Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

Laurel Schwulst is a designer, educator, artist and technologist currently based in New York. Her work explores the expansive potential of the internet through poetics, connection and language. She is currently lecturing in interactive design at Princeton and tending to the Are.na Gift Shop.

One thing that consistently stands out to me when returning to Laurel’s work is the idea of utilising the web as a tool for world-building. She has such a distinct way of creating (web)sites that are akin to portals, which you can step into and discover through your screen. Though each one is designed to be a unique world, they all leave you with a sense of renewal and calm, much like the contribution she has shared with us today. Some of my favourite projects she has worked on include: Perfume Area, Ping Practice and HTML Energy.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Five years ago my friend dj python made me a writing mix. I still play it to this day while I’m writing, so I hope you find it useful if you write, too. — Laurel

Thanks for experiencing!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

My friends and I used to sit outside ilcaffe almost every day and waste time back when time was all we had. Sometimes we’d chat, other times we’d read in each other’s silence, but most of the time, we played chess.

We played with a lot of different sets over time, and started paying attention to the pieces and questioning why they look the way they do. And just like everything else, questioned what it might be like to redesign one ourselves.

Since then, Zach, Tyler and I have been working on a new project called Geronimo, a game of strategy & study of form. We figured that chess didn’t need to be a folded, wooden box tucked away in the closet, and instead could be an object that was both functional for the mind and a pleasure to look at.

Chess qualifies as an abstract strategy game, meaning there is minimal to no narrative, outcomes are determined only by player choice (no randomness), and all players have perfect knowledge about the game. In short, every move matters and has enormous impact. No secrets. No re-dos. No chances.

Those principles were guiding thoughts in our design process, and allowed us to arrive at strikingly modern, heavy, and beautiful game.

The set is made of solid, CNC milled aluminum, weighing an estimated total of 10 lbs. The pieces themselves are set with a machined steel drop weight, allowing for each physical move to be met with the same mental gravity that the game naturally bestows upon its players. Both “black” and “white” forms hold an anodized finish, leaning toward a more natural dark and light gray.

It has taken us over a year to produce a sample we’re proud of, and are now actively working toward a launch date for public purchase. For now, follow along on Instagram and tell your friends. ♟️

— Alex

A few ideas

I. THE WHOLE PICTURE

Good ideas are not birthed during a single moment in time, but rather, over the course of time. We should think of them more as connections that are constantly forming between our minds and life’s experiences.

It’s the whole picture. Point A, Point B, and the line that connects them.

A is where we are at any given moment, and B is the result. The line is made up of the conversations you have, the places you travel to, the images you save, the books you read, and the memories you make along the way.

The line is not linear. It zigs and zags. It goes up and down. It plateaus and spikes.

Ideas don’t just happen. They’re intentionally being crafted. Get moving.

II. A FASTER HORSE

The problem with “giving the customer what they want” is that they only know what they know.

One way of doing things is delivering exactly what you’ve been asked to deliver. Or you could deliver what you’ve been asked, in addition to what might be a better solution.

Henry Ford once said if he were to ask his customer what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.

There is enormous value in the ability to see things before they’re on the page.

III. DOING THINGS

Most behaviors are contagious.

People who just say things spend a lot of time around people who just say things. And as you could imagine, people who do things spend time around people who do things.

Looking at the people sitting next to you is a good indicator of where you’re heading.

A quote from somebody else

“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it.”

— Joan Didion, Commencement Address at UC Riverside (1975)

Links worth sharing

♟️ Geronimo

💯 100 Simple Truths

🔵 Style Not Com and Zara launch a collaboration line of clothing that mirrors the Instagram’s page approach to sharing news. This is what I’d imagine a Common Discourse capsule to look like.

🏡 Emma Apple Chozik writes for the Sociology of Business on the Cult of Office Design. Thanks for the MW.S look, Emma.

🦉 The Duolingo Owl is dead

📷 Good images by Stuart Winecoff for Coperni’s Pre-Fall 25 campaign. Continued here.

✍🏽 Writing advice from Gary Provost, “Don’t just write words. Write music.”

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

Njari Anderson is a Jamaican-Born artist based in South Florida. His practice investigates sites of cultural exploitations present in everyday Black life, specifically how Blackness has been warped, stretched and screwed in contemporary culture.

I first encountered Njari’s work through an are.na channel titled: What is sculpture?. Throughout his research, object, place and space are contemplated. Rooted in his Caribbean heritage, themes of loss, grief and queerness are also present in his pieces. They too create a response to this question and render sculpture as an object to behold and be(come) beholden by as well as a site to inhabit.

