Unsolicited Recommendations n.7
Displacement and empathy. And corners.
Berlin had its sunniest March on record. It was a welcome relief after months of grey and even more months of pandemic-related lethargy, although also tinged with climate anxiety and at odds with the horrible situation unfolding not far away in Ukraine.
I've found myself resisting the spring a little bit. The acceleration, the rush of energy and activity, turns me back into someone who is “busy.” All too suddenly, I’m outpaced by my own life.
My favourite conversation topic recently has been duality: holding two seemingly contradictory statements or feelings and allowing both of them to be true. I’m grateful for full spring days and nostalgic for the empty winter ones. It might be my confirmation bias, but I think all of the recommendations below have something to say about duality — connection and loneliness, displacement and belonging.
Unsolicited Recommendations
Agata Izabela Brewer on war and exile — slouching towards a barely imaginable future
Leslie Jamison on working as a medical actor — and empathy as a choice
Jacquelyn Mills on curiosity and observation — her immersive film, Geographies of Solitude, about Sable Island and naturalist Zoe Lucas
Adam Low on the life and work of Seamus Heaney — a lyrical full-length documentary
Anne Carson on corners — as wide-ranging, scholarly, and insightful as ever
Questions to Ask about how to measure internal weather.