Tag Archives: Life
How to Read the News
Do you ever feel like the world of the 24-hour newsfeed is making you dumber? Information overload is unavoidable, and the struggle is real, friends. Let’s talk about how to read the news and make a habit of being well-informed.
I read somewhere that there is more information in one issue of the New York Times than monks would read in a lifetime hundreds of years ago. Can I tell you where that statistic came from? No. I have read so many similar statistics that they all run together.
That said, I’m really trying to work on how I read and retain information. So today, I thought I’d share a few thoughts with you.
1. Find a few news sources you trust, and read two articles every day.
We used to subscribe to the physical versions of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. However, we found the piles of daily papers became an overwhelming task to face. By using digital subscriptions, I can bookmark interesting headlines to read later when I have time to sit quietly and focus on them.
2. Don’t try to know everything. Try to learn a lot about the topics that really interest you.
There is a lot of news! But what do you actually care about? What do you feel affects you the most? Start by picking articles about those topics and then slowly add in the topics you find intimidating.
For example, I love to read about food–the science of it, stories about it, the politics of it. Food is something I like reading about, and I like discussing with people. So that’s one of the topics I focus on when I read the news. That way, it’s a “go-to” topic. One that I understand, have context for, and where I know some of the key players.
3. For every 3 articles you read about topics you know, pick one that makes you uncomfortable.
The middle east is an overwhelming news topic to dig into. There’s a lot of cultural history that plays into everything but would be impossible to explain in each article. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read about it.
As you read articles that overwhelm you or make you feel uncomfortable, think of it as a learning experience. Try to parse out some of the key players and ideas to remember for future reading.
4. Pick something from the article that sparks your curiosity, then research it.
The only way to learn is to jump in. If you read something that sparks your curiosity, find out more about that topic. Sometimes there are actually organizations that can help you do this or even cultural figureheads that may be on social media. For instance, if you want to know more about the way women are treated around the world, I’d recommend following Chelsea Clinton on Twitter. She often links to articles from all over the web that have really enlightened my worldview.
5. When a person of interest uses a hashtag on Twitter, click on it.
While we’re on the topic of Chelsea Clinton’s Twitter account… When you see a hashtag of interest, click on it. Read what other people are saying. Learn what it’s about. Hashtags that are used by news organizations or political leaders can often lead you down a rabbit hole of discovery.
6. Don’t get all your news from one source.
Know that everything you read has it’s own slant. It’s written by someone with their own ideas. The style of the publication is targeted in it’s own unique way. There’s always an editorial slant affecting the way the information is presented.
Collect information from different sources so that you’re drawing your own conclusions. Make up your own mind. Think for yourself.
7. Tell your friends.
I have some friends that I often trade article links with. We’re interested in the same sorts of topics, but we also just like to be well-informed. I can make small-talk with just about anyone. But the people I’m drawn to the most challenge the way I think. It’s fun to read an article and then get a totally different take on it from someone you respect. Plus, it often leads to some lively discussions that stretch your brain cells in the best possible way.
Gather, Observe, Ponder
A few months ago, I saw that the American Museum of Natural History had partnered with Etsy to bring some unique products to their shop. (One of a few rad collabs they’ve done.) Anyway, I became a teensy bit obsessed with this particular banner by Winter Cabin Collection.* I love this directive: Gather, Observe, Ponder.
I’m currently thinking about a new project, and isn’t this is how each one starts?
*Artists Mary Kate McDevitt and Fred DiMeglio partnered under the Winter Cabin Collection name to sell postcards, prints, and a few home goods with this very old-school, cabin feel that I am totally into. They are currently in the process of relocating their business, but their shop should be back up soon.
The Iris
I took a picture of this iris the other day and couldn’t resist posting it here. I have always been in love with these flowers, which happen to be the Tennessee state flora. They come in a variety of colors, but the deepest purple is my very favorite. Recently I learned something new.
