Strands of Genius: Rent-A-Family in Japan, Salt Tolerant Rice & The Beauty of Collage
plus our thoughts on: despondency, hope & American politics
WRITING FROM | Beersheba Springs, TN
WORKING ON | Beyond Boring Briefs | Remote Team Training
LOOKING AHEAD
Sept 28 - Oct 21: Nashville, TN
Oct 21 - 29: Beersheba Springs, TN
Oct 29 - Nov 16: Athens, GA
Nov 16 - 23: St. Petersburg, FL
Nov 24-Dec 3: Beersheba Springs, TN
Dec 3 - 10: TBD
Dec 10 - Jan 16: Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We had a most lovely weekend watching the leaves fall and getting to see the very lovely Ashley!
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
all of the colors of leaves, crisp walks, paint-by-numbers, yoga, being in nature, closing down computers and taking technology breaks, catching up with friends near and far, discovering a hidden path in the woods, Noodles & Bishop, Erin & Eric, Ashley & Hannah.
:: THE LINKS ::
JAPAN’S RENT-A-FAMILY
In Japan, familial support can be hired. Whether you need a stand-in father for the abusive husband you divorced, or a stand-in daughter for the one who won’t speak to you, a fake husband to throw off your parents, or fake parents to throw off your real husband, companies like Family Romance can provide. The leader of one of Japan’s “rental-relative” companies described their offering as “human affection expressed through the form of the family.” Elif Batuman writes, “In a sense, the idea of a rental partner, parent, or child is perhaps less strange than the idea that childcare and housework should be seen as the manifestations of an unpurchasable romantic love. Patriarchal capitalism has arguably had a vested interest in promoting the latter idea as a human universal: as the Marxist psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich pointed out, with women providing free housework and caregiving, capitalists could pay men less...What often happens instead is that these tasks, rather than becoming respected, well-paid professions, are foisted piecemeal onto socioeconomically disadvantaged women, freeing their more privileged peers to pursue careers.” Hmmmm. (New Yorker)
SALT TOLERANT RICE THE LATEST ON THE FOOD INNOVATION FRONT
As our planet continues to grow, we’ll have to keep thinking strategically about food sources, and water is a huge constraint. As Ariella Simke writes, “Less than 1% of fresh water is available for human use, and 70% of that is used for agriculture worldwide.” Which is why it would make sense to see more food grown from the sea. We’re not talking about kelp and all the nutrient-rich greens that are naturally growing in the ocean - but small pilot farms, floating in the ocean, growing salt-tolerant rice, developed by two 26-year-old scientists manipulating the rice genome. Super interesting, and some great thoughts on food innovation overall. (Forbes)
CUT, PASTE AND REMIX YOUR WAY THROUGH COLLAGE
A quick video showing the history of collage through, you guessed it: collage! Collage “has its origins in the early modernist movement, especially in Cubist works by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. But before such combining of disparate source materials became a mode of the artistic avant-garde, collage had eclectic manifestations through history and across cultures – as a method of decorating, a tool for enriching scientific texts, and a means for women to engage with areas of enquiry typically reserved for men.” (Aeon)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: DESPONDENCY, HOPE & AMERICAN POLITICS ::
Politics are reaching a fever pitch over here in ‘Murica. We’ve been alternating between two extremes: feeling despondent and feeling hopeful.
Despondency: a state of low spirits caused by loss of hope or courage.
See also: disheartenment.
There’s been plenty written about high-stress levels around the world. Anxiety and depression are seemingly commonplace now and along with that comes the cultural acceptance of these topics — for conversation, for support. Which allows for those hopeful feelings to seep in.
See, the thing with learned helplessness is that when we don’t see efforts rewarded in our attempts to improve stress, we simply give up. According to Psychology Today:
“In the real world, learned helplessness can emerge from and contribute to depression, anxiety, and post-traumaticstress disorder.
The phenomenon exists in many animal species as well as in people. For example, Seligman subjected study participants to loud, unpleasant noises, with a lever that would or would not stop the sounds. The group whose lever wouldn’t stop the sound in the first round stopped trying to silence the noise in the second round.”
Cultivating resilience, self-worth and self-compassion are key ways that we can push back against the idea of learned helplessness. Even exploring “activities that restore self-control” — and they don’t have to be big in nature.
I’ve long been a fan of ~*organization*~ and even have a cousin I adore, who is a professional organizer. I blame a childhood fire for my desire to keep too many things, and then feeling overwhelmed by things, which is why being a minimalist living out of a backpack is good for me ;) Anyway, at the start of the pandemic, I decided to clean out the pantry at my family’s mountain house. (I found items from the 80s, so let’s just say it had been a while.) I confused Faris with my desire to create chores for myself, but maybe I was trying to restore my self-control. Maybe a lot of us are looking for that feeling, and it’s perhaps no surprise why The Home Edit has taken off during a pandemic.
Learned optimism is all about developing a positive internal dialogue — explaining events and situations to yourself in a constructive manner. It helps us break out of cycles of learned helplessness and despondency. We can also fight our despondency by “doing whatever is possible to help create a better community for oneself and for others,” writes Thomas Plante, Ph.D., ABPP for Psychology Today.
Which is what brings us back to those pesky politics. Even when it feels like a shit show — or perhaps especially when it feels like a shit show — we have to commit to doing what we can to help where we can. You know, the serenity prayer. We’ve got to learn to embrace where we can impact the outcome, and learn to accept what we can’t control.
And this year, in the US, it’s an election year. As if you didn’t already know, ha. For those who are citizens of the United States, we have a quite specific (and timely) opportunity to impact our future and to help create a better community, for ourselves and our fellow citizens. Make your voice heard by getting out there and voting, and do whatever you can to encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Despite the dumpster fire of a year we’ve had, it’s hard not to feel hopeful.
Change is in the air.
Or not.
But maybe.
:: AND NOW… DOLLY PARTON LISTENS TO FAN COVERS ::
For a feel-good start to your week, here’s Dolly Parton getting excited about fans covering her songs.
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 :)