When sharing today’s contribution with me, he noted how this exercise (of sifting through his camera roll and library of sounds) allowed him to pause. Following a turbulent start to the year, his images and playlist provided a mental respite for difficult times. A prompting to relish in the joyful moments and to fortify the collective spirit by communing with loved ones.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Go for a walk, preferably near water, listen to this — Njari

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

I published less than 10 times all of last year whereas this year we’ve already published four Weekly Briefings as January comes to a close. I feel better this year, to say the least, and showing up in your inbox every week is a good measure of that.

I think the work we do here is worth paying for, but we’ve kept it free on purpose. If you find this newsletter to be worth your time on Tuesdays, there are probably others you know that would find it valuable as well, and it’d mean a lot to us if you shared it with someone who might find it encouraging.

If you purchased a Willett Recovery Tee over the last couple weeks, thank you. We’ve received +400 orders from all over the globe and nearly everyone donated more than the asking amount. We’re working on next steps for production now, but I just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge your generosity in helping Willett’s family move forward from their loss. You can still purchase the shirt here if you’d like.

Additionally, my team at MW.S launched Findings. Many of you subscribed and expressed excitement for what’s to come in that project.

I have a lot to be grateful for this Tuesday.

— Alex

A few ideas

I. TRUE GREATNESS

Becoming truly great at anything requires us to be more obsessed with the feeling of getting lost in the act than the allure of what rewards it can give us.

II. PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE

It’s worth paying attention to the things you like doing when nobody is watching. What you like to practice is worth pursuing. The chance to perform is a bonus.

III. CROWDS

A common trap and easy excuse for not starting is convincing yourself that it’s too late.

Crowds look big until you realize how big they can become.

A quote from somebody else

“Life requires time and effort. That is to say, when we eliminate time and effort, we eliminate life’s pleasures,”

— Zen Buddhist monk Shunmyō Masuno

Links worth sharing

⚒️ My friends at Dinamo have a collaboration with NTS Radio called foNTS (genius). You can listen to their latest mixes here and here, as well as buy the shirt marking their collaboration.

🗝️ The Unadulterated Joy of Trinkets and Knickknacks, Architectural Digest

🖨️ Hard Copy is an exhibition curated by Aaron Stern showcasing a collection of large and small-scale xerox prints as a celebration and reaffirmation of photography's enduring power. On view at Webber Gallery in Los Angeles until March 2nd.

🌐 Tony Wang sits down with Matt Klein to discuss how hyper optimization is great for commercial growth, but will result in cultural singularity and creative stagnation.

👾 A deep dive into dithering

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

Tyler Anderson is an industrial and 3D Designer based in Los Angeles, California. His personal practice is accompanied by a collaborative multifaceted studio, Sample, created alongside Ryan Krause, where the primary focus is state of the art industrial design and communicating thoughtful product stories. The two also run Render Weekly, a growing online community founded on the love and celebration for all things 3D design.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Until next time…

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

A Tuesday briefing except it’s on Wednesday because we had a long weekend and I forgot.

— Alex

A few ideas

I. CULMINATION

As long as you show up, there's hardly such thing as a waste of time.

Every experiment, every failure, all the photos you take, words you write, and songs you sing is a result of everything that has come before it.

It's safe to say that it's all adding up to something, even if we don't know quite what that is just yet.

It all matters.

II. DOING DIFFICULT THINGS

Many of us make the mistake of prioritizing the thought of how difficult it is to do almost anything.

When we start a business, a new workout routine, or study for an exam, the dominate thought in our minds is often “This is hard.”

And while it’s true that all of these things, and anything else worth having, does involve a degree of difficulty, one interesting observation is that people who excel are often focused on anything but difficulty.

Runners will tell you how good it feels to move their body, entrepreneurs might say how proud they are to build a team, and grad students show us how rewarding it is to keep acquiring knowledge.

Doing difficult things requires our focus to be on the parts we enjoy as opposed to the difficulty of it.

III. REMARKABLE TASTE

If you want to have remarkable taste, pay attention to what you love and what you hate. And most importantly, pay no attention to the things you feel indifferent to.

Taste is a practice of discernment and restraint.

A quote from somebody else

“You can’t go looking for interesting ideas, not directly. You have to look for that thing that surges up in you—surges like rage, like laughter, like sadness—when you encounter clues.”

