Strands of Genius: Google Protects Harassers, Influencers Ruin OnlyFans, Melissa McCarthy is Awesome

plus our thoughts on: cats and being pet parents in residence

Apr 13, 2021

WORKING ON | three new business proposals, yikes!

LOOKING AHEAD
Feb 21-April 26: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
April 26-May 9: Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic
May 9-May 31: Nashville, TN (vaccine trip!)

:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::

Welp, we extended our stay in Playa Bonita once again, though we’re still planning to come back to the states mid-May for vaccines and to hug some of our family. We frequently get asked “what’s next?” and we often have at least somewhat of an answer, provided by events anchored to specific locations. These days, we continue to do all our presentations remotely, which means where we are is not dictated by work. It also means we have a wide open brief in terms of where we should be next. We’ve looked at homes in various parts of the US and various parts of the world, but we can’t convince ourselves that we like somewhere more than we like everywhere. We’re dreaming of a trip to New York to visit friends, a longer stay somewhere in Mexico, a European visit to see family, and a trip to Taiwan for a friend’s wedding in December, which could mean it’s time for us to finally bite the bullet and book some time in Japan. And yet, a pandemic still swirls in the background. While most of our friends in the US are already vaccinated, most of our friends outside the states aren’t vaccinated, and don’t have any idea of when they might be. And so our dreaming is tempered by the reality that we’re still living through a pandemic. We’ll get our shots in May, but we still feel like planning too far out is a futile act!

This week, we’re especially thankful for:

an impromptu dive trip, where we saw garden eels, a huge moray eel eat a lion fish, many sergeant majors, some baby trigger fish, a large bull fish (that changed colors as it moved through the reef), a shipwreck with loads of coral, another visit to Cayo Levantando, hanging out with people our own age (ha!), sunshine after a week of heavy rain, the Bone Clocks, mosquito coils, fresh raspberries, mushrooms (mushrooms are notoriously hard to get, and we bought TWO whole punnets at the store yesterday), and of course, the endless entertainment brought by “our” cats.

S C H O O L O F S T O L E N G E N I U S >> H I G H L I G H T S

//SOSG x Sean Choi | Community Meet Up//

Starts Apr 21, 2021 at 12:00 PM EDT

Making Sense of Cultural Relevance
Consumers thirst for it, marketers rave about it, and brands are behind on it. How do YOU define culture? If you stumbled in your response, you’ll leave this workshop with the clarity, confidence, and purpose you didn’t realize you needed. Let’s get cultural! About Sean Choi: Brought up by a global family, Sean Choi is now a Brooklyn-based strategist who values culture, relationships, and a good story.

//SOSG April Yoga | Community Meetup//

Starts Apr 22, 2021 at 12:00 PM EDT

We hope you'll join us for our third community yoga session! Our instructor will be Elea Soler, and she'll be leading us in a practice designed for all levels -- meaning you're most welcome whether you're new to yoga, or have years of experience.

Enroll at http://schoolofstolengeni.us

:: THE LINKS ::

GOOGLE, STOP PROTECTING HARASSERS

In an open letter posted on Medium last Friday, Google employees highlighted how their company tends to protect the harassers, rather than those who have been harassed. It can be as simple as refusing to require a manager accused of harassment to move desks (so that he wouldn’t be next to the woman who complained about him), all the way to a $90mm exit package for Andy Rubin, who coerced a young woman into performing sexual acts. (Medium)

HOW INFLUENCERS ARE RUINING ONLYFANS FOR SEX WORKERS

When OnlyFans popped up as a way for individuals to take ownership of their sexuality, some would say that it forever changed sex-work — putting x-rated content back in the hands of the creators rather than gatekeepers. But when the pandemic hit, influencers started flocking to OnlyFans. Sex workers talk about how for their jobs they have to get a fake name, disguise themselves, buy a fake phone, setup fake email accounts — and then influencers crash the party on the platform, rake in millions, and then continue to stigmatize sex workers in the process. Some make a few quick million, and leave the platform, or explore it as simply a side project — which makes it harder for those who have built an income solely around sex work. (Mashable)

EVERY MELISSA MCCARTHY MOVIE, RANKED

Over the weekend, we watched Thunder Force, because, well, we saw that Melissa McCarthy was in it - and she always cracks us up. If you’re a fan of funny, Vulture’s got you covered with all her film performances ranked. (And now we’ve got to add Can You Ever Forgive Me? to our watch list!) (Vulture)

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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: PETS ::

While I had pets at various point throughout my childhood, I don’t remember being so attached to them as others were. And then, moving to NYC began a long period in my life in which I really, strongly, disliked the idea of pets, and most pets themselves. I blame this on two main things:

1) I’m incredibly allergic to animals with hair. (There was that time when I worked at 360i where we rented a ZipCar that had clearly been recently used by someone with a very hairy dog. By the time we got to our client’s offices in New Jersey, my eyes were nearly swollen shut, and I had a rash on my arms. There was the time a cat was in my near proximity and my eyes swole to the point where I had to go to the emergency clinic and get a steroid shot in my ass. And a time when we had to take a horse taxi in Indonesia, and every part of my body that touched the horse hair became bright red. And more generally, all the times when a dog touches me with its nose, while I am just minding my own business, and I end up with watery eyes, hives, and endless sneezing.) It’s hard to like something that literally tortures your physical body.

