(The banner is pixel art from the game Hyper Light Drifter)
This is The Praxis Circus.
I will ask you all to please bear with me as I try and figure out what works as a format for this newsletter. For now, I am thinking about it in terms of chapters or seasons, with each block linked not by theme, but structure and approach. Chapters could last single issues or a whole year(!) who knows? This entire idea of chapters or seasons could also be under a meta chapter of its own šš.
All this is basically to say āExpect nothing and you canāt hold me to anything!ā.
I have been way more aware of my breathing lately and how so many of us just breathe badly. It sounds weird that something so fundamental to our existence and natural to everyone can be like this, but itās true! Thereās a great episode of The Art of Manliness podcast where he interviews Dr. Belisa Vranich, a clinical psychologist that talks a LOT about breathing. On a physical level, breathing gives our cells access to oxygen which is used to create energy and power everything else. The import of what a single breath enables in the body cannot be overstated and it is why it is and has been such a foundational framework of a lot of contemplative & physical practices for centuries. The podcast is a great introduction to the whole thing, but if you prefer video, there is also her TED talk and there of course loads of other resources.
Breathing is not just about the physical act though. I think when we are very aware of it it also allows us to participate in a form of re-engagement with the natural world and our environment. Being able to find a space of rest in the turbulence that sometimes engulfs us, particularly in Lagos for me, is something that is necessary for dealing with any chaotic system, just like in this video where Jordan Greenhall talks about what to do when you are in a chaotic environment.
-
I really, really like Jordan Greenhall and his recent YouTube videos have been great at making sense of the modern day cultural environment for me. The video on the differences between complicated, complex and chaotic systems and the way we engage with each that I think is worth viewing to provide some background for a lot of stuff that I will more than likely be sharing in the next couple of newsletters, but what I wanted to share in this issue is his post on Thinking and Simulated Thinking.
-
Over the last few months I have rediscovered my joy of owning and using notebooks for organizing myself and my ideas (I just finished a Leuchtturm1917 notebook with dot-grid paper and I just ordered a new notebook and refills from Travelerās Company) and it has amped my productivity and creativity. Thereās a cool idea of something called a Commonplace book which I first heard of via Warren Ellisā newsletter many moons ago. It is such a useful idea and I think everyone should have one! If you prefer to go digital, there are some very robust note taking apps these days - I currently swap between Bear, iA Writer and Index for all my digital note taking and used Index in particular to compile the links and notes for this newsletter - so there is definitely something out there that should work for you. I do think writing in meatspace is what works best for me when I need to generate new ideas and think things through, but your mileage may vary.
-
This is a beautiful essay on design through the lens of typography and you should go read it.
-
Reading List
I just finished reading the first two books of the Remembrance of Earthās Past trilogy The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu thanks to a recommendation by RĆ© Olunuga and I really enjoyed it. For those not used to reading science fiction I can heartily recommend it. It is not bogged down by technical terminology and focuses a lot more on the social and cultural aspects of its speculative premise. I donāt want to give much away, but it is a really good read and feels expansive in the way a lot of science fiction I have read hasnāt felt in a while (although I guess Seveneves is sort of similar in scale if less mind blowing). Once my book budget ārefreshesā, I will be picking up the last book.
I will also be picking up Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi and I have preordered The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts which I am REALLY looking forward to.
She believed in the mission with all her heart.
But that was sixty million years ago.How do you stage a mutiny when youāre only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and relentlessly, honestly, only wants what best for you?
Sunday Ahzmundin is about to find out.
If you know me, you would know that there is no way I could read that and not excited.
I have also really enjoyed all of his previous books and I credit them largely with helping me clarify and ground my thinking about consciousness and states of cognition scientifically. He doesnāt publish that often, but he has a very cool website with loads of short fiction (heck, one of his novels is up there in its entirety!) so you should check him out.
I also had a fanboy moment recently when I was talking to my wife Bibi, about the books of Kameron Hurley. Her prose is just wonderful and her books, whether science fiction or fantasy always feel like they are written from a different perspective alien to the preoccupations and obsessions of these two very male-driven genres.
I remember throwing away a child.
Thatās the only memory I know for certain is mine. The rest is a gory blackness. All I have, then, are the things Iāve been told are true:
My name is Zan.
I once commanded a great army.
My mission was to destroy a world that does not exist.
Iām told my army was scattered, or eaten, or blown apart into a thousand twinkling bits of debris, and I went missing.
I donāt know why Iād ever want to lead an armyāespecially a losing oneābut Iām told I spent my life pushing hard to get to the rank and skill I attained. And when I came back, spit out by the world or wrenched free of my own will, I came back wrong. What wrong means I donāt know yet, only that itās also resulted in my lack of memory.
The first face I see when I wake each period in my sickbed is full-lipped and luminous, like looking into the face of some life-giving sun. The woman says her name is Jayd, and it is she who has told me all I know to be true. When I[ā¦]ā
Excerpt From
The Stars Are Legion
Kameron Hurley
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-stars-are-legion/id1082471996?mt=11
This material may be protected by copyright.
or
āNyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert.
Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jaks hit the floor like an antique harem girl.
Nyx lost every coin, a wad of opium, and the wine sheād gotten from the butchers as a bonus for her womb. But she did get Jaks into bed, andāloser or notāin the desert after dark, that was something.ā
Excerpt From
God's War
Kameron Hurley
https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=924701202
This material may be protected by copyright.
The babe is a beast. Her characters are unrepentantly women and they operate independently and unrepentantly as characters in worlds that are weird, mind-bending and delightful to inhabit.
-
Okay, I think that is where I am going to stop for now. I hope you enjoy this first formal edition of the newsletter and I have given you enough to read throughout the week ahead. Have a great week and see you next Sunday!
Remember to stop, breathe and reorient before acting. šš¾šš¾