The flower was named for the Greek goddess Iris who was said to be the personification of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods to humanity. Isn’t that lovely? Each time I see one of the delicate flowers, I’m always infatuated, but now I think I will pause and see if there’s something else I should be noticing at that very moment.
“I am going to try to pay attention to the spring.
I am going to look around at all the flowers,
and look up at the hectic trees.
I am going to close my eyes and listen.”
-Anne Lamott
Spring has a way of awakening our senses and waking up our brain cells. What is it trying to tell you?
What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?
Do you remember when grown-ups were constantly asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I remember getting this question for the first time when I was five years old from a Sunday School teacher. I replied “cartoonist” to which the (bitter) lady said, “You should probably think of something more practical.”
Anyway, this question crossed my mind the other day when I was digging through a box in the basement and found these notebooks. When I was in middle school and high school, I spent hours drawing rooms in these notebooks.
I’d make up elaborate back stories about families that had come to me wanting design services. Then, I’d design houses with decor that would fit all their personalities and meet their needs perfectly. I may not have partied in high school, but I could recount every detail from last week’s Trading Spaces (#TeamGenevieve).
A dozen years, 14 college majors, and 1 very uncomfortable conversation with my dad about his honor student going to art school later: I basically do this for a living. And I think I’m an anomaly.
I’ve talked to several people lately who ended up in their field by chance–maybe they didn’t even know the job existed in college.
Some people work in a field that in no way represents their hobbies, and they like it that way. It offers a clear distinction between work and play.
I’ve also found that, in this job market, asking someone what they do for a living can be a touchy question. In fact, I try to avoid it.
So here’s my idea: The next time you’re at a dinner party, ask your new drinking buddy what they wanted to be when they grew up. It’s such a fun question! People love talking about wanting to be a cowboy or a fire fighter or Genevieve Gorder.
Maybe it informs what they do now or maybe it’s the furthest thing from it. Maybe it’s still a totally valid question because they haven’t found that thing that clicks yet. But, I guarantee, it will tell you a lot about the person! So…
What did you want to be when you grew up? Is it what you do now?
Tell us in the comments below.
How to Work Through an Idea
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to work through an idea. I’ve worked hard over the past couple of years to try to reign in my perfectionist tendencies that often result in procrastination. (Remember when I didn’t hang pictures in our house for six years?) I used to think it was mainly a problem of “creative types,” but, after a little more consideration, I think it’s just a people problem.
I could devote an entire post to where ideas come from, but today my real question is what to do with them once they’re here. How do you work through an idea? How do you know when an idea is ready to execute? And how do you know when the execution is the best it can be?
One thing that spurred these ideas about ideas (is that what the kids call “meta”?) was Alex Blumberg’s recent appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show. He was talking about working with Ira Glass, the host and producer of This American Life, who is a perfectionist known for his editorial gift. “Editorial” meaning he’s a great “editor”–when he works with his team, he often can figure out how to take an idea and mold it into the right outcome. Here’s what Alex had to say about Ira:
What I learned is that a lot of it is just about the effort you put in… But watching Ira work–a lot of times he just keeps thinking about it longer than other people keep thinking about it, and then, eventually he comes up with an idea that’s good. And it just made me realize that that’s how people get to good ideas is they go through a lot of bad ideas first… So what being a perfectionist is is putting in a little bit more time to think through the level 1 ideas or the level 2 ideas to something that’s a little bit deeper.
Pablo Picasso agreed. (This statement is from a series of interviews collected in Brassai’s Conversations with Picasso. I read it on Brain Pickings.)
I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points. I can rarely set them down as they come to mind. As soon as I start to work, others well up in my pen. To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing… When I find myself facing a blank page, that’s always going through my head. What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.
So you have to be willing to put in the time. But how do you work through the initial ideas to get to the better ones? Here are a few methods to try:
Rinse & Repeat. Henri Matisse was a great lover of repetition. (Also, read that here.) By drawing things over and over, he believed he could distill his subject down to it’s essence. When you do something repeatedly, what once seemed difficult, soon seems like second nature. When the original action is second nature, it’s easy to concentrate on other details, which often lead to even better ideas.