2) I don’t like how pets, erm, “impact” fabric. I already deal with enough hair in my life. Faris and I both shed plenty, and hair from animals can ruin a look in 10 seconds flat. The hair lives on carpets, couches, comforters, and other fabric-based surfaces. Beyond the hair, pets seem to have a tendency to ruin clothing. I remember living in an apartment building in NYC, and someone’s dog jumped up on me in the elevator and ripped my tights. I remember visiting my friends’ newborn twins in East Nashville, and their dog ripping a brand new shirt. It’s not that the tights or the shirt were so special, but when you don’t have those familial bonds with animals, it doesn’t seem so funny.

And then, slowly, a handful of pets won me over. Jared’s dog Gracie was the first dog I met that didn’t seem like a pain in the ass to be around; Rachel’s dog Stella was an extension of Rachel herself (so of course very laid back); Erin & Eric’s dog Noodles was equally chill; and fine, Mike’s dog Chase, also buttered me up with his cuddles and howls of excitement ;) I realized when staying with Rachel & Mike, that if I took allergy meds for the first week, and then every other day, and then every few days, that my body wouldn’t react so poorly to animals. And then, without severe allergic reactions, I began to build a relationship with these animals. Which brings me to now.

When Faris and I first came to the Dominican Republic, we had an apartment on the top floor. Down by the pool, we’d occasionally see cats, but they weren’t interested in us, unless we happened to have food with us. Once that apartment rental expired, we moved to another apartment in the same small complex, but on the first floor (this means ground floor to anyone outside of the USA). Our patio… where our dining table is, where we work, where we do yoga, where we read… while having a privacy screen, is on the ground level, and open to the outdoors.

The first night we were here, their meows filled the air while we ate our dinner. We googled “can cats eat corn?” (because we know nothing about pets and didn’t want to kill them) and then gave them the final bite on our plates. The next night, when we didn’t want to share our dinner, one of them swiped at my leg and clawed me. I didn’t want to give the cats human food, in part because I didn’t know what they could/should eat, but also because Faris and I are damn good cooks, and I usually want to eat whatever we prepare. And so, the next time we went to the store, we bought some cat food. The three cats turned into four, the four into five, the five into six.

There’s only one cat which will let us pat it; The others have presumably been treated so horrifically by humans that they’re not so trusting. Every “patting session” is ended with me washing up as if I’m about to go into surgery. Full scrub up past the elbows, and hand sanitizer sprayed on other body parts that might have been touched, to limit the inevitable allergic reaction. But it’s hard not to build a relationship with these cute little animals. They hang out in the morning waiting for us to dole out some cat food, they curl up on our patio chairs while we’re working, the play with each other on the deck, and from time to time they’re off exploring who knows where.

So perhaps it’s no surprise to me that this article in Psychology Today “Why We Love To Spend Money On Pets” gave me a pause. We are part time pet parents, or perhaps pet-parents in residence, but even so, it’s hard for the cats not to take up a good part of our discussion. (“Look at how cute it is now.” “Now come look at these two that are cuddling.” “Oh em geee, look at how they’re playing with each other!” “Should we feed them more?” “Can they eat…?”)

According to Michael White’s recent study, people feel better about spending money on pets than they do for other people, including themselves. And more generally, pet ownership improves physical and mental health. Though to be fair, the physical health benefit often comes from having a dog, and taking it on walks.

Emotionally, pet owners have a higher sense of self-esteem and life satisfaction, and report being less lonely, when compared to people without pets. There’s something in seeing the satisfaction of an animal that creates emotional satisfaction in our own lives. And unlike kids, they don’t talk back ;)

Here’s a little cat pic to give you a smile this Tuesday:

(The black and white one is the one that is friendliest, though this orange one is one of also one of the original three that adopted us.)

:: AND NOW… THE LION IN YOUR LIVING ROOM ::

Faris and I watched this documentary, “The Lion in Your Living Room,” with my sister Marion and her partner Nate years ago, and it’s amazing to see what cats are capable of. (Full video available on Daily Motion)

If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co

@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius