I always feel a little bad not to have the time to respond more thoroughly here.
In response to the first question, I am doing a multi-month project related to Ed Yong's An Immense World, which is about the different umwelten of animals. Because of the sensory differences among us, each species perceives only part of the world that is out there. It takes us all to tune in to the whole picture.
Something else I do daily is write reflections woven together from quotations and ideas I get from many books. It is a constant process of cycling through combinatorially as I reflect on three pulled at random from a deck of cards each holding an excerpt. The Jenny Odell books have provided some 'pulls', as I call them.
My most profound creative experience is one many of us have. I have been a mother for almost 37 years. Three now adult children plus one grandchild. It is my role in helping create a context within which they have been able to flourish and grow into themselves that has been the great project of my life.
My focus in my work at the zoo is to help people learn to watch, to interpret what they see. It doesn't occur to people often that the sensory apparatus varies among creatures, so our eyes see different things and colors, our ears different sounds, our noses different smells, aside from the way we all notice more what is salient to us or to those we may be charged to protect, and so forth. We communicate differently with our faces, bodies and sounds, so we (humans) can understand our world more accurately if we learn to think more broadly about what may be out there to see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense that we cannot see because of our particular sensory limitations relative to, say, birds or cats or otters, or elephants.
So the first months are about seeing how well I can convey and model this and whether it seems people leave with an understanding that the world is larger- more sounds, more colors, more information than any single species is seeing.
And then I will see where further to take it.
On some level it is not just different species who see and know different aspects of a broader world than any of us sees. There are cultural biases too that limit what we notice, among humans. There is more to see than any of us sees and others who are seeing the things we don't.
"It is my role in helping create a context within which they have been able to flourish and grow into themselves that has been the great project of my life." - this might be my quote of the day, as its careful phrasing has helped me process something I've felt ambivalent about for years. A friend once encouraged me to think of my daughter as a work of art I was creating, and while her advice was on the whole extremely valuable, that phrase always grated. Re-framing it to clarify that our part is to help create the context for their own self-creation feels so much better while preserving that sense of parenting as a valuable creative project. Thank you!
Amazing spotlight story that inspired me to look deeper into what it means to share work with others. I recently wrote something on my substack, Ugly Shoes Paper Planes and I received a text response that was unexpected and it was better than a 17 page book report in some ways, but it made us vulnerable -- like I cried reading his response. My words as a writer could prompt someone to take an action, or do something. And in turn I could read a reaction and it could evoke such a strong emotional response. It is scary. I know we are all readers here, and we sort of get off from being inside someone's head but now the reader's reaction is lodged inside my heart. I think that's what art in any format does to us; it's an unintentional consequence of creating something from nothing. Thank you Courtney.
I love when my world’s collide! I just finished How to Do Nothing and really enjoyed it. This article was such a fun follow up. I often write “book reports” from non fiction books I read (self help, anti racism, social psychology) and sometimes I make PowerPoints and share them with my family haha. Nothing that has taken a month or longer though. It’s an interesting idea - maybe I’ll try it!
Love this piece Courtney. Of course you would so beautifully put into words how amazing Christie is.
AND thanks for the shout out for the banner. I appreciate the acknowledgement but feel a bit of a fraud taking any credit for it because it’s Christie’s banner, not mine. She had a vision and I was able to cut out a few letters exactly how she imagined it and it came out great. I get that she couldn’t have done it without me but the banner being a success is Christie’s words not my artistic ability. I did love our collaboration. I want to do something with her again.
Glarb sob proud grin love love love
I always feel a little bad not to have the time to respond more thoroughly here.
In response to the first question, I am doing a multi-month project related to Ed Yong's An Immense World, which is about the different umwelten of animals. Because of the sensory differences among us, each species perceives only part of the world that is out there. It takes us all to tune in to the whole picture.
Something else I do daily is write reflections woven together from quotations and ideas I get from many books. It is a constant process of cycling through combinatorially as I reflect on three pulled at random from a deck of cards each holding an excerpt. The Jenny Odell books have provided some 'pulls', as I call them.
My most profound creative experience is one many of us have. I have been a mother for almost 37 years. Three now adult children plus one grandchild. It is my role in helping create a context within which they have been able to flourish and grow into themselves that has been the great project of my life.
I love this! I was so taken by Ed Yong's book. What is the multi-month project?
My focus in my work at the zoo is to help people learn to watch, to interpret what they see. It doesn't occur to people often that the sensory apparatus varies among creatures, so our eyes see different things and colors, our ears different sounds, our noses different smells, aside from the way we all notice more what is salient to us or to those we may be charged to protect, and so forth. We communicate differently with our faces, bodies and sounds, so we (humans) can understand our world more accurately if we learn to think more broadly about what may be out there to see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense that we cannot see because of our particular sensory limitations relative to, say, birds or cats or otters, or elephants.
So the first months are about seeing how well I can convey and model this and whether it seems people leave with an understanding that the world is larger- more sounds, more colors, more information than any single species is seeing.
And then I will see where further to take it.
On some level it is not just different species who see and know different aspects of a broader world than any of us sees. There are cultural biases too that limit what we notice, among humans. There is more to see than any of us sees and others who are seeing the things we don't.
Wow, this is so amazing! Thanks for sharing more.
"It is my role in helping create a context within which they have been able to flourish and grow into themselves that has been the great project of my life." - this might be my quote of the day, as its careful phrasing has helped me process something I've felt ambivalent about for years. A friend once encouraged me to think of my daughter as a work of art I was creating, and while her advice was on the whole extremely valuable, that phrase always grated. Re-framing it to clarify that our part is to help create the context for their own self-creation feels so much better while preserving that sense of parenting as a valuable creative project. Thank you!
Amazing spotlight story that inspired me to look deeper into what it means to share work with others. I recently wrote something on my substack, Ugly Shoes Paper Planes and I received a text response that was unexpected and it was better than a 17 page book report in some ways, but it made us vulnerable -- like I cried reading his response. My words as a writer could prompt someone to take an action, or do something. And in turn I could read a reaction and it could evoke such a strong emotional response. It is scary. I know we are all readers here, and we sort of get off from being inside someone's head but now the reader's reaction is lodged inside my heart. I think that's what art in any format does to us; it's an unintentional consequence of creating something from nothing. Thank you Courtney.
I'm so glad you got that text. The world is good, too.
I know Christine as a client. It was fun to read a out a different facet of her. I enjoyed your post very much. Thanks.
Then you know how multi-faceted she is!
Yes AND she never takes a bad photo. Stunningly gorgeous woman.
I love when my world’s collide! I just finished How to Do Nothing and really enjoyed it. This article was such a fun follow up. I often write “book reports” from non fiction books I read (self help, anti racism, social psychology) and sometimes I make PowerPoints and share them with my family haha. Nothing that has taken a month or longer though. It’s an interesting idea - maybe I’ll try it!
Love this piece Courtney. Of course you would so beautifully put into words how amazing Christie is.
AND thanks for the shout out for the banner. I appreciate the acknowledgement but feel a bit of a fraud taking any credit for it because it’s Christie’s banner, not mine. She had a vision and I was able to cut out a few letters exactly how she imagined it and it came out great. I get that she couldn’t have done it without me but the banner being a success is Christie’s words not my artistic ability. I did love our collaboration. I want to do something with her again.