Let’s grow together
Miscellanea #49: A new motto, a project for a friend, some long and short reads, a song with a story, and more
Last day at Olga, photo by Keegan
Since its inception, Miscellanea’s purpose has been ‘to promote thoughtfulness’. But as I’ve developed a more personal style here, that motto doesn’t feel the right fit anymore. There’s more to it. Miscellanea is about growing together — pushing each other to be better individuals, never leaving one another behind in our fight to uphold the ideals we hope to embody.
Growth has always been important to me — and while I’m far from the ideal candidate to tout personal progress, my desire is that a nudge to grow is most sensical and meaningful coming from someone as unremarkably common as I am. I often edge on narcissistic, procrastinate the simplest of responsibilities, can’t stop looking at my damn phone, and have quite the knack for knocking myself (ha). Yet I’m proud of my progress, and you can be too.
Imperfect as we are, the most loving thing we can do for one another is grow as individuals. Let’s grow together.
In photography, I’ve found growth hard to come by recently. I haven’t had the motivation to pursue personal projects — so I was thrilled when my friend Connor came to me with a fully developed concept for his music project Juno Dunes’ newest single, which will release next week. I don’t often get the opportunity to just execute someone else’s vision, and the freedom and joy it afforded me was a breath of fresh air. Connor is a hoot — his creativity and humor go hand in hand. Here are some fun (and ridiculous) promotional images I made for his upcoming Club Teams tour:
Reading is learning is growing
The most important thing I read this week (on love as a joint project)
A poignant short letter from Peter Finney III: New Orleans residents ought to be furious about Hard Rock hotel fiasco
Why Democrats Still Have to Appeal to the Center, but Republicans Don’t
How to build the future music industry we want and need
Austin Kleon on Kobe’s stolen moves
The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate
How smartphones silence what the urban landscape tries to say
Open floor plans are terrible for entertaining
Another find in the crate
“This record is a family affair. It started one morning when one Mr. Latour, the father of the group, was shaving in the mirror and a song struck him. It was to be about Mardi Gras, not the beaded revelry of New Orleans familiar to most, but the traditions of rural Louisiana, where one would ‘run the Mardi Gras,’ going house to house getting home cooking from the neighbors. He would sing the song every day in the car and the children of the family soaked up the spirit of the song.
Playing and performing was just part of life for the family. Mr. Latour had bought studio equipment for his children to record on, which he kept in their house. Growing up in the shadow of New Orleans, the Latour children listened to the sounds of Funk and R&B that came in on the radio, which was the biggest influence on the family projects’ sound. Together the four Latour children, with the eponymous Boco Latour on lead vocals, and a couple of local musicians recorded ‘Running the Mardi Gras’ in the Latour home.”
Quotable
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, takes no part in political life. He doesn't seem to know that the cost of living, the price of beans, of flour, of rent, of medicines all depend on political decisions. He even prides himself on his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and says he hates politics. He doesn't know, the imbecile, that from his political non-participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and, worst of all, corrupt officials.”
— Bertolt Brecht