the August slice
blissful & quiet
"August rain: the best of the summer gone and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
— Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
August was quiet.
It was in a way nostalgic and melancholic — the Sunday of summer — some are preparing to going back to school, others are sending someone else to school, some are happy to get back into their routine, while others mourn the summer gone or completely refuse to let it go just yet. But this August - I didn’t belong to any of those categories.
I am not sad about summer ending (summers can be overrated anyway). I am not going back to school — not this September at least. No kids to prepare for school, and no routine that needs reintroducing, it had not changed much this summer. I won’t be mourning this season’s end, nor will I struggle letting it go - I already have.
Instead, I found my perfect slice of August in solitude — in books, in writing, in walking, and cuddling. For the first time in a while, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, my JOMO was thriving.
So, here is a glimpse of my August and the things that kept me entertained in the quiet stillness of summer’s Sunday.
articles & essays:
There is a reason why some of us find it easier to change than others
The article explores the stability of one’s personality and how it influences your ability to navigate changes throughout life.
“How stable you are is a byproduct of your own disposition, your environment and the life experiences you’ve accumulated thus far.”
The “High Potential“ Handicap | Theory No. 20
A Substack post by Anu Atluru (Working Theorys) explores the very human paradox of why individuals perceived as having high potential often fall short of delivering said potential.
“Happiness is reality minus expectations. Success is robbed of its celebration when it falls short of what should have been.“
The fence is uncomfortable, but it affords the best view
This article delves into the ambivalence within oneself, how not to be intimidated by conflicting feelings but to embrace them — often, sitting on the fence since can offer the best view. The article argues that ambivalence allows the mind to stretch and think more broadly, which I had some beef with. Claiming that such a trait makes one more open-minded and eager to seek ‘better‘ information isn’t necessarily accurate. If I, as an ambivalent person, am struggling with conflicting feelings and ideas, wouldn't additional information only deepen my incertainty and grow that fence taller?
Could the tingle down the spine be a way to rediscover joy?
‘Goosebumps’, ‘frissons’, ‘skin orgasms’, or ‘aesthetic chills’ are all terms for the sensation we experience when encountering a striking piece of music, film, art, or speech. Although a universal feeling, what triggers it within us is uniquely individualistic.
If you can’t explain an idea to someone with no prior knowledge of it, then you don’t understand the idea well enough yourself. The article explores the importance of reading and the possibility of it being exchanged for something else in the future (like in science fiction books reading is often replaced by some more efficient methods of acquiring knowledge). It further delves into the relationship between reading, writing, and the birth of ideas. Ideas are born through writing, and we write about what we read - “If we replaced reading, would anyone need to be good at writing?“
“A good writer doesn't just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery. Talking about your ideas with other people is a good way to develop them. But even after doing this, you'll find you still discover new things when you sit down to write. There is a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing”
Another brilliant Substack read from Shahid H. N. (shahid’s riffs) which explores positive thinking as the catalyst for creative action. Negativity, or simply having a pessimistic approach, narrows the space for a possibility to emerge. In contrast, remaining optimistic keeps you open to a wide range of future potentialities, which is inherently joyful.
“Pessimism is emotionally lazy. Taken to the extreme, pessimism has a nihilistic quality. If we are all screwed why bother doing anything? Pessimistic people are miserable to be around, too. They lower the collective energy and morale, and make it harder for anything to get done.”
How Group Chats Rule the World
An article on how the dynamics of group chats shape the way we communicate, socialise, and stay connected. Friend groups are formed by being ”added” to a group chat — learning its coded language and inside jokes. While who gets added is important, it is the chatting itself, and who does more of it, that defines it.
The ‘melancholic joy‘ of living in our brutal beautiful world
Although we often like to claim that the world is in a much more terrible place than ever before, history tells us a different story. The belief that our current situation is worse than that of our ancestors is often a resul of our confirmation biases and the lack of historical perspective and knowledge. Just because the past is the result and the present is ongoing does not mean that our current circumstances are more dire than those of past generations.
books:
The Bluest Eye - by Toni Morrison
my short review:
That one broke me. Morrison says about The Bluest Eye that "many were touched, but not moved" and I can't disagree more. While the book was touching throughout, it was the very last chapter Summer, which didn’t just move me - it broke me. I was left staring at the wall, contemplating myself, my own ways of living and what’s flawed about them.