— Henrik Karlsson

Links worth sharing

🪑 My friend, collaborator, and talented furniture designer Willett lost his home and everything in it from Los Angeles wildfires. My team at MW.S is selling tees using the branding and website we developed for him last year. Pay what you want to help support Willett’s family and their bounce back from the loss.

✍️ How to establish a daily writing practice

🎥 DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, a short film by Bad Bunny

🔍 On Friday, MW.S is launching a Substack called Findings where we’ll be sharing a broader perspective of the quiet influences that shape our culture.

🙇‍♂️ A funny thing about curiosity, Escaping Flatland

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

While the majority result of the events taking place in Los Angeles over the last week are a complete devastation, one unique thing to observe is how people band together during trying times. Seeing resources gather, hands become available, and displays of gratitude is a reminder of how human we really are.

I read somewhere this week that Los Angeles is often a place that people love to hate, but where else in the world do the creative outliers of their families run to chase their dreams? For me and many others, this place is where where my dreams came true.

I know through experience that Los Angeles is a symbol for strength, resilience, and courage—and I’m sure even more so as we come out the other side of this.

— Alex

A few ideas

I. THE MISCONCEPTION OF TASTE

I don’t believe that you just wake up knowing what you like. You get it wrong. You stop liking things you liked a few years back. You have to keep hunting it down.

The misconception of taste is that you either have it or you don’t.

But just like anything else, taste is a lifelong practice—a burden and a privilege that none of us are able to escape.

II. GREEN GRASS

Most people believe that the grass is greener somewhere else, but a difference is made by those who know the grass is greener where they water it.

To plant a garden is to believe in the future.

III. RESILIENCE

The world is going to change, and resilience is our best response.

It’s not about building things that always turn out the way we expect...

Bulletproof is too expensive and too rigid. Certainty requires perfect knowledge of the future and is a lay up for disappointment.

But resilience is a commitment to a design, an attitude and a system that works even when things don’t turn out the way we planned.

Instead of designing for the best case scenario, consider how to continue on when the best case doesn’t arrive. Because that’s a far more likely outcome.

Sailors know that fixing on a point on the horizon is a good way to survive a storm. Professional athletes are quick to forget previous mistakes and focus on the next play. Medical professionals pause before taking any action to create clarity and reduce errors, even if time is of the essence.

Flexibility, community, and a sense of possibility can go a long way. That doesn’t make it easier, but it’s our best path forward.

A quote from somebody else

“We’ve all struggled to express certain ideas or put certain feelings into words. The task of writing can present a huge challenge, from the classroom to the boardroom. But although the work may sometimes be difficult or frustrating, it’s still not something that we should give up and outsource to a machine. To give up the labour of writing is to give up the labour of living.”

— Tom Albrighton

Links worth sharing

💡 Ray Bradbury on why intellect is creativity’s greatest threat (10:59 - 13:20)

🍷 Currently, AI is unable to generate an image of a wine glass filled to the top because all of the pictures on which it is trained are half full

🖼️ A collection of images photographed between 1992-1995, during the making of ‘Kids,’ by Larry Clark is on view at Ruttkowski;68 in New York

🛋️ Mouthwash Studio’s new Los Angeles office is cozy like a living room

🚒 How Watch Duty’s wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA

👨🏽‍💻 How do you work less when you love your job?

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

Arielle Eshel is a writer and creator of Affection Archives which compiles tasteful recommendations from herself and people she admires, most of which are people working successfully across art and design. Each issue also includes a bulletin of art exhibitions, pop-ups, and events happening in Los Angeles and New York which I find to be very useful.

We met for a coffee before the end of last year and decided that writing can be awfully lonely, but wonderfully rewarding. I’m always surprised at how encouraging it can be to connect with people who experience mutual highs and lows of a creative practice.

Arielle is a fantastic writer and has exceptional taste. Here’s what she sent me this week.

— Alex

Sights —

Sounds —

Paris Morning

Until next time…

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every week, we share a few ideas from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Occasionally, we’ll write a journal with observations on what’s happening in the world.

Subscribe now

How I’m arriving into 2025…

— Alex

A few ideas

I. FORM

As you’re staring at the goals, dreams, and desires you have for this year, remember this: You have everything you need.

Give form to what is in front of you instead of waiting for perfect circumstances to act.

II. IMPERMANENCE

One day you will do something for the final time.

Today might be the last time you walk in your favorite neighborhood, hug a dear friend, or eat a home-cooked meal. When you realized that nothing is guaranteed aside from the moment you’re in, your only real choice is to cherish each exchange like it’s your last.

