Welcome to 5 Quick Things that I saw during the last month and I thought were interesting enough to be worth sharing. None of them are particularly timely so feel free to just enjoy 🙂

>Number One<

A Poem

I really fell in love with this poem when I read it. The poem is as much about life and living and caring and being cared for as it is about grief and dying. About how cyclic things are and how deeply connected things are. I think I could write 10 times as many words as this poem and not express how much it means to me, but I think that is the great work of a well crafted piece.

>Number Two<

Video Games as Commentary

 

 

Sometimes I think video games might still be living in the shadow on many of the unkind criticisms that were heft upon it in its infancy. Video games these days are complex, sometimes epic narratives and themes exploring all manners of things. This piece about Bioshock just scratches the surface of one theme in one game but hopefully we chip away at those unkind thoughts about an entire medium with pieces like this.

>Number Three<

Understanding Hipsterism and Fighting it in Ourselves

I think it can be very difficult to admit that you’re a hipster and this video does a really great job at pointing out some of the behaviors that people hold about their opinions and their reaction to the opinions of others and how damaging those can be for us. I have trouble with understanding hipsters because I have no motivation to fake my feelings but this video helped me understand why other people might do those things (augh sorry this is really inarticulate of me so I might come back and revise it but I promise he does a nice job in the video of explaining it instead).

>Number Four<

Love, In Whatever Form it Takes

 

 

This is a beautiful story / sequential comic about (I suppose) soulmates. It’s just very cute and sometimes I like very cute things. Also I saw it on Tumblr and it reminded me of the dark ages on livejournal and so I’m linked you all the way back to its livejournal version for maximum authenticity.

>Number Five<

It’s a Metaphor Dumbass

 

So this was a super timely story. I won’t ruin the surprise / metaphor but trust me, Zadie Smith (the author of White Teeth, which is fantastic and you should go read it if you haven’t already) has managed to capture the zeitgeist of call out culture and some of the feelings that have pulled me in a few different directions. I’ve found it especially difficult to exist in a world where we ask people to change while constantly dredging up their past mistakes as if ever human is only their past and never their present.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about how this is especially the way we treat people who are sentenced via the justice system but even in the general American consciousness. The culture is predominantly one of punishment and retribution instead of reform and growth.

It’s been on my mind a lot over the past few years and especially in the past month and it’ll probably still be floating around my head next year.

 

Anyway, that’s all for this time! See you next month with more recommendations 🙂