Hello! I hope you, your family and friends are well, happy, and together - however togetherness can happen for you.
This is a very short one. Firstly, a little digital wave through the window.
And second, an invitation. I've had a very delicate thread of thought in my mind for a couple of years now. Not so much an idea, as an idea of an idea. I've never quite been able to work out its shape in my mind, or in a notebook. So instead, I'm going to work it out by... pacing the territory.
By doing some things. Play projects. I hope to keep you updated as my understanding unfolds. But for now:
GAME ONE: OUR THINGS, AND OUR SELVES
“The Mansion of Bliss”, a 19th century moral board game
Self-isolation means we are all spending much more time at home. Instead of being surrounded by society's things (parks, bus stops, benches, roads, bins, trees), we're now surrounded by our own things. Sometimes, things of our own choosing and curation. Sometimes, not so much. They're just sort of there.
Here's what I'd like you to do:
Please take a picture of something in your home that reminds you, positively, of who you are. I'd also like a sentence or two about why. And send them to me.
†It really doesn't matter how mundane the thing is, and it doesn't have to have some incredible origin story. In fact, my only restriction is: no family photos, please. I feel like that's the answer people think they 'should' give, and it's more interesting to have free choice.
‡If for some reason you're not staying 'at home', then I hope you're doing okay, and I would love to see something that you have with you that does the same.
I would like to publish some responses, anonymous, on the newsletter. But if you'd like that not to happen with yours, then please let me know. I'd still find your contribution really valuable.
☞ You can send your response by just replying to this email - or to jchristianmitchell86 at gmail dot com, per this button:
Thank you!
Gosh, it's beautiful out there. Happy Easter.
❧ James
Footnote: I came across the 'Play Project' concept in a book I'm reading called Free Range Human by Marianne Cantwell, who found it in Screw Work, Let's Play by John Williams. It says that if you're trying to work out what your idea is, then doing loads of research will gum you up and scare you... but doing little recce projects will help you understand what you're doing - and whether you like it, which is a seriously underrated factor in idea-having. I love this thought. So here we are.