Out of gratefulness, I work hard, run after every tennis ball, and tell my friends that I love them.

Coming to terms with life’s impermanence is a remarkable way to live.

III. A CASE FOR STRATEGY

There is some debate as to whether or not strategy is a necessary part of launching good creative ideas. The data, research, and opportunities are all nice, but what is the idea?

Additionally, it’s quite unanimous that the best ideas carry a certain risk. While everyone is going right, we’ll go left.

In short, strategy is an act of creating certainty around the creative risk we’ll take together.

Are you in?

A quote from somebody else

“For many years I’ve been in desperate search of taste. I think people wrongly assume that your taste is a birthright, that it will fall into your lap. I don’t think so. I think you have to run after it. That was what I was doing all those years when I was poring over books written by old Russian men instead of paying attention in class, picking cherry blossom petals off the ground by the handful and worrying them until they fell apart between thumb and index finger, talking to you instead of living my life, buying the wrong clothes and discarding them, screenshotting thousands of words of text. I was following my attention. I was letting myself get caught, and then I was tearing myself free.”

— Ava Huang

Links worth sharing

♟️ Gen Z and millennials are hungry for in-person interaction and are joining old-fashioned chess, mahjong and backgammon groups. New York Times

🎱 Sean Monahan’s 2025 Predictions, 8Ball

🐶 Charlap Hyman & Herrero designs and releases a beautiful dog bed

⛅️ 10 years after coining the term “Normcore,” K-Hole’s members reflect on the evolution and the state of viral trend forecasting, SSENSE

📈 Ana Andjelic on the problem with trend reports, The Sociology of Business

👁️ A perspective on How Generative Music Works

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you liked this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti is a Ghanian-Belgian photographer based in Amsterdam. He primarily photographs through a documentary lens, capturing the joys of boyhood and manhood within the black diaspora.

I first came across Kwabena’s work through a project titled Le Soleil, made in collaboration with Amsterdam based publishing press Root To Fruits. The project complies a collection of imagery from Kwabena’s family archive. I was immediately drawn to the tactile and tender feeling consistent throughout his work, alongside his commitment to pushing an image’s display, beyond expected conventions.

Since then, his project “Golden Boy” has continued to evolve, being featured in magazines such as Sixteen Journal and spaces such Black Rock Senegal. His work is currently on view at Stedelijk NL until March 2025.

Here’s what he shared with us this week.

Sights —

Sounds —

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Good morning! I’ve been in London for over a week working on a project which happened to be a three day photo & video shoot on the three coldest days of the year so far. It always ends up that way.

I’ve drank 15 Guinness, attended launch parties thrown by my friends, spent time with Alice and other MW.S family members, and found time to write in my hotel room.

I’m in Chicago this week with family and back to LA after that.

I would like to see the sun and hit a tennis ball.

A few ideas

I. IT HARDLY WORKS

In 1886, Karl Benz’s first automobile had to be hand-cranked and couldn’t exceed 10 mph.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers “successfully” flew an airplane—for all of 12 seconds.

And in the 1980s, the only function of a personal computer was to power on.

The same story holds true for every groundbreaking product, idea, and invention at launch: it hardly works.

When people have the courage to release something imperfect, it inspires others to nurture, share, and refine it—until we can’t imagine a world without it.

II. LIFE AS A GARDENER

If you’re somebody who makes things for a living, you could probably take some notes from the life of a gardener—I know I could.

Think about it:

1. A gardener does not dig up a seed the day after it’s planted to see if it has grown. For many days, it will appear that you are giving such care to a pile of dirt, until one day break-through happens.

2. A gardener does not only water a plant after it has bloomed. Most people will hop on board after something is already beautiful, but as the creator, you must give the care and attention long before anyone else can see the results.

3. Planting a seed and eating the fruit can never happen in the same day. The fruit eaten from the grocery store will never feel the same as the one you picked off a tree you planted. Delayed gratification will always mean more to us than that which comes instantly.

III. CHOOSE YOUR TENSION

What happens when we sand the sharp edges off of our experiences?

Today, we can work anywhere, hide in Zoom meetings with cameras off and microphones muted, text our therapist, get food delivered to our door, and get to where we’re going without asking for directions.

As things get easier, less people are asking “Could we get a little more tension here?”

But of course, tension is what makes a story worth telling. Tension is an agent for change and the feeling we experience prior to growth.

Ironically, tension is what we need and what we avoid at the same time.