I thought about how desperately we need kids to remind us how to live - boldly and shamelessly. Virtues inherent to kids and the type of wings that adults are quick to cut off. We are taught to please others, to know your place, to shrug your shoulders and keep our head down, “don't speak too much”, “don’t be loud”, “watch your own plate”. So much so that we have forgotten how to be together and support one another. We have only resulted in hoping that bad things don’t happen to us. Individualism seems to be praised until we happen to need the community.
The Bluest Eye was a book that Min Jin Lee (author of Pachinko) mentioned as an inspiration for her novel and introduced me to Morrison’s exceptional writing.
A Room of One’s Own - by Virginia Woolf
my short review:
Funny and witty - that’s it, that’s the review. Gotta love an essay, that unironically turns into a full-fledged book (that is how I feel about most of my essays, I can yap for days). I don’t know what took me so long to read this one, I would recommend it forever.
Life of the Party - by Olivia Gatwood
my short review:
I am not sure where to start with that one; my August picks have been nothing short of fantastic. I rarely read a collection of poems in its entirety, usually only selecting a few here and there, but I gave Life of the Party a fair chance.
Powerful and raw, it depicts the life of girls and women, both as a collective and as individuals, in a world driven by violence. This collection is a perfect example of conveying so much with so little. It made me feel heard and seen, while also stirring a deep anger as a girl and woman, whose vulnerability often doesn’t stand a chance - and yet, all my insides are burning and screaming for me to fight.
The Mountain is You - by Brianna Wiest
my short review:
I like to pair my fiction books with a nonfiction one, often targeted as philosophical or self-improvement. With those I take my time — they are my morning coffee companion, my resting-on-a-bench-after-my-hotgirl-walk buddy; I will read a page here and there. I have read 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by the same author about three years ago, as I was embarking on my healing journey, so Wiest holds special place in my heart. Having heard great things about The Mountain is You, I was quite excited to see what it had to offer. While a lot of the content felt rather familiar, some parts I found particularly helpful.
It is a book I highly recommend to anyone struggling with their distructive habits and salf-sabotaging behaviour. It provied valuable insights and practical techniques for addressing such tendencies.
Never Let Me Go - by Kazuo Ishiguro
my short review:
I read this book while visiting La Gomera, where we stayed at an Airbnb with a small library (such a delightful surprise). I knew I would take advantage of that, as Never Let Me Go had long been on my to-reads, and I’d heard great things about it.
I was deeply invested in the story, for the most part, but the final part of the book (Part 3) was quite disapointing. While I didn’t expect a happy ending, per se, I did expected a more impactful one, especially given the long build-up between Kathy and Tommy. Nonetheless, I particularly enjoyed how the book highlighted the role of artistic expression, even in such depressing circumstances, as a translator of the soul.
documentaries:
I watched DeepMind’s documentary about AlphaGo - a system that uses AI to challenge the world’s top Go player, Lee Sedol, an 18-time world champion. Go, a 2,500-year-old game invented in China, had long been considered a significant challenge for AI due to its vast number of possible board configurations.
I also watched this YouTube video which seems to be on everyone’s recommended page for some reason and, of course, a bunch of commentary channels discussing Blake Lively and the “It Ends With Us“ drama (background to my Sudoku sessions).
Rotten Mango’s podcast episodes:
Episode 377 - #1 YouTuber of Korea BEATEN to film videos then blackmailed by “Social Justice” Youtubers
Episode 386 - New Nth Room: Middle Schoolers Deepfake Videos Of Mom, Sister, Classmates In "Humiliation Room"
Episode 341 & 342 - Part 1 & 2 of Nth Rooms on Telegram from 2019 (very brutal and graphic)
Episode 338 - Lee Sun Kyun, high profile actor and Oscar nominee for the movie “Parasite“
photo gallery:
As always, thank you for being here! May out autumn be even more special than our summer was. 🍂
all my love and hugs,
gabi ♡