Talk to other people. I often find myself repeating the mantra, “You can’t create in a vacuum.” One great way to work through an idea is to bring it up to people that are different (read: smarter) from yourself and get their thoughts. Maybe they have a relatable experience or can look at something from a different viewpoint that is helpful.
Make lists. Sometimes lists help us think around any relating factors to flesh out an idea. For instance, if you’re planning a dinner party, it’s easy to brainstorm how you want your Southern-Living-worthy soiree to go down. But if you’re trying to really think through the idea, try to make a list of all the things that could go wrong. Fleshing out an idea means looking at it from every angle.
How do you know when an idea is the best it can be? Well, in my experience it’s usually a mixture of intuition and letting things go. When an idea is stretched as far and iterated on as much as you possibly can: let it be. This idea will inform the next idea that will, in turn, inform the next. Be thankful for what you have made, and then move on to greener pastures!
What about you?
Any sure-fire way to think through your ideas?
I’d love to read about them in the comments.
TGIF!
Whoo! We made it. Spring officially arrives today! I don’t know about you, but this has been a whirlwind of a week around our house! Between Spring fever and big life choices, I’m ready for a couple days chilling at home with my honey (or at least some version of that involving a lot Spring cleaning and house guests). Per the usual, here are a few TGIF! links from around the interwebs curated for your enjoyment. Happy weekending, friends!
One
Lawrence Krauss wrote an article in The New Yorker this week that talked about the importance of teaching doubt to our children. Saying:
Informed doubt is the very essence of science.
Recent studies even suggest that being taught to doubt at a young age could make people better lifelong learners.
This article struck a chord with me because I often find myself wondering things like: Why aren’t discriminatory social norms questioned sooner by society? Why do religious peoples selectively use their texts as a treatise without looking at it’s cultural context?
For me, there’s a definite balance between doubt and faith, but I do believe that being content with my doubts in my 20s has made me a more avid learner and well-informed citizen. It’s an interesting thing to think about: teaching your children the importance of doubt.
Two
Currently working on finding your own version of the good life? According to Aaron Hutchins, habits are the secret to happiness. Fascinating read that began with a statement that has been a point of conversation around our house recently:
Habits are important because, as Gretchen Rubin puts it, “what we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while.”
Three
Confession: Between the Beach Party movies and a trip to Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Resort my sophomore year, my bedroom became a little bit of a tiki love fest in high school. So I thought this was pretty rad: 5 Reasons Americans Became Obsessed with Hawaii in the 1960s. #1 Reason: Elvis (Obviously.)
Four
If you’re anything like me, the idea of peeking inside the beauty cabinet of the prettiest girl in the room is right up your alley. Well, this week several different paths led me to Into the Gloss, a site that lets you do just that. Click here to read about Martha Stewart’s beauty routine. (And, of course, be baffled by her ridiculously beautiful life. Of course, “Frederic” [Fekkai] was your first hairdresser, Martha. We are surprised by nothing anymore… except perhaps the fact that you remove your eye makeup with Johnson’s baby oil. Keepin’ it real. Maybe you are just like us.) Other picks include this fab shoot with funny lady Ana Gasteyer and Joanna Goddard’s DIY Pregnancy Guide.
Five
While we’re on the subject of the good life, here are “22 Reasons It’s Good to be a Vegetable in Oprah’s Garden.”
Six
My friend, Leanne, is a local potter. Recently she made a beautiful line of tableware for Blackberry Farm, a local resort to check out if you don’t know it. They’re simple, beautiful pieces and she even mixed ashes from Blackberry’s fireplace into the glaze to make them very unique to the Farm. This morning, I learned that you can actually buy her pieces on their website. Check them out!
Talk to Strangers
Today I’m here to say it so that you don’t have to: your mother was wrong. It is, in fact, ok to talk to strangers. In fact, I think you should be doing it more!