A quote from somebody else

“There are no new ideas still waiting in the wings to save us… There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves — along with the renewed courage to try them out. And we must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply, and so many of our old ideas disparage. In the forefront of our move toward change, there is only poetry to hint at possibility made real. Our poems formulate the implications of ourselves, what we feel within and dare make real (or bring action into accordance with), our fears, our hopes, our most cherished terrors.”

— Audre Lorde

Links worth sharing

🎹 It Is A Soul is a short film documenting the legendary Ethiopian jazz pianist Hailu Mergia’s musical journey from Adis Ababa to New York.

⛔️ Paul Graham is predicting that people won’t know how to write in as little as a couple decades. Here’s what that means for the future.

🧮 Designing Friction is a manifesto by Luna Maurer and Roel Wouters challenging how we think about producing or interacting with technology. It proposes an approach that embraces discomfort and spontaneity, in hopes of making room for our humanness.

👕 Kiko Kostadinov opens it’s first US store in Los Angeles

🎾 Over 20 years ago, Mark and Denise Kuhn built a grass tennis court on their farm in Charles City, Iowa. It’s called The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club.

🏆 MW.S lands #4 on a list of the most popular design studios, as voted by the community on Creative Boom.

🐍 I’m inspired by Emily Sundberg’s commitment to Feed Me and the success that has come along with it.

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Maly Mann is a Cambodian-American model and photographer living in Los Angeles, California. She has worked with the likes of Nike, J.hannah and Canada Goose. Additionally, Maly cooks at home often and shares her creations through Mother Supper.

When she isn’t in front of the camera, Maly is busy capturing intimate moments shared with loved ones or in solitude. Much like the images she sent to us this week, they serve as an invitation to be still, to stop and pay attention every once in a while, prolonging what might otherwise be fleeting when undocumented.

—Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

I’m in a cafe in Barcelona engaging with this project for the first time in five months. People keep asking me if I’m still “Writing that newsletter…”

I always respond “Yes” and feel guilty, but not like I used to.

During busy seasons I’d take breaks, then disassociate. If I wasn’t publishing then I’d find ways to convince myself that I wasn’t a writer.

“Are you still writing that newsletter?”

“Oh haha, no I was just messing around.”

I don’t feel uncertain anymore. I am a writer, observer, and storyteller. It took a long time for me to say so confidently. It’s also taken me a long time to realize that being any of those things, like all creative practices, is a seesaw of gratifying highs and tumultuous lows. In high seasons, it feels as if I can close my eyes and words that fit together appear on page. And in low seasons, I can’t buy a vowel.

The business coach I meet with has become somewhat of a work therapist, whether he likes it or not. We identified in a recent session that the practice of writing, as much as it is beneficial to others who may consume it, has ultimately become a central and necessary component of my life.

When I’m writing, I’m confident and collected both in my life and work. Whereas the opposite presents itself a set of issues with negative impact such as stress and insecurity.

In other words, I owe it to myself.

– Alex

A few ideas

I. POSITIONS OF HONESTY

What feels like a consistent theme for most founders, freelancers, and people who work for themselves, is that they are forced to respond to their life from a position of honesty.

It is only possible to dislike the work you do when you are doing it for somebody else. For all the others, you either learn to like it or change it.

II. COMPARABLE EFFORT

We either make ourselves tired and miserable or strong and resilient. The effort to get there is comparable.

III. NICHE DOWN

Setting out to be the best food critic in the world is a tall order. It may take your entire life and you’ll probably get tired before you even scratch the surface.

But what if you set out to be the best food critic for people looking to get lunch in New York City when you only have 30 minutes to eat and want to spend $10 or less? That sounds manageable. And maybe after a few years of focusing on that, the trust you’ve earned will carry over when you decide to cover restaurants that require more time and more cash.

Start broad then niche down. And once you’ve niched down, niche down again.

Impact starts in a small, quiet room.

A quote from somebody else

“The slower I walked, the sooner I reached places”

— Rithika Pandey

Links worth sharing

🫐 Burberry’s latest outerwear campaign takes big creative risks, including familiar faces doing seemingly nothing.

🥐 People are using AI on novelty ideas to distort reality.

🧶 Niche hobbies are being ruined by capitalism, or TikTok, not that there’s much of a difference.

🧠 Things I know for sure by American artist Andrea Zittel

🪡 Javier Guijarro is a Catalan based fashion designer re-thinking how we interpret classic menswear garments. One of my favourite pieces include the despiece striped tee, which presents multiple ways of wearing a singular item.

⚒ Reconstructions is an infinite computer-generated poem offering lines of poetry that are syntactic mirror images of one another.

