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- I want you to do it the child way
I want you to do it the child way
The idea of things outside of ourselves
Allie Lehman
October 27, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
A quick summary: It’s Sunday and today we’re exploring:
Getting outside of ourselves, getting otherworldly
“Get off the internet and you won't have rivals either”
Collaborating with the algorithm
I did not have anyone edit this so if you see a typo, be relieved that I’m a human and not a robot.
Intersections
things that are connecting during my recess
Last week I alluded to the idea of things outside of ourselves. Louise Glück called it “otherworldly.” Otherworldly means “relating to an imaginary or spiritual world.” And kids were the first thing I thought of. I think a kid’s imagination is perfect. No notes. And it made me think of a quote I copied down into my notes a few weeks ago. Roz Chast shared in an interview:
“I have a friend whose kid is an artist, and she told me something that her kid once said. She was trying to show her daughter how to do something, and her daughter said, ‘I want you to do it the child way.’ And that's how I feel about work. I want to do it the child way.”
I feel the most like a kid when I’m playing the piano, painting, eating food, and listening to music. So I decided to do a lot of that this past week. Specifically:
Made some AI imagery inspired by animals and artistry. And the fact that autocorrect on my phone recently suggested the word “Alligator” instead of “Allison” (my legal name). Making AI imagery is one of the quickest ways for me to get into an otherworldly way of thinking.
Made this playlist by asking everyone that I text regularly or semi-regularly what their current favorite song is right now and mixing it with all of my favorite songs at the moment. It’s called YAWYHOW (you are who you hang out with) and I made the playlist artwork myself.
Re-arranged my office after my friend Lauren reminded me of how fun it was to re-arrange your room as a kid.
Had a siblings weekend with my family, ate good food, and played pool. We got to run around a pumpkin patch with our niece, reminisce about what it felt like to be kids ourselves, and fall asleep watching tv together.
playlist art + AI imagery
office re-arranging + drinks that taste and look like art from Parable
A Quote To Remember
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks recalled a conversation with Katy Perry about not being on the internet. Katy asked Stevie who her rivals were.
“I just looked at her. It was my steely look. I said, ‘Katy, I don't have rivals. I have friends. All the other women singers that I know are friends. Nobody's competing. Get off the internet and you won't have rivals either.’”
The Remix
we can’t avoid the algorithm, so how do we collaborate?
I got stuck in Instagram’s algorithm where it started to feed me book-related content and if I was vaguely interested in one of them, it triggered a domino effect where all I was being served was that exact content. I decided to lean into it, screenshot the suggestions, and then went to Reddit. I searched each book to see what people genuinely thought and I could tell pretty quickly the overall sentiment. I assessed this in a few ways:
I took into consideration what the actual subreddit was called and what it was about
I quickly looked for tags (I don’t know Reddit calls them that) where I could see if were raving about it or complaining
And similar to above, you can tell by the post title. If people were like “Why is this so hyped?” or “Does it get better?” I would click into it and try to get a sense of the conversation. Just because a group of people don’t like a book doesn’t mean I will feel the same way.
The algorithm and AI and social pressures will always be with us. It’s up to us to poke some holes and do the critical thinking after we bump into it.
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