A 9-Year New Year Ritual.
And dropping the "business" category.
Every new year, ritualistically, I write out a list of goals for the upcoming year.
It’s been 9 years going—a nine-year record of what I hoped to accomplish vs. what I actually did. My biggest takeaway: it’s so damn hard to do things on top of all the human life stuff (paying bills, making money to pay the bills, cleaning, binging White Lotus, you know).
The last few years the list had three main categories: art, business and personal. This year it’s just art and personal. A conscious decision to stop dividing those two and to change how I relate them. Art is the focus, and if business comes, cool, but let’s just make the art and share it.
I also made this year’s list smaller, shorter and the numbers better.
Here’s to rituals and to a new year!
**You may have noticed this newsletter looks a little different. I’m on Substack now, but all is staying the same—monthly peeks into the studio and what I’m working on.
things worth sharing
Have you heard of Carmen Herrera? She’s a Cuban-born American painter who influenced artists for decades and gained widespread fame in her late 80s. She died last year at the age of 106. This short documentary on her is a must-watch, The 100 Years Show.
This website, What literature do we study from the 1990s?, is a really cool interactive site using data on the literature today’s college students are reading. It includes data for books from the 80s, 90s and 00s.
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” -Amelia Earhart