Hey there! I'm glad to have you here.
If you’re new, this is The Substacker, the best of the indie side of Substack, hand-picked every week. It encompasses art, science, history, books, movies, and all other forms of inspiring ramblings common to Substack. Click the link to learn more:
Lately, I have grown to believe that the key to creating and enjoying life is taking what we are doing less seriously. If we are constantly thinking about what we want to achieve with what we are doing, we are in constant despair. Perhaps that's why we're so burned out on social media, because nothing is done just because we want to. It all falls under some type of 'strategy for building our personal brand'. I ran across this article about adding play to your life, and I really intend to try it. Hopefully, you will feel the same way after reading it.
Play is for grown-ups
The science of play shows it's an essential lifelong activity to cultivate healthy brain functioning, increase our connection to others, learn faster, and boost the emotional system that drives joy.
Researchers studying serial killers have found they share something unusual: as children, they were deprived of play.
It’s time to take play seriously. Dead seriously.
An ode to being chronically online
and other depths of the ocean
As I sit here and archive all my old WordPress posts I think what a silly thing to be so online. What a strange occurrence. There are so many images of my face and my words floating in the ether. I have forgotten them all almost. I am trying to archive as much as I can and yet I am also always constantly looking for myself online. Both literally and figuratively.
Sunrises, sunsets and a trip to Paris
Materials chat, a peek into my travel sketchbook and a new series of paintings.
Having spent a lot of time in Paris, a collection of memories had already formed quite a distinct colour palette in my mind. I knew I would want some peachy pinks and ochres to capture the limestone walls and cornflower-slate blues for the roofs. Pale lilac for the evening, Paynes grey for the balconies, red in case of flowers or a fashionable lady. I tried to have a range of tones and a balance of saturated and muted colours. Given the time of year, I kept the greens minimal and muted…
Is Motherhood Bad for Marriage?
getting real about the toll parenting takes on your twosome
Despite the fact that the nuclear family is the default for how our society functions, bringing children into a marriage can be hugely destabilizing for the couple. It upends everything. What was once a comfortable partnership, a cocoon of love, becomes a workplace, a location of endless labor. It also tends to push heterosexual couples into gendered roles that perpetuate patriarchal structures and leave mom being the default parent.
The Right to Art: fandom, parasociality, and the big thief of it all
quick thoughts on the modern artist/fan relationship paradigm
There are a number of ways in which fans are legitimately entitled to things from artists. If you buy a song for $0.99 on iTunes, you should expect to see it in your digital library. If you buy tickets for a concert, you should expect to show up to the venue and see the artist perform. But what happens when the song you bought isn’t the version you wanted? Or when a live performance doesn’t sound like the record? Are you owed something? Is the artist indebted to you? Some fans seem to think so.
Before you go…
Paid subscriptions and donations help me keep this newsletter going. If you find The Substacker useful, you can also consider tipping a virtual coffee.
If money is short, don't worry! Sharing it with friends is also pretty helpful!
See you next time! :)
You’re curations are so good! I found new folks to follow. Also excited to see Briana Soler / Selected Chronicles 🥰
Thanks for including me in this list!