#111: Be a licker of ice cream!
Art by Vyacheslav Prosvirin
The Anti-Preneur Manifesto by Danielle Leduc
I don’t want to be a designer, a marketer, an illustrator,
a brander, a social media consultant, a multi-platform
guru, an interface wizard, a writer of copy, a technological
assistant, an applicator, an aesthetic king, a notable
user, a profit-maximizer, a bottom-line analyzer, a meme
generator, a hit tracker, a re-poster, a sponsored blogger,
a starred commentator, an online retailer, a viral relayer,
a handle, a font or a page. I don’t want to be linked in,
tuned in, ‘liked’, incorporated, listed or programmed.
I don’t want to be a brand, a representative, an
ambassador, a bestseller or a chart-topper. I don’t want
to be a human resource or part of your human capital.
I don’t want to be an entrepreneur of myself.
Don’t listen to the founders, the employers, the
newspapers, the pundits, the editors, the forecasters,
the researchers, the branders, the career counselors,
the prime minister, the job market, Michel Foucault or
your haughty brother in finance – there’s something else!
I want to be a lover, a teacher, a wanderer, an assembler
of words, a sculptor of immaterial, a maker of instruments,
a Socratic philosopher and an erratic muse. I want to be
a community center, a piece of art, a wonky cursive script
and an old-growth tree! I want to be a disrupter, a creator,
an apocalyptic visionary, a master of reconfiguration,
a hypocritical parent, an illegal download and a choose-
your-own-adventure! I want to be a renegade agitator!
A licker of ice cream! An organizer of mischief! A released
charge! A double jump on the trampoline! A wayward
youth! A volunteer! A partner.
I want to be a curator of myself, an anti-preneur, a person.
Unlimited availabilities. No followers required. Only friends.
Other poems I enjoyed reading this week:
"So if you see someone like me
who’s drunk and loud and cursing
Don’t judge too hard, you never know
what sorrows we are nursing."
-from I Tell Ya True by Ali Cobby Eckermann
"I release you, fear, because you hold
these scenes in front of me and I was born
with eyes that can never close.
I release you
I release you
I release you
I release you
I am not afraid to be angry.
I am not afraid to rejoice.
I am not afraid to be black.
I am not afraid to be white.
I am not afraid to be hungry.
I am not afraid to be full.
I am not afraid to be hated.
I am not afraid to be loved.
to be loved, to be loved, fear.
Oh, you have choked me, but I gave you the leash.
You have gutted me but I gave you the knife.
You have devoured me, but I laid myself across the fire.
I take myself back, fear."
-from Fear Poem, or I Give You Back by Joy Harjo
"Sometimes the way to milk and honey is through the body.
Sometimes the way in is a song.
But there are three ways in the world: dangerous, wounding
and beauty.
To enter stone, be water.
To rise through hard earth, be plant
desiring sunlight, believing in water.
To enter fire, be dry.
To enter life, be food." -The Way In, by Linda Hogan
Recommended Listening:
Hear Patti Smith’s First Poetry Reading
Chuck Palahniuk's Masterclass on Creative Living and Dangerous Writing (in conversation with Tim Ferris)
Ashokan Farewell - The Musical Mountaineers
Letter Writing Playlist (I curated a playlist for Chitthi Exchange. Sign up for Round 3 for a penpal!)
Links of the Week:
My Brilliant Friend
Must watch: My Brilliant Friend (It's possibly the best show I've seen till date. I have never felt more immersed in the lives of characters. I cannot wait to dig into the The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante after seeing this!)
Enter Planet Miranda July (Found this profile on Miranda July on Resh Susan's newsletter. I'm so pumped about Kajillionaire! If you haven't already, please go read her books, and watch her films.)
DIY | Volume One + Encyclopediapictura (Finally, something worthwhile on Cartoon Network. Thanks, Mayur)
Screenplay Subs (a Chrome/Firefox Extension for cinephiles)
Pigeon Posted (want!) Documentary Films for Social Change | ChangeChitra
Announcing: TAPTOBER2020
October 1st to 31st, 2020
I invite you all to be a part of #TAPTOBER2020 this October. Let’s make art together and have fun playing with ideas and colours and styles! Inspired by Jake Parker’s annual Inktober Challenge, I’m sharing a list of prompts that I’m personally eager to illustrate as @ro.doodles. I can’t wait to get back into the habit of drawing and bringing the aspect of play to each artwork I make during the month. It’s also a way for the creative community to inspire each other and give the artist within each of us a chance to experiment and explore.
I'm sharing the list in advance so you can start visualising and daydreaming. 🌸🖍Please feel free to use #TAPTOBER2020 when you post the art in response to that day’s corresponding prompt!
This is my newsletter #7
Yesterday's guest curator for This is my newsletter was @spencertweedy His newsletter spoke about his newfound love for Kurt Vonnegut’s writing, and his thoughts on modern-day fascism. Read it here.
Subscribe to the newsletter at tinyletter.com/thisismynewsletter
New on the Website:
"I would like to think that my art does reflect my character and how I choose to see the world. I try to look on the bright side of life and I take great pleasure in the little things. I’m constantly looking for beautiful things to be inspired by and I’ve found that I don’t have to look very far ! Whether that’s nature, a scruffy old dog, a cute little cottage or an old couple holding hands. I believe that my work captures a slower pace of life and hopefully illustrates the loveliness that I see in the world."
-from my interview with artist Mani Parkes
"This series of illustrations is an attempt to pictorially represent the rapid mood swings of feeling uncertainly stuck in a limbo at a point to being hopeful and enjoying a home cooked meal in another."
-Quarantine Moods by Mahima Jain
"I search for Grandma
But she’s not there on her moth-eaten bed.
It’s July again, and I could still hear her
Hum those lullabies somewhere far away."
-from Grandma's Lullabies by Saikh Md. Sabah Al-Ahmed
"In the UNLOCK 1.0 kitty party, some people are wearing masks and some are not. Those who are are being watched by those who aren't. What is this irritation? Why do you think you need to live? Why do you need a mask? Just drink gau mutra like the rest of us."
-Quarantine Art by Deepikah R Bhardwaj
As part of an ongoing collaboration with Speaking Tiger, I picked my favorite poems from Siliguri-based poet Sumana Roy's debut collection Out of Syllabus. Read the poems here.
-from Unfair and Loveless, a powerful comic on unrealistic beauty standards by @pastelstew.
I'll end today's newsletter with a GIF I made over the weekend:
“Tell me the story..
About how the sun loved the moon so much..
That she died every night..
Just to let him breathe...”
-Hanako Ishii
I've recently quit my job, and part of the reason is to give The Alipore Post (both as a website and newsletter) the love, time and energy it deserves. If you like what you're reading, do consider supporting me on Patreon and keeping this newsletter ad-free and community-supported! :)
Thank you and good night,
Rohini