Notes
Places I’ve made drawings of: If you make pictures, do you feel this way about things you’ve drawn? I would love to know how other people feel about the subjects of their drawings, after drawing them (or painting or whatever – could be music or writing too?). I tried googling to find out, but I was not successful. I did, however, come across this delightful article by NPR editor and cartoonist Malaka Gharib, which offers some science-based reasons why art is good for everybody. Now I can’t wait to read her books – and am excited to have subscribed to her Substack!
Thousands of Individual stories: Writing about this reminded me of a video I’d seen on social media several years ago, in which a writer/video editor named John Koenig explained “sonder,” a word he coined that he defined as follows: “the realization that everyone has a story. Each random passerby is the main character of their own story, living a life just as vivid and complex as your own, while you are just an extra in the background.” (He later compiled a book of words he made up and published it as The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. This, in turn, reminded me of the time I decided to read a dictionary and compile words from it that “spoke to me,” during a period in my 20’s when I briefly held a job that required me to do nothing except answer a phone a couple of times a day and check a fax machine once or twice.)
When I first started looking at birds, it felt like discovering that I could observe an alien world existing in parallel to our own, with none of our own concerns. Yet more stories happening all around, all the time. I still find it thrilling.
Urban birding in the local newspaper: This summer’s birding project in the New York Times has included a wealth of fascinating, informative coverage of topics from how cities shape birds to how birding can connect people to how sketching birds can change the way you see them – which is one possible answer to the question I raised in the first note.
Yellow ceramic bird house ball: This birdhouse is so amazing. I love it so much! And the block it’s on, which includes another bird house as well as the long coppery bird feeder, is one of my favorites to walk down, for many reasons. I was so happy to have a conversation with the women on the stoop. Here’s a drawing from my sketchbook from a few weeks ago, inspired by this block – with some fully imaginary additions:
Thank you for being here with me!
Beautiful!