Thanks for consuming!

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Camille Bacon is a Chicago based writer and editor. I came across her writing last summer through Jupiter Magazine, which she co-founded with Daria Harper, and her newsletter, For Opacity.

Encountering her work has put into perspective the responsibility that writing has, in creating structures of safety for ourselves and others. When the world’s cracks become more visible, that’s when our gifts are best sharpened and required. Her contribution this week embodies that; unveiling the state of our present time, while shedding light on the hope residing in works we hold closest to us.

I have found comfort in reciting the words Ming Joi Washington responded to her, found in the introduction below: “we are each other’s audience”. A reminder that after all, the real labour at hand is in making work that mirrors and bears witness to our interior lives.

A slightly different formatting this week as each image is paired with its own sound. Here’s what she shared with us.

— Alice

Sights & Sounds —

“Come back,” wrote Toni Morrison in a missive addressed to the poet Lucille Clifton. 

Then new friends, Clifton had sent Morrison a manuscript of poems to review, which would later be published as ‘Good Woman’. The letter, dated November 5, 1973 and typed on Random House, Inc. letterhead, contains not only Morrison’s feedback, but also oozes its own poetic valence: “You covered that acid in comfort,” she says on the subject of Clifton’s ‘Good Times’. 

“I wish we had more time… 

Come back,” she said. “Come back.” 

To a woman she had met only days before, 

Morrison crooned 

“Come back.” 

We can only imagine the worlds conjured during their first meeting, which seeded Morrison’s subsequent editing of Clifton’s memoir, ‘Generations.’ Perhaps we can think of this letter, then, as a kind of courting, an early instantiation of an enduring bond between two women who would go on to incarnate a chorus of possibilities for Black women writers on a global scale. 

It’s the vigor and urgency of the plea, the yearning it signifies paired with the fervent willingness to express it that has coaxed me back to this document again and again over the past couple days. The way it spills, the brimming, unashamed want of it, the open-air longing for Clifton’s company… that’s what gets me. 

The feeling that the “come back” indexes is a familiar one. I know that sensation well since my cherished co-conspirator, Daria Harper – the Morrison to my Clifton – dwells several hundreds of miles away from me. In re-reading the letter now, with this in mind, it seems “come back” is also a means of unabashedly testifying to a desire for intimacy, a way of stealing time to be in together, it’s another way of saying “I love you.” 

The cadence of the letter also reminds me of something a new friend and fellow writer, Ming Joi Washington, said to me today in response to my nervous question about where we, as those who attend to the shadow and evade the concessions we are seduced into by those seeking to commodify us, will find audiences for our work. Awash with unflinching potency not unlike that of Morrison and Clifton, Ming responded: “We are each other’s audience.” The air around her crackled confirmation and I understood her proposition as one that urges us to consider “audience” here as a verb, rather than a noun, where “to audience” is synonymous with 

to honor

to revere

to tend 

to witness

to pay precise attention

to “cover that acid in comfort,” 

as Morrison and Clifton enacted for one another, and as I and my fellow sister-writers carry forward today.

— Camille

Sound: Mood Indigo by Duke Ellington

Sound: Black Woman by Sonny Sharrock

Sound: We Kiss In A Shadow

Sound / Incantation: “My heart is not peripheral to me” – June Jordan 

Sound: Motor City Madness by Underground Resistance

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Spring is finally in full effect. I love how this season turns the most mundane activities into poetry; how it graces even the gloomiest of days with a sense of lightness and ease. This week’s contribution from Kristoffer Tjalve offers a glimpse of that from his camera roll and musings.

I came across Kristoffer’s work as a recommendation from a friend who shared his on-going web project, Naive Yearly, with me. Since then, I have been enjoying reading the newsletter segment on a Sunday morning, alongside finding new rabbit holes through links featured in his essay on alternative ways for walking on the internet.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

A recording of buzzing sounds from the bees in the orange trees

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis.

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

I’ll let the photo do the talking. Happy Tuesday.

— Alex

A few ideas

I. YOU MIGHT HAVE A SHOT IF…

There's pretty much no point in doing anything if you're worried about other people beating you to it.

But you might have a shot if you work hard, have good taste, can make decisions quickly, and are quality obsessed.

There’s never not been room for the best.

II. FALL IN LOVE WITH INTERESTING IDEAS

It’s less about building creative habits for the sake of habit, and more about falling so in love with interesting ideas that you find it impossible to not express your point of view on them.

Curiosity and passion will lead to compulsion, which is far more important than forced consistency.

