057: Touching Grass

The Odyssey, Aisling Bea, getting out of your head + Doodle Dispatches HAS HER OWN SUBSTACK + other resilient goodness

Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?
Vladimir: Yes, yes, we're magicians.
―Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

It might be just me, but working from home seems to have evolved from a logistical solution to an ontological one.

I mean this in both the information science and the philosophical sense. From very early in the morning, I stand at a desk, working within multiple digital communication channels: video meetings on three or four different platforms; many email accounts; Slack threads and groups; dozens of online forums; Reddit and Twitter (and Facebook and Instagram if I must); newsletters and comments on newsletters; imessages; Signal messages; and sometimes even phone calls. (I am sure there are other media I’m forgetting.)

Every one of these channels has a unique tone, cadence, emotional valence and style of writing. Some carry words and ideas of people I haven’t met. Some carry words and ideas of people I know have real life relationship…