8/11/2022
The 33 Project
The big Amsterdam trip has now come and gone and what a lovely trip it was. It was filled with moments of sincere love and joy and friendship. Susannah was, and continues to be, thoughtful beyond words. My friends are kind and funny and adventurous. I am, immeasurably lucky.
As I reintegrate to the work grind, I’ve been thinking a bit about time. How it was never really limited when on vacation. How beautiful it was to log off and not focus on a work calendar with blocks of time segmented for others. The day just moved along, lounging was an activity, and the only deadlines were self-manufactured. I felt lighter and freer and I can’t wait to do it again soon.
On to the recs for this week:
1/ Street art saves lives. I loved reading this piece outlining the benefits of painted street murals. It turns out that drivers and walkers are safer and more cautious when there are crosswalks decorated with painted murals.
The study examined the crash history at 17 asphalt art sites across the country that have a minimum of two years of crash data. It found 83 fewer crashes at the analyzed intersections — more than a 50 percent decrease compared with data from before the crosswalks were painted.
Video footage of five recently installed art sites across the country was also used to gather information in the study. Following installations, there was a 27 percent rise in the rate of motorists yielding to pedestrians, and a 38 percent decline in pedestrians crossing against the walk signal.
2/ Keeping in tune with my theme on time and relaxation, I enjoyed this piece from Andrew Sullivan on the joy of doing nothing and his experience living in Provincetown for over two decades. It’s a nice rumination on how time and life evolves.
“But when I ask myself if something fundamental has changed in gay life, as integration has arrived, I tend to think less than I may have once thought. I look around me in Ptown: the parties and parades, the costumes, the drag queens, the drinking, the procession to the beach and back, the tea dance every afternoon, the pizza crowds after the bars close, the ebbs and flows of the weeks, the lost bikes and new grudges, the dick dock and the new viruses. It’s all here still, coming but never completely going.”
3/ Lastly, I’ve really been enjoying Maggie Rogers’ new album, Surrender. It’s a lovely listen all the way through.
That’s it for this week. Thanks, as always, for reading and sharing this weekly newsletter.