III. LOYALTY

It’s much less difficult to find raw talent than it is to find people who will stick around. Loyalty comes from investing in people, projects, and ideas before it’s clear that either of you should.

Big bets have equally high reward.

A quote from somebody else

“The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions.”

— Susan Sontag

Links worth sharing

🗺 Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror (Remastered 2004), has been on repeat for the last month.

📝 Bernadette Mayer’s List of Journal Ideas

💄 Is there such a thing as good taste? by Paul Graham

🎙 Willow Smith speaks to Zane Lowe on her new album, Empathogen, growth and her creative process

🛋️ Canoa is Figma for interior designers.

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

This week’s Sights & Sounds comes from Giguel Maybach, an artist based in New York. His work spans across web and digital projects, print and installation, often in collaboration with various artists and organisations.

I initially reached out to Giguel after coming across his extensive research on are.na; I was especially drawn to his channels related to the land, places and locations. What started off as a casual reach out, turned into a several week dialogue where we spoke about themes surrounding memory, loss, and what it means to find an anchor to hold onto in the midst of change.

His images, words, and sound contemplate this in relation to the times we are living in. It’s a personal reflection on this season in his life, as well as a testament to the unexpected ways new connections can be formed. What’s deeply personal, is often what’s collectively shared. Opening ourselves up to the world allows such encounters to turn into something poignant and renewing.

You can read more about the contribution in a poem he wrote.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

After several delays, Kenz and I landed in LA at 1am following a 10 day stint in New York. 5 hours later we drove through the desert to a small town on the California / Arizona boarder, called Quartzite, where we met the breeder of our new English Setter puppy.

Miro is as sweet as he looks, and while our algorithms are full of puppy training content and we are sleeping less than normal, each day gets better.

We’ve learned a lot about ourselves having a living, breathing thing dependent on us but I’ll spare those stories for now as I inch my way back to some sort of normalcy.

— Alex

An idea from us

I. THROUGH

Try different notes until the noise becomes music. Rearrange until words become language. Sketch until it becomes a picture.

The only way through is by going through.

II. START AND FINISH LINES

It’s amazing what happens when we start by being honest about the reality of where we are today, then make decisions based on whether or not they will move us closer to the vision we have of ourselves in the future.

I’ve never known a successful runner that is unsure where they’re supposed to line up or what they’re running toward.

III. INVISIBLE

It’s natural to desire recognition.

Writers might want to convince readers how good of a writer they are by using complex language.

Designers might want add a few more graphical elements that lack meaning.

Photographers might push their colors unnaturally in editing to stand out.

But what most of us really want is to read and it feel like a natural conversation with a friend, see design with necessity and purpose, and look at images that bring clarity to what is already beautiful.

All great creators are nearly invisible.

A quote from somebody else

“Paved roads show us where we ought to go, but desire paths are made when we step off the road and let our hearts decide the way. They seek out the most direct connection between where we are and where we wish to be. Worn by the pressure of passing feet, they’re declarations of a kind: there is another way.”

— Desire Paths, David Farrier

Links worth sharing

🌐 HTML Review is an annual journal of literature made to exist on the web

👕 SSENSE 2024 trend report

📂 What Can You Do, Folder Poetry

🤳 Swipes is a site by PORTO ROCHA documenting their on-going research on AI generated photography

🐾 Terra is a pocket sized compass designed to be a companion for mindful walking. Reminding us that not all those who wander are lost

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

Darol Olu Kae is a Los Angeles based artist working primarily within film, directing and writing. His practice looks to disrupt the conventional narrative structures of storytelling, through dynamic treatments of sound and image. Some of his films include: “i ran from it and was still in it”, “Keeping Time“ and forthcoming project, “Blur”, all of which are centred on the theme of Black expression.

While spending time with his contribution, I was immediately drawn to the grainy texture threaded throughout both his images and sound. I found it interesting how it’s a characteristic that doesn’t distract, but actually draws you closer, to look more intently and listen beyond what is immediately picked up on. I loved how personal and intimate his images were, akin to a personal photo album or scrapbook.

Here’s what Darol shared with us this week.

— Alice

Sights —

Sounds —

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis

Every Tuesday we share an idea from us, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them.

