#74 - Goodbye, 2019
Art by René Magritte
Maybe All This by Wislawa Szymborska
Translated, from the Polish, by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh
Maybe all this
is happening in some lab?
Under one lamp by day
and billions by night?
Maybe we're experimental generations?
Poured from one vial to the next,
shaken in test tubes,
not scrutinized by eyes alone,
each of us separately
plucked up by tweezers in the end?
Or maybe it's more like this:
No interference?
The changes occur on their own
according to plan?
The graph's needle slowly etches
its predictable zigzags?
Maybe thus far we aren't of much interest?
The control monitors aren't usually plugged in?
Only for wars, preferably large ones,
for the odd ascent above our clump of Earth,
for major migrations from point A to B?
Maybe just the opposite:
They've got a taste for trivia up there?
Look! on the big screen a little girl
is sewing a button on her sleeve.
The radar shrieks,
the staff comes at a run.
What a darling little being
with its tiny heart beating inside it!
How sweet, its solemn
threading of the needle!
Someone cries enraptured:
Get the Boss,
tell him he's got to see this for himself!
Links to end 2019/welcome 2020:
The Alipore Post Roundup of 2019: Books, Music, Films/TV Show
10X19 (34 artists visually interpret and countdown their favorite albums of 2019.)
How to build a sobriety toolbox
The Weirdness Is Coming (Predictions for 2019)
How to build positive habits in 2020
Best Poetry Books of 2019 + 100 Books That Defined the Decade
The 10 Most Important Artists of the 2010s
100 Tips About Life, People, and Happiness
Brain Picking's Favorite Books of 2019
Goodbye, 2019: an interview series
In 2018, I decided to start doing an end-of-the-year interview series with people who inspired me during the year, and helped me embrace creativity. I decided to continue the tradition for 2019 too.
Here's some wonderful end-of-year advice from the 12 creators I interviewed:
(Click the hyperlink for the full interview)
"Nobody is waiting for you to fuck up, nobody is standing by to fix your shit."
-Adam J. Kurtz, author, artist
"Being kind is the best thing you can be. Be as helpful and as nice to people as possible. It might be just a small gesture or almost no trouble for you but for that other person, it can mean much, much more."
-Anjali Mehta, illustrator
"Show up and carry on, no matter how hard it gets sometimes…"
-Hagar Vardimon, artist, designer, founder, Happy Red Fish
Photo: Kannagi Khanna
"There are other things that can make me happy besides work. Like poetry, for instance."
-Dhruv Sehgal, actor, writer
"We desperately need to slow down. And take notice again. feel again. move again. breathe again. And we need to stop being on autopilot."
-Rashmi Tyagi, artist, founder, Mili&Co.
"Whenever I have free time, I tend to fill it up with social activities or travel, when sometimes, the thing I most need is down time for reflection and decompression."
-Ariel Adkins, founder, Artfully Awear
"Life is too short for trying to do something that others will like. It's better to do what you like."
-Katya Reyda, illustrator, plasticine artist
"Speak up and show up no matter how limited you think your power is and how apathetic others around you seem. You cannot predict the people who will feel seen and heard and respond themselves."
-Riddhi Dastidar, writer, researcher
"Forgive - Forget - Focus. The Three F's."
-Ruddhi Vichare, artist, ceramist
Photo: Meetesh Taneja
"here are three epiphanies:
1. that there are 'tricks to turn rage into celebration'.
2. that it is possible to be a traveller without 'looking for a bargain or an invitation'.
3. that it is possible to be 'unhurried, forever out of step/ always on time'."
-Arundhathi Subramaniam, poet
"It is completely OK to stay still and do nothing, it is OK to let the world go by and not join a race. Nothing takes more precedence than your mental health."
-Kanchana Krishnan, creator, Literary Art Journal
"You don’t need people to understand you. You can be your own support system."
-Noopur Choksi, artist, graphic designer
I hope these short yet insightful interviews inspire you to explore your creative side in 2020.
This is the last newsletter of the year.
A reminder for 2020 for myself and everyone: Be kind. Take care. Do good. Smile more.
Happy New Year to each and every one of you reading this. Thank you for letting me into your life.
-Rohini
