Favorite 3 of 2023
Favorite 3 of 2023
my favorite 3 pieces created, books read, and songs on repeat this year
3 favorite pieces I created this year
Why don't we talk more about how strange time is?
A piece in which I try to pin down what I find so uncanny about time »
to know the landscape of someone's psyche
A short poem about getting to know the full depth of someone »
“State of Being” illustrations
Here’s three of them:
3 favorite books read this year
The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
These books should be required reading for anyone touching a house or public place. And even if you're not building anything, they’re worth reading because they elucidate what you have always felt but could not describe. For example:
Why do American cities often feel soulless, while old European cities feel charming and lively? Or, what makes a particular home feel just right?
But I think what gives A Pattern Language universal appeal is it speaks to something beyond architecture—a quality Alexander refuses to name but is something like harmonious aliveness.
I wish all professions had such an accessible foundational text that teaches core principles that empower anyone to foster this quality of harmonious aliveness. What would A Pattern Language look like for body wellness, for childcare, for group gatherings, for productivity…?
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
A novel about friendship, collaboration, and creative success and failure. I was rapt from the first chapter and binge listened to it in a weekend.
3 favorite songs on repeat this year
Harry Cutter - Melokind
This slowly building song was my constant travel companion. Perhaps there’s something about its complexity of feeling—melancholic and bright, constrained yet expansive—that keeps me hitting the play button.
Romy - Weightless
I was delighted to discover that the XX's Romy had produced an independent album. The XX albums I remember from a decade back were fantastic but sad, so it was lovely to discover that Romy's album, Mid Air, is overall joyful. It was like hearing from a long-suffering friend years later and discovering that they are now thriving. The whole album is exquisitely produced, and the minimal euphoric “Weightless” is my favorite track.
Carioca Chandra Edgar - Agua-caldera
The celebratory joy in this track is fit for a soul's homecoming.
What were your favorite things you created, books you read, and songs you listened to this year?
Comment below—I’d love to check them out!
Thanks for the recommendation of tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. I definitely binge read this and even had to put it down a few times because I got so emotional.
Two quotes from the book, one from the beginning, the other from the end.
'"I’m going to play until the end of this life.” “That’s a good philosophy,” Anna said.'
'Maybe it was the willingness to play that hinted at a tender, eternally newborn part in all humans. Maybe it was the willingness to play that kept one from despair.'