Strands of Genius: Sonic Escapism, Everymask, A Clear Head Will Find Itself, What To Do When Lost In The Woods
Guest Curated by Patrick Givens
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Patrick met Rosie and Faris in Bucharest, Romania last year while at a conference where both were speakers.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, PATRICK GIVENS ::
LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Exploring the next professional stop
Hi, I'm Patrick. I founded and used to run VaynerSmart, the innovations practice at VaynerMedia. I was there for four years. On good days, I got to invent new products and marketing for brand clients all around the world. On many other days, I sat in meetings. Then Covid. Ugh, Covid. We wound up dissolving the practice, which was sad. But now I'm on to exploring what my next professional stop will be, so that part is happy. And, in the midst of all this, my wife and I just had our first son, which is even happier.
I met Rosie and Faris in the speakers' lounge of a conference in Bucharest, Romania last year. They were lovely and interesting, despite our collective hangovers. Then they spoke just before me, with a polished delivery and insightful content. It put my talk about marketing through conversation to shame...but they were polite and complimentary anyway. So, we wound up getting dinner, which led to some drinks, which led to a late night Romanian bodega.
I feel like I'm among friends here, so I'll admit now that of course I already read Strands of Genius before that. But I tried to play it cool that evening and not bring it up. In any case, they are wonderful and brilliant and I really enjoyed a night of great conversations with them. And now it's really nice to meet all of you as well.
Editor’s Note (Rosie): There were so many things about Romania that were wild, including a fateful night when we ended up eating dinner with Patrick, and then buying beer from a bodega before drinking it in a hotel suite covered in gold, with a bathtub in the absolute middle of the carpeted room. Good times, good times. He’s incredibly smart, and we were so thankful for our serendipitous encounter. We’re looking forward to crossing paths again, wherever that may be! And no, Patrick, it’s not in poor taste to mention another newsletter in your curation — Especially if it’s Brainpickings! <3
:: THE LINKS ::
SONIC ESCAPISM
For me, one of the weirdest parts of living in #CovidTimes has been the sensorial monotony. I see the same interior of the same apartment pretty much all day, every day. I smell mostly the same smells. Although, with all the indoor workouts, the smells are getting a little worse. And most of all, I hear the same things all the time. I'll put on a Spotify Discovery channel or play a podcast, but that's a bit much sometimes. What I'm realizing I miss is variety in ambient sounds. Even if I need to physically be here, I want it to sound like I'm somewhere (anywhere? everywhere?) else.
That's why I was so excited when I found MyNoise.net. This project of research engineer and sound designer Stéphane Pigeon is an incredible collection of dynamic soundscapes. The site refers to them as "unique online noise machines," but that's a massive undersell. You can manipulate each soundscape with sliders that amplify the component sounds that make up the scene. My favorite of the moment is "Intertidal," but I'm onto a new one every couple of days. Some are meditative, some are energizing, but all can provide a nice change of sonic pace and a bit of audio escape even while physically I'm still sitting at the same Brooklyn kitchen table that I've been sitting at for the past month and a half. (MyNoise)
COPING THROUGH CREATIVITY: EVERYMASK
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
"Wait, was that the last episode of 'Schitt's Creek'?"
In reaction to the events of this quarantine, I've emphatically shouted one of these sayings in recent weeks. But, fortunately, I have creative, talented, and genuinely wonderful friends who would be much more likely to say the other two. Friends like Roo Williams. Roo took the threat of PPE shortages not as an opportunity for snarky tweets about government - or at least not only as that - but as a design brief. He saw a problem that required a solution, so he set about creating one.
What he came up with was EVERYMASK. A DIY face mask designed to be made with only common household materials and a pair of pliers. As Roo says, it's about making PPE, "with as little as possible, for as many people as possible."
The mask itself is very cool. It's easy to make if you're even moderately handy. And if you aren't (like me), then it's still very doable. It fits comfortably and you look like kind of a Covid badass. But the thing that really got me here was seeing design creativity applied to a real world challenge. Roo documented his thinking - the problem he set out to solve, the constraints he needed the solution to work within, the iterations of potential solutions - and it's all there for anyone to build on. It's a great example of the best of what we as a creative community can do, and now that I've knocked out Schitt's Creek I'll try to build on Roo's mask with some iterations of my own (Roo Williams)
A CLEAR HEAD WILL FIND ITSELF
Is it bad form to curate someone else's curation? I think this is probably a lame move, but it's just so great and really the best thing I can think of now and in most other times of stress as well. Back in 2012 Michelle Legro wrote a post on Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings that resonated with me more than anything I’ve come across since. It’s called, “7 Lessons on the Creative Life from the U.S. Forest Service,” and it’s a 1946 U.S. Forest Service safety flyer with the best advice I could ever relay, whether you’re a creative feeling lost in a brief, a wayward hiker, or a frustrated quarantiner. We all just need to calm down, use our energy well, and avoid panic. The opening line is a maxim that’s yet to fail me in the 8 years since I first read this post: A CLEAR HEAD WILL FIND ITSELF. (Brain Pickings)
-a quick interlude for some sponsored content from our friends over at #SMWONE- Social Media Week was one of the first ever speaking gigs I had (says Rosie), and we’ve long been a fan of founder Toby Daniels and his Crowdcentric crew. We’re excited to be partnering with #SMWONE, which will bring together marketers from around the world to confront the emerging challenges of today.
They’re offering a Buy-One-Gift-One pass program. For every pass purchased, they’ll gift one to a small business, nonprofit, professional, or student facing financial hardship resulting from COVID-19. (Have we mentioned that we’re proud to know ‘em?!) At a glance, a #SMWONE pass includes:
Access to all sessions live via an interactive experience or OnDemand. The program will feature 300 speakers and over 100 hours of content across 11 tracks.
The ability to join session breakouts and video hangouts throughout each day, and network and connect in live chat conversations with over 10,000 registered participants.
Access to reports, session recaps, and speaker presentations available for download post-event.
Join virtually May 5-28 via the #SMWONE website.
If you buy your ticket through us, you’ll get 20% OFF with the code GENIUSSTEALS and you’ll be doing us a solid, because we’ll get a referral bonus for sending you.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Contract (Bridge)
:: City :: Baltimore, MD
:: Book :: "How to Measure Your Life", Clay Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon
:: Podcast ::The Ezra Klein Show
:: Album :: "The Spirit Moves", Langhorne Slim
:: WHAT TO DO WHEN LOST IN THE WOODS ::
A clear head will find itself
Thanks for reading. Let's chat more ;)
Patrick Givens
email: givensp@gmail.com
linkedin
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Send ‘em our way!
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 :)