I was recently telling friend about meeting up with a fellow twitterer (nope, still can’t say ‘tweep’) to have coffee. I knew we had similar interests and seemed to value similar things in life so I decided that we should be friends. (I was right!)
He shook his head and said he admired that I would meet up with someone I didn’t really know because there was a scant possibility we’d turn out to be kindreds. Which made me think: why in the world do I feel the need to do that? I’ve come to a few conclusions.
1.) Making friends as an adult is hard, you guys. Gone are the days of reaching for the same purple crayon in Mrs. Dove’s class and just knowing you’d be BFFs with this girl 4-eva.
“You like red red lipstick? I like red lipstick! Aren’t we the coolest?” probably wouldn’t go over well in a board room. But, in the age of the internet, it is really easy to find like-minded people. Blogland, twitter, and instagram have made the world a much smaller place. If you’d told me in high school that in ten years I’d be bonding with someone that lives 700 miles away over our favorite screwball comedies, I would have thought you were crazy. But guess what? That totally happened to me a month ago. A week before that I had lunch with a lady I’d met at an underground supper club, and we talked about everything from bespoke clothes to our attitudes about family.
Cultivate friends that share your interests regardless of where you find them! Odds are that if you have one thing in common, there are others. And having a diverse group can give you a lot of insight into different ways of life–and, in the age of the internet, different ways of communicating.
2.) I’m a story collector. Here’s the thing: everyone is human (with the exception of maybe Martha and Oprah). We all have a story. We all have a ‘thing’ we like to veg out on after work be it binge-watching netflix, reading Jane Austen, or having sex. (If you’re lucky: 2 out of 3) So this is your reminder that it’s totally worth looking up from your phone to talk to people in the elevator.
Let me tell you a story: When I first started with my company, I was a freelance photo-editor. One day, I hopped on the elevator with a well-dressed man and started up a conversation about how fabulous his sport coat was. It was patterned with beautiful stitching, and he was wearing a crisp white linen pocket square with a bright lavender trim–perfection. So we talked about menswear for a few minutes and then went our separate ways. At least a month later, a friend was giving my parents and me a tour of the building. I’d just been hired full-time as a designer and had never seen the 4th floor. As we walked past the biggest office, I noticed that the sharply dressed elevator man that had been so nice was Ken Lowe, the CEO of the company and the man who started HGTV.
You never know who you’re going to meet. Not everyone will be nice. Not everyone will end up a friend. But each one has an interesting story and something worth hearing. Sometimes we’re so distracted by our own mess or trying to play it cool in the corporate culture that we forget life is for the sharing! Talk to someone new, and listen to their story.
3.) I think my job on earth is to love people. I am (*shudders*) almost 30, and the only calling/direction/mission I am absolutely certain of, other than my calling to be a partner to James, is that I am here on Earth to love people. (I don’t always do a good job at that. Please see previous statement about humanity… Me ≠ Not Oprah.) But I do know for certain that making it your mission to value the people around you on this earth is one of the only missions worth pursuing. Tell someone if they look beautiful. Ask about their weekend and actually care about the answer. Listen to their story. Put love out into the world. Make a new friend. Talk to strangers.
Full Moon
A detail from “Anniversary”
Are you leery of the full moon? I never was until I worked in a preschool for a year. I swear, you can tell the phases of the moon just by watching the level of crazy in those little boogers’ eyes. (You know what I’m talking about. This trait is not limited to children.)
Anyway, last night I was feeling a little crazy myself and looked up to see the waxing crescent. The full moon will be here on Thursday. It made me think of this painting I did several years ago while dreaming of wintry nights and the full moon. It made me smile.
“Anniversary” a painting I did for Husband in 2009
So tell me, do you believe in the power of the full moon? Husband thinks it’s a bunch of hokum, but I can’t help thinking there’s something to it.
Some Days…
You said it, Clara. Some days there are not, in fact, enough moss candles and lavender oil in the world. Thursdays. Am I right?
For those days, let me propose…
