Hannah Arendt, 'wow, that sounds hard,' interruptions, coding as therapy, and more
Seven links to worthwhile thin(g/k)s
Hello dear reader,
Happy weekend!
Here are seven links to bits of the world I have been exploring this week, shared with the hope that you will find them to be an inspiring springboard for deeper thinking.
Hannah Arendt’s 1964 interview with Gunter Gaus and my accompanying observations/notes.
Of note, I was particularly fascinated by Arendt’s motivation for writing. She is a writer not because she wants to wield influence (an obsession she ascribes to the opposite sex), but rather because she needs to and seeks to understand.
She says the thought process matters to her most, and in that thought process, there is a desire to think something through and succeed in expressing it adequately. "When others understand in the same way that I have understood, that gives me satisfaction, like a sense of being home.”
How beautifully human that is.
How our rooms shape our world, and perhaps vice versa: A three-minute visual and vocal exploration of our rooms and our worlds.
As an observational exercise, we might benefit from choosing three words to describe the current state of our room.
I’m a short afternoon walk and you’re putting way too much pressure on me
Getting physical: A case for viewing work and life projects as concrete, physical actions and artifacts in the material world.”
Why? I have felt weirdly disembodied all of last year, with my mind fluttering and floating in some abstract sense of existence tied to computer screens, Zoom meetings with either blank screens in place of human bodies or heads against the backdrop of people’s living rooms, bed-frames, bookshelves… I often wonder if this screen-based way of life, mind you one that harbors distraction and lack of focus, exists because I am not appropriately connected to some sort of physical, material sense of being. Anyhow, this bit resonated, as did the entire piece, and as did this corresponding one urging us to look up from our screens:
“This isn’t the place for a long rant about the pitfalls of the immaterial online world in which we increasingly spend our days. But it’s clearly one of the hazards of “knowledge work” – supercharged by the great pandemic-induced digital migration of 2020 – that it leaves people feeling disembodied, unrooted, “floating”, out of touch with their physical surroundings, perhaps also mildly depressed. And more prone to procrastination, distraction, and focusing on things other than what matters to them the most.”
Then again, do we need the material, in-person world? For example, are facial cues even to be relied upon as useful emotional signals? Malcolm Gladwell and Prof Adam Grant are on the debate floor hashing it out in this podcast episode.
Worker, interrupted: Gloria Mark, a professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, explains the cost of task-switching, multi-tasking, and fragmented attention. This pairs nicely with Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work.
I’m certain at this point we have all encountered in one way or another the advice that we should rise above the question, “So, what do you do for a living?”, or really, any question about jobs, when meeting someone for the first time. And yet, I haven’t really thought about the flip-side of this scenario until now. What are you supposed to do or say after someone tells you what they do? Paul Ford has a universal answer, and it goes like this: “Wow, that sounds hard.” His rationale:
‘Because nearly everyone in the world believes their job to be difficult. I once went to a party and met a very beautiful woman whose job was to help celebrities wear Harry Winston jewelry. I could tell that she was disappointed to be introduced to this rumpled giant in an off-brand shirt, but when I told her that her job sounded difficult to me she brightened and spoke for 30 straight minutes about sapphires and Jessica Simpson. She kept touching me as she talked. I forgave her for that. I didn’t reveal a single detail about myself, including my name. Eventually someone pulled me back into the party. The celebrity jewelry coordinator smiled and grabbed my hand and said, “I like you!” She seemed so relieved to have unburdened herself. I counted it as a great accomplishment. Maybe a hundred times since I’ve said, “wow, that sounds hard” to a stranger, always to great effect. I stay home with my kids and have no life left to me, so take this party trick, my gift to you.’
By the way, for those of you who follow this kinda time-stamp stuff, the link to Ford’s piece is a 9-minute read (I hate these time-markers on online publications), but well worth it because his writing style is humorous and makes one laugh more than 9 times in the span of 9 minutes.
Along the same path, as an attempt to be polite and remember we are social beings — but not have our ears fall off from the pandemic-induced, ever-present question, “How are you?” — here are some great alternatives:
Until next week!
Warmly,
Ani
Readers’ Circle
If you’d like your response to be shared anonymously in upcoming newsletters, in the spirit of connectivity in this digital landscape and to recover from pandemic blues, drop a line (or a few!) via email to anielizaveta@gmail.com sharing where you are from or how you would introduce yourself. Alternatively, please feel free to share a tidbit from the worlds you’ve been exploring if you’d like something featured in next week’s newsletter :) Here’s part of a missive that was dispatched to my inbox this past week:
Dearest Ani,
Hello from Saint Petersburg! Thanks for highlighting parts of the city in your Insta post a few days ago. It’s a magical undervalued city.
[ . . . ]
I wanted to ask you if you’d be okay with sharing a Walter Benjamin essay with your reading fellowship. It’s about unpacking your library and as readers it might find a good audience in the book circle. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/01/art-unpacking-library/ In it he talks about unpacking his library and with it his memories.
[ . . . ]
If you are in the mood for a financial nod of support, here are some ways to help offset the cost of sending these dispatches. Though I do this freely from the heart, any amount of financial support signifies a kind gesture. As does an email message or a comment below, sharing with me your thoughts and impressions.