This Caught My Attention
The Notes App on my phone is pretty wild.
I’m betting yours might be as well. I recognize there are many ways people track their wayward thoughts: a pen and paper next to the bed, a shared notes app amongst household members so you can add to the grocery list in real-time, or simply text messages to yourself or other people to flag when it’s time to buy more toilet paper.
I’d say my life currently is a fair mix of analog and digital methodologies. My calendar is entirely digital. I keep handwritten notes during coaching calls. I’ve got an App to track my health and fitness, and I’ve got pieces of paper currently nailed to the wall next to my fridge to visually map out my next book.
I am the type of person who knows she has to keep her phone away from her hand because all of the addictive features built in work on me. It helped when I learned that the colors designed for Smartphones were informed by the same people who designed colors for slot machines. The goal for both – keep touching that screen! If my phone is near me when I’m trying to do something else, I will unconsciously grab it (which is what ‘they’ want me to do) – and I don’t want to live that way, so rather than try to white knuckle my way through that, I simply remove the temptation.
I share this because I keep my phone plugged in on the concrete countertop in my kitchen. I’ve got a fairly open floor plan, and I keep the ringer on (unless I’m in a meeting) in case friends or family call and I need to pick up. I check the time on the digital clock of my oven or in the upper right-hand corner of my laptop screen. I keep meaning to get a wristwatch, but my truth is that I’m on a computer a lot of my day and having rings or bracelets on makes my hands feel strangled and encumbered when I’m trying to type. Also, I almost exclusively wear clothes designed for women, so the pocket situation is near non-existent. Annoying and sexist, yes. A nice excuse to not have my phone pressed against my body? Also, yes.
All this is to say, if I’ve gone to grab my phone to type in a Note it means it’s likely I physically got up to go get it, paused what I was listening to, and rewound to try to catch it again.
I listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos most days. There are creators, journalists, comedians, and interviewers that I follow regularly. Sometimes I tune in for insight I’m craving about how to make sense of the news of the day. Other times I click in as a way to take a “break” from whatever I’m focused on – tapping into something entirely different for at least a few moments.
Because I’m not feeling particularly brilliant at the moment, I thought in this week’s essay it could be of value to share some of the notes currently scribbled in phone with light annotation and reflection.
From my Notes App – words, phrases, and ideas that have caught my attention recently:
“Tectonic shifts – as a frame and description” – Context = I was at the beach alongside the lake 0.8 miles from my house with my friend, Amy, and we were looking up at the clouds. I blurted out that it was like watching ‘sky Pangea.’ She laughed.
o It got me thinking about the award my sister won in elementary school when she made a Styrofoam rendering of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that floated in water. As I’ve been wondering how to think about and talk about the roller coaster that feels like living in America and the world at this moment, perhaps tectonic is not hyperbole? I’m considering it.
“Effortlessly articulate” Context = Offered to me as feedback after a recent 100-person training.
o I almost didn’t share this because I recognize it can sound braggy. But it felt worth it to share for two reasons: #1) My therapist “makes me” track nice things people say to me because it is so much more likely I’ll remember and ruminate on the mean things people say #2) What I did in front of that training room did NOT feel ‘effortless’ from the inside out. In fact, it takes a ton of effort to gain mastery – which I care about sharing because I want people to know that they, too, can get very good at thinking and talking about race and gender dynamics in America. It is not magic. It is practice.
“I find hollow relationships dispiriting and deflating. I used to tell myself they were enriching, but they just weren’t.” and “A lot of life is like being a shitty detective for yourself.” Context = comedian Neal Brennan talking to comedian Mike Birbiglia on Birbiglia’s podcast called “Working It Out” – where he talks with other creatives about their process, and they work to improve new material - in front of us – together.
o Neal and Mike are both in their 40s. One lives in LA. One lives in NY. One has a kid. One does not. They are both professionally successful. “Dispiriting” felt so true. Like a gut punch of recognition, I thought – that’s what ‘small talk’ and other fake, surface-level bullshit is feeling like for me at this point in my life and work, ‘dispiriting!’ It doesn’t make me not fun or not interested in going to parties. It’s just that, for me, if we’re not going to get through the small talk fairly quickly it’s highly likely I’d rather just be alone than exerting energy in this kind of conversation. Good for me to know about me.
o The “shitty detective” line made me laugh out loud upon first listen. Self-awareness is hot right now. And it should be. I’m on that path myself. I liked this phrasing at the attempt because it is like we miss clues and connections all the time. My best friends are likely to catch them about me before I can see with clarity myself. Being my own “shitty detective” is helping me ratchet down the intensity, up the empathy, and think of Inspector Gadget. I’m trying! I’m blowing it a lot. But I’m trying. So, good for me ;)
“We’re not going to change the world with our opinions. We’re going to change the world with our art.” Context = musician and songwriter Cory Asbury while being interviewed by fellow musician and songwriter Rita Springer.
o Oof. This one felt right on and, for me, slightly pressure-filled. I understand Cory to be speaking expansively about “art” – be it music, or visual, or written, or something else. It’s like, it’s the art that sticks with us – that breaks us open – that evokes and that shocks the system. It feels right, and also serves as a valuable reminder that screaming into the void ain’t gonna produce the change we seek. We’re gonna need to make things, make alternatives, and get vulnerable with the world and show what we’ve made. This makes me sweat. And it’s probably good. Just uncomfortable.
“5 interlocking injustices – the poor people’s campaign” Context = Rev Dr William Barber speaking to Jon Stuart on one of the Monday episodes of “The Daily Show” – I watch clips on YouTube after the show airs.
o I first became familiar with Rev Dr Barber when he spoke at the Creating Change Conference – the national conference for LGBTQ organizers, hosted by the organization I worked at during a transformative period in my career – The National LGBTQ Task Force. A Black, Southern, straight preacher caring right out loud, and articulately, about LGBTQ people blew my mind and gave me hope. It challenged what I had been taught about who was ‘for’ and ‘against’ us. It broke through stereotypes that were both unfair and not representative of true complexity.
o In this particular interview, he said them quickly, so I had to rewind a bunch and eventually go look them up. From the About page of www.poorpeoplescampaign.org:
“About the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival…people are coming together to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation,militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism.”
Amen! Familiar with The Poor People’s Campaign, this recent interview sent me back to it. I strongly encourage that you also click through and check it out.
It feels so smart and correct to learn about and be able to talk about these five interlocking things with ease and consistency. I am re-committing myself to this list in my communication as well as my actions.
I’ll leave you with one final note. Apparently, I wrote it on 3/21/24:
“My knees sound like sand.” Elyse Myers Context = mentioned as an aside in one of her YouTube videos.
o Just yes. Exactly! I’ve been more of a “come put your hand on my left knee, can you feel that?” to my friends and my doctor. Apparently, it’s “fine” and “totally normal.” I gotta tell you, it doesn’t feel that way to me! Thank you for making me feel seen and understood, Elyse, just by speaking your truth ;)
I hope the notes you’ve been keeping are as weird and as random as mine.
A reminder that Early Bird Registration is OPEN NOW for my Four-Part Cohort for Leaders this October and November. Learn more here (https://www.trinaolson.com/services) and send me an email if you’d like the details – trina@trinaolson.com.
Next Week is #36 of 52 – 16 Essays to Go!