Find a daffodil and look at it.
(Any beautiful bright flower will do.)
Look at it until you remember how beautiful the world can be.
Stand in the sunshine, if you can, for a few minutes and let the sun soak into your face, until you remember that there are more people who want the world to be kind and gentle than those who want to spread fear.
Then, pull your socks up, buckaroo, and get writing.
My friend Clair wrote a piece this week about how hard people are finding it to market their businesses right now — just as they did in the early days of the pandemic. We feel like it’s somehow “wrong” to go about business as usual when the world is — quite literally in some places — burning around us.
I understand.
It can feel frivolous to write and to find joy in writing. It can feel off to create comedy pieces, or silly videos, or offer our new products and services when there are actual fascists rising around the world. When misogyny, racism, anti-semitism, violence, climate change denial, and unfettered corporate greed are on the rise.
(I truly believe this is the extinction burst of a dying system so hang in there.)
But here are two things to consider:
- What you’re seeing on social media and the news is not the whole picture. It’s part of the picture, created and pushed by people with specific agendas, and a lot of it is designed to overwhelm and confuse and create hopelessness. Turn it off.
- The big, powerful companies who are literally destroying this planet and our communities in pursuit of profit have no problem at all pushing their products at you and bellowing at you to buy them.
Now consider this: you are but a small human with big dreams and the best of intentions to create something beautiful that will make the world a better place. You likely have a bunch of privilege if you’re reading this — even if you’re marginalised in some way.
And you feel guilty about telling the world what you do?
About creating something beautiful?
About finding joy where you can?
How fucked up is that?
Because let me tell you something else: there are many forms of activism and resistance, and we can do more than one of them at a time.
We can write to our elected representatives, we can protest, we can boycott, we can stand up for those with less power than us, and we should absolutely do all those things.
But we can also be the light relief, the LIGHT, in a dark place. That, too, is resistance and goddam it’s important.
Be the light that inspires or energises someone else to take up space in the world.
Be the change you want to see.
Cos sure as shit the billionaires and big multinationals are gonna keep chasing profit at all costs until we’re all dead.
The only model we see for wealth is the muskrats of the world, but that’s not the only model there is.
We can write, and create, and sell, and make an absolute shitload of money — and then use that money to build communities, to lift people up, to create equity, and — yes — to buy as many dinosaur jumpers as we want and have a fucking spa day too.
So please, I am begging you, use your voice.
Use. Your. Voice.
Take up space.
Create something beautiful.
Be the fucking daffodil for someone, my friend, because that’s how things change. A huge number of people taking one tiny beetle step at a time.
And now, it’s time for the Friday goodie bag. Here’s what I’ve found for you!
Oatly’s self-created hate site
I drink Oatly oat milk because I can’t stand actual cow juice (for a bunch of reasons) so I see their marketing all the time. It’s whimsical yet with a purpose (I think they’re one of the good ones). This week, I stumbled across Fck Oatly! Everything wrong with Oatly in one place!
It made me laugh because anyone who sticks their head above the wall is gonna get fired upon. We all get haters at some point. It means we’re doing something. Welp, Oatly, instead of trying to hide it all away, put it front and centre.
As they said:
“Why would we build such a website? That’s a great question! For starters, it’s super convenient to have the latest boycotts and criticisms all in one place. But more importantly, we’re not the type of company to hide from moments like these. We see all the negative headlines, posts and petitions as an inevitable consequence of trying to create positive societal change.”
Next time you get hated on, treat it as an act of love and use it to your advantage.
(And if they’ve got a point, maybe a little self-reflection — I’ve been there too!)
Meet strangers, tell stories
Café Anne by Anne Kadet is a newsletter I love reading. Anne just writes about her little adventures and daily doings in New York. A little peek into her diary and her life.
This one, I loved, because she replied to a message from a man who’s new to Brooklyn and agreed to go for a walk with him — and had a wonderful time. Read it here, and maybe consider meeting a stranger and making a story!
(Be safe people — meet in public places in daylight. And remember: most people are good ‘uns.)
This essay on how racism is a white problem, not a Black one
Meghan Tinsley wrote this piece in 2022 and Sharon Hurley-Hall shared it in her SHHARE community, and I’m sharing it with you. Because how we frame things matters. Racism isn’t a thing because some people have dark skin and some people have light skin.
Racism is a thing because whiteness — and when I say “whiteness” I mean the colonial system that raged way back when and still oozes along — created it. I’m doing a terrible job of explaining it so give this a read. It’ll take you about 5 minutes.
The Minecraft Library — gaming tech for good!
You know Minecraft, the game? I used to love it, then a monster destroyed my carefully laid trail of torch breadcrumbs and I lost my beautiful hideout and all my treasures and had a tantrum and never went back to it.
Anyway, that’s not my point. My point is, some beautiful nerds built the modern day equivalent of the Library of Alexandria.
It’s the Uncensored Library, and here’s what it is in Minecraft’s words:
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and yet, there are countries that seek to censor their citizens or prevent them from accessing certain information. This is why The Uncensored Library exists; a grand digital library meant to combat censorship – and it’s all accessible through Minecraft.”
In the coming months, it’s not going to be just the usual suspects censoring info, either. The US is already starting to do this, and I fear the UK may follow suit. Plus, of course, the mainstream media is biased, funded by oligarchs, and has its own agenda.
This artist who blends canvas with reality to create magic
I don’t even know how to describe Fang Mianmian’s work, so just pop over here and take a look. Witchcraft.
What I’m reading
I’ve just started reading The News: A User’s Manual by Alain de Botton. I’m literally a few pages in, so I have nothing much to say yet — other than, I know it’s going to be fascinating. The news has replaced religions as the central tenets of most people’s lives. Why are we so obsessed? What does that mean for us? That’s some of what this book digs into.
What I’m writing
I’m creating a Zine! I’ve wanted to make one for a while. I’m not quite sure what it’ll end up being or looking like, but it’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be quarterly, and it’s going to be crafty, and it’s going to be exclusively available to my clients.
If you’d like one, you can join us in the Creative Playground which honestly is so cool you’ll forget about the zine until it arrives on your doorstep.
Word of the week: obsequious
My buddy Lewis Kemp used this word in a LinkedIn post this week, and it a marvellous word that feels good in your mouth and ought to be used more.
Meaning: “obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.”
Example: take a look at all those poor, deluded, obsequious fools, thinking the billionnaires will notice their pandering and actually care about them.
Quote of the week
“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people being ridiculous, that you realise just how much you love them.” —Agatha Christie
Big love from me to you.
Remember to fight the good fight in whatever way works best for you.
And make it joyful!
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