Vermeer, Cunningham's law, shouting, and more

Seven links to worthwhile thin(g/k)s

Hello dear reader,

Happy September! And happy soon-to-be Autumn!

I am here with some lovely personal news. On 8/28, a tender Saturday evening, my boyfriend proposed to me at our alma mater. It was romantic, elegant and blissful. More on this perhaps in a blog post if this is something of interest to you! (Feel free to let me know!)

But until then . . .

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.

1. YouTube book notes: Books I-II of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov.

2. Musing: I’ve been musing this week about Cunningham’s Law — “The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer” — and its French cousin: “Prêcher le faux pour savoir le vrai.” (“Preach the falsehood to know the truth.”) We are an opinionated bunch in the virtual world, and also increasingly in real life, so it’s always funny (sad?) to observe when opinionated nonsense garners more engagement than a person humbly seeking answers by posing a genuine question. C’est la vie?

3. Eye sustenance: I could not keep my eyes away from the magical unveiling of Vermeer’s painting that depicts a girl reading a letter. Thanks to conservators who removed overpaint, the painting now reveals far more than a blank, uninteresting wall. See for yourself here, and explore an awesome write-up of it here courtesy of Blake Gopnik.

4. Noodling: The higher education bubble.

5. Why do we shout?

6. Ear sustenance: Armand Amar + Levon Minassian. Also! Someone please explain to me why I loved watching and hearing 3+ minutes of subway doors closing.

7. The self-made man: the story of America’s most pliable, pernicious, irrepressible myth.

Until next week!

Warmly,

Ani

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Prompt of the Week: Pick a poem. Read it every day for a week.

This comes by way of an article that invites us to use poetry as a ‘weapon against the attention economy.’ The author nudges us to read one poem daily for a month, and then pick another poem for the next month, and so on. Up for the challenge? Head over to my Instagram to see which poem I picked :-)

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