Subscribe now

“It is essential that I do this work and it is essential that I do it with my body.” — Carrie Mae Weems

“I respect my silences because of this; I respect my own inactivity and disappearances, remembering that not everything in a shell is hiding. It was never fear that made me want to do better, anyway. It was always grace. It was always the realization that I’m free to be anything, so why not choose something generative?” — Walk Worthy, Eloghosa Osunde

As every year closes and one begins, I find myself looking for words and phrases that hold potential for what I want to step into and embody. Toni Cade Bambara’s utterances on words and their ability to “set things in motion” have been circling my mind, alongside Toni Morrison’s  definition of success as “a private thing” and it being when you have “fewer and fewer regrets”. Susan Sontag’s New Year prayer for courage pushes me forward.

The majority of 2023 was preoccupied with travel, time spent with friends & family, and navigating the difficult emotions surrounding grief, loss, and life’s inevitable changes—all while simultaneously trying to make room for the present. While much of those times brought a lot of joy and new experiences, they also came with moments that were destabilising. In the midst of moving through it all, I couldn’t help but find it hard to silence the voice that tells you “You can being doing more” or “Why aren’t you producing in the same way you did before.”

Towards the end of last year, I spontaneously decided to take ballet classes with a friend, not realizing how impactful it would be; both physically and mentally.

“If it’s painful, stop and tell me.”

“If you’ve had an injury, do X as an alternative move.”

“Where are is the weight being placed on your body?”

I still hear our teacher’s advice through the filter of an echo-ing, empty room.

Though they may be obvious and quite small sentiments, they have helped me reframe how to move gently, especially when we aren’t feeling our best. These simple phrases provided perspective, and the permission, that drawing back is sometimes all we can do, and pushing ourselves beyond our limit can in fact do more irreparable damage than sitting out.

In December, I spent some time with a podcast/newsletter I’ve been listening to by Ayanna Zaire Cotton, where she provides exercises for figuring out what your creative offering is. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to reframe one’s creative practice; what is means to be consistent and productive while making room for the inevitabilities that life throws at us. I’ve also been thinking about the theme of approaching practice holistically and iteratively, as opposed to a fixed linear path that insists on success only being measured by standardised, or externally set metrics.

What if a having a conversation was part of the creative process? What if going on a walk, making a meal, gathering with friends, picking up a new hobby was a measure of success?

I think creative fallow periods can make us think that we are only valuable when we’re doing something surmountable or that can be seen. But so often it’s the things that that we do in the background, sometimes unrelated in the moment, that eventually accumulate. When speaking with friends and family, I think of Toni Cade Bambara’s words and how much our conversations give life, direction and articulate where we’re trying to go. I think about the work of artists such as Neema Githere with their definition of “love as a technology” and how practicing that in the form of taking care of others, the world, or oneself is an act of creation too. In a time where the systems at play try to squeeze out whatever purity and sacredness is left from creative work, it feels urgent to think of new ways that we can practice, even if we aren’t doing it in ways that are the “norm”. Or better put by a friend, prioritising fruitfulness over productivity.

I enter the new year with lists of things I want to achieve, yes. But the older I get, I find that the intangible goals are just as important as the tangible ones. Such as, gaining clarity in who we are, what we want to become, and mustering the courage needed to get there.

I write a lot about rest because it isn’t something that always comes naturally to me. My mind is always racing, sometimes for good and sometimes in ways that aren’t so beneficial.

This year, I’m interested in routines that aren’t contingent on us berating ourselves into discipline. Instead, thinking about how can we reframe discipline in a way that is graceful, taking account of the changes around the world, within us and how that affects how much we can give and pour out.

I want to lean more into practice (namely, writing in this context) as a work of architecture, creating things that act as structures for myself and others. Writing as an act of remembering, because the written word is simply a mirror reflecting back to what already is inside us. Writing as a balm to help soothe past and present wounds as we adjust to the world around us. Creation as an act of faith. Creation as love in action. I want to nurture a practice built on longevity, care and communion, that embraces courage in the presence of fear.

As much as this is about one’s work, it’s also an expression about being and living in ways that make us feel more purposeful, connected, and whole. The world may be burning, but we will always have our stories. What matters is that we tell them, hold onto them and allow them to carry us forward.

Thanks for consuming!

ABOUT

ℹ️ Read more about Common Discourse here.

📬 If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing with others who might enjoy it as well.

🗂 Here is every Common Discourse weekly briefing to date.

COMMUNITY

🐤 We have a Twitter feed where we populate things that resonate.

⭐ We use Are.na as a tool to archive specific aspects of this project.

🗣️ Use the comment feature at the bottom of this article or reply via email to start a conversation.

💬 Download the Substack App and use Chat to interact with us and other subscribers to Common Discourse on a more frequent and casual basis.