Strands of Genius: The Paradox of Listening to Our Bodies, Barbie Answers Oppenheimer, Tipping is for Olds
Plus: Is the American Dream dead?
WRITING FROM | Sydney, Australia
WORKING ON | ~*planning a sabbatical*~
LOOKING AHEAD
Aug 10-17 | Auckland, NZ
Aug 17-21 | Matakana Bay, NZ
Aug 21-24 | Hong Kong
Aug 24-?? | Thailand
October 1-22 | Japan
Oct 22-Nov 4 | Isla Mujeres, MX
Nov 4-Nov 12 | Nashville, TN
Nov 12-23 | Chattanooga, TN
Nov 24-Dec 5 | Isla Mujeres, MX
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We’ve had the most wonderful time here in Sydney, Australia — It’s truly one of our favorite places. The food, the weather, the art, the birds, the plants, the water, the architecture… and, of course, the people! It’s been a while since we’ve been here (2019, I think?) and we’ve been soaking it all in. The jet lag, however, can get fucked ;) Oh and also, all the luxury stores we’ve never heard of.
A huge thanks to our Yahoo clients for bringing us to Australia to run a workshop for the rising stars in media, and for the lovely on-stage interview with their Chief Revenue Officer, Elizabeth Herbst Brady. We’ve felt overwhelmed by the kindness people have shown to us here, and it’s been one of those weeks where we keep reminding each other just how lucky we are.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Caroline & Kyle, Martin & Melina, Flip, Alex, Jonelle & the entire team at Clear Hayes, Elika, EHB, and the Yahoo team, AdWeek APAC and all the lovely peeps we met there - Zoe, Corey, Matti, Karli, Nash, Rubina, The Christmas In July Crew, Toastie Smith, Dutch Smuggler, the Sydney Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Barbie, The USA Women’s Soccer Team & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE PARADOX OF LISTENING TO OUR BODIES
I’ve been often been told “You’re good at listening to your body.” The compliment has come from family, from friends, from a yoga teacher, a scuba diving instructor, and even from Faris. (Sometimes I feel this is truly the case, and other times I have regret over eating 20 dumplings from Din Tai Fung even though I knew I was full after 10.) It’s not necessarily one of those things you can be good at all the time, but studies show that it *is* something you can learn to be better at.
Interoception is the term scientists use for our ability to feel what’s happening within our body. It could be as simple as acknowledging hunger, but it’s also used to refer to unconscious ways in which we communicate between our brains and bodies. But, as Jessica Warner writes, “even if you’re receiving a strong signal from your body, it can be inaccurate.” That’s because it’s tightly tied to our own human experiencing. Someone with PTSD experiencing a racing heart may not actually be in danger, regardless of what their body says. And recent research has shown that “people with anxiety and depression attend too much to the body. Data show that people with panic disorders are often hyperaware of their heartbeats.”
And yet, The University of Cambridge recently published an overview of how interception could also be used to treat many mental-health conditions. “They drew on numerous studies elucidating the connection between interoceptive accuracy and emotions. (People who are better at detecting their heartbeats are also better at regulating negative emotions, for example.) The researchers point out that many therapies that are already in use are also a form of interoceptive intervention.” A paradox, indeed, but one that’s super fascinating to dive into. (New Yorker)
BARBIE ANSWERS OPPENHEIMER
No spoilers here, we promise — Just another excellent take from Anne Helen Peterson. While we haven’t seen Oppenheimer, we did see Barbie. The last time there was this much hype for a movie I was going to see, it was Finding Nemo. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t live up to the ‘best Disney movie of all time’ moniker that everyone had hyped it to be. But at the time, I thought, how could it?! And so, as we went to see Barbie, I was prepared for it to fall flat. And yet… we haven’t been able to stop talking about it. Why did it feel so special? So unusual?
AHP writes, “There’s a logic that’s long guided Hollywood, at least since the beginning of the blockbuster era: Teens will watch things intended for them but will shy from things aimed squarely at adults. Adults will watch things aimed at them, but will also watch things aimed at (older) teens. Men will watch things made for them, but will shy from things made “for” women. Women will watch films made for them and will also readily watch things made for men. So if you want to make the biggest hit possible, you aim for something that will hit all four quadrants: a film aimed squarely at an audience of 16-18 year old boys.” Barbie, though, is “a film with swagger like a male-oriented blockbuster. It assumes everyone, everyone, wants to see it.” The reason for its success, AHP argues, is that it’s “a challenge to the masculinist vision of the world.” I can’t stop consuming the Barbie content, but this piece of cultural commentary really takes the cake. (Culture Study)
APPARENTLY, TIPPING IS FOR OLDS
Growing up in Tennessee, I remember my mom teaching me about tipping. Specifically, she told us that if we couldn’t afford a 20% increase to the price listed on the menu, we couldn’t afford the item. (The sales tax on food was 5%, and my mom said we’d need to tip at least 15%.) While I’ve never worked as a waiter, I did work at Starbucks, and while the discrepancy wasn’t huge, tipping was still a relatively significant part of the wages we made. These days amongst my peers, 20% seems to be the standard, and if the service is stellar, perhaps up to 30% if we’re a large group. According to a recent survey, this makes me old. In fact, “only 35 percent of Gen-Z respondents, defined as people ages 18 to 26, told pollsters that they always tip their server at a sit-down restaurant,” compared with 77% of adults overall. Baby Boomers, ya know, the ones with all the money, are the best at tipping, or at least at responding to surveys about tipping ;) Will this lead to restaurants paying staff a living wage? Or will it just mean that the service workers are less likely to make a living wage? (LinkedIn)
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:: WHERE DID THE AMERICAN DREAM GO? ::
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I’m seeing more and more content like this and I’m wondering if everyone’s feeling it, or if the internet has just noticed that I’ve been engaging with it. Commenters weighed in, writing, "Nothing that worked for me as a Gen X works for my kids. The rules are stacked against them."
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faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
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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 in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, 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.
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