no shame.
“edna’s back” is my latest Spotify playlist creation, inspired by my recent return to the LOB (for our 30% male audience - the portmanteau LOB means long bob, the signature hairstyle of Incredibles icon, Edna Mode). There are only two versions of myself with short hair: one that feels ashamed of my boyish resemblance to Lord Farquhar, and one that feels confident AF. This playlist is in honor of the latter.
N:
Exercise doesn’t have to be intense and all-consuming. Sometimes it’s enough to do a short 20 min yoga flow to break up the muggy afternoons.
Being more cognizant of my mindless social media usage and spending less time on platforms that add doubt and comparison to my mind.
Three pages a day of stream of consciousness writing as soon as I wake up. It’s been insanely useful for creativity (speaking of, *shameless plug I’m sorry* my new writing avenue is linked here and I’ve written 2 new things: something recognized and the hibernation of swallows)
J:
Making sure I keep things moving. Shadow-boxing, circuit training, trying to learn a new yoga pose (emphasis on the trying), chasing your dog around the couch. The endorphins are real !!!!
After taking another mini-hiatus, I’ve gone back to drawing and painting. It’s been both fun and challenging alternating between analogue and digital mediums, but it’s also helped me develop my personal style.
Baking bread: an outlet for stress that also results in the perfect afternoon snack. Currently stuck in a focaccia phase (see below). Also - when I was looking for easy recipes, I stumbled upon an old NYT essay on the simple satisfaction of making your own bread. I love what the author says: “It's an experience and a process -- the product is almost secondary... It's the getting there that's the payoff for me.”
N:
“Who are the people, ideas, and books that magnify your spirit? Find them, hold on to them, and visit them often. Use them not only as a remedy once spiritual malaise has already infected your vitality but as a vaccine administered while you are healthy to protect your radiance.” – Maria Popova via Patricia Mou’s newsletter.
J:
“This is precisely the way that science loves nature. This lack of a final destination, an absolute truth, is what makes science such a worthy methodology for sacred searching. It is a never ending lesson in humility. The vastness of the universe — and love, the thing that makes the vastness bearable — is out of reach to the arrogant.” - Ann Druyan, Cosmos: Possible World
N:
Finding new favorite dishes to master. I’m obsessed with Korean food atm. My current fav: doenjang jjigae, a Korean soybean stew. It’s super earthy, filled with tofu and chewy rice cakes and veggies. Fun fact: when a Korean mom chooses the first real meal for her baby, it’s usually soybean stew!
J:
Creating interior design Pinterest boards. I may be spending most of my senior year in my apartment, but I am determined to make the most out of my humble bedroom.
N:
Coconut Milk in Coffee – life-changing. Ok, it’s literally absurd that Starbucks charges so much for it when in Asia it’s literally cheaper than regular milk???? Hello.
(Original illustration by Jackson Joyce)
J:
JQBX (jukebox) - this online extension lets users share music with friends online, IN REAL TIME. You can create listening ‘rooms’ and take turns being the DJ. Like music festivals, but DIY.
To the real ones who made it to the end of this post - sending you all virtual hugs and high-fives. Let us know what you think about the changes!
Hugs,
J & N