6.3.2021
The 33 Project
Happy Thursday! Not a lot to share personally this week, summer is a very busy work time, especially as production picks up again. So, on to the recs:
1/ Kiese Laymon is a wonderful writer. I loved his memoir, Heavy and I’ve followed his twitter and blogging ever since. His style is personal, often poetic, but also blunt and sort of relentless.
He wrote a great piece, years ago, on why we need to practice our writing. I found it encouraging to revisit this week. How I approach writing evolves constantly - sometimes it flows, sometimes (mostly) it’s a brutal trek up an unbearable hill. I like to recalibrate by taking in advice from writers like Laymon.
Here’s the post. And here are two snippets I enjoyed:
You don’t have to cram every idea ever into your pieces. Use leftovers for other pieces.
When you don’t practice, you’re expecting editors and teachers to hook you up. When you practice, you’re looking forward to inviting folks to your practice sessions with the hopes that they want to practice with you.
2/ June is Pride month and while there’s certainly no lack of pride-facing content, I like to revisit this beautiful speech from Olly Alexander of Years and Years.
3/ My last rec is for the NY locals. This piece from The City on the demographics of restaurants was pretty interesting. When The City reviewed new permit data they found that Brooklyn is inching up on Manhattan for percentage of new restaurants opening. This past year was undeniably brutal for the hospitality industry, but I do find a little hope in reading about these new places popping up.
Thanks for reading and see you next week.