Stayin' Alive One Day at a Time
plus: offices make way for Gen Z, AI transforms a hidden Picasso nude & other reading recs
Hey Siri, play “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees.
I didn’t need to see Saturday Night Fever to make that funky tune my autumn anthem. After three months of choking on thick, fusty, humid air and sweating in all my creases, stepping to each beat in the cool New York City breeze makes me feel powerful. I pass by vendors selling jugs of apple cider and the yellowing trees that tower above the corner deli near my apartment, taking in the season’s beauty. There are signs of new beginnings everywhere as the leaves around me die.
As with most fresh starts, I feel like a part of me died when I moved here in July. Luckily, New York is filled with distractions to help me forget that: plans, people, places. Pink ink fills up nearly every square on my calendar, memories for me to pocket as proof that the city is a good time, sometimes. But it’s all temporary and still doesn’t feel like a home.
Still, if I’m going to walk around feeling empty, I might as well look good while doing it.
It’s kind of like the time I was wearing a bright pink blazer dress in Soho, puking my guts into a little black trash bag on the side of the street. I was fine, no worries, but the gist of it felt very New York: No one asked me any questions (thank god) and instead of taking a $35 Uber back to my place, I sashayed to the subway playing Chloe Bailey’s “Have Mercy,” from my cell phone speaker since my AirPods were dead.
The wind dried the drool on my lip to a light crust and the city became my runway with every bouncy step that I took. A man I’d passed casually offered me weed and I quickly declined. He paused for a second and said, Love the fit!
I could feel all eyes on me that afternoon, and even though I knew those strangers couldn’t see my emptiness (be it figuratively or via my tired stomach sac), portraying myself as this sexy, fulfilled boss babe on the outside made me feel like I was her on the inside, too. Much like those colorful, dying leaves, there’s beauty in knowing she can still exist in tandem with those feelings of emptiness. That coexistence makes her stronger.
New York still isn’t a home to me and it might not be for a while. But something has to die for something else to start anew. Who’s to say that the death itself can’t be beautiful?
Writing Update 📝
Welcome to the first issue of No Big Dil! This is the part of the newsletter where I’d (briefly) catch you up on how my novel writing’s going, but since this is the first issue I figured I’d spend this time telling you a bit more about what you’re getting yourself into.
I live in perpetual fear that someone will take my novel premise and run, so the details I include about my novel in this newsletter will likely be unrelated to the actual plot. I might talk about how new rituals impact my writing process, how I’m developing my characters’ personalities or perhaps how I managed to finish writing a chapter in a week. Things like that.
I can also tell you that my novel falls in the cyberpunk genre. I’ve never written cyberpunk, nor do I usually read books in this realm of literature, so I have a lot of work to do if I want to make this good. (Why cyberpunk, then? You ask. I wanted to do something different and exciting, and I think having a plot centered around tech in this way allows me to do that.) That said, book recommendations are more than welcome!
Since my novel takes place in the distant future, many of the links I’ll include here will likely be related to technology, the environment, health and lifestyle/culture. So more often than not, these links will be anything that inspires me to think about what it would be like to live on planet Earth in the next 30+ years. I feel like these are good areas to focus on if I want to build a world convincing enough while also adding my own spice every here and there.
Stories that inspired me this week 🔗
The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them— by Emma Goldberg for The New York Times.
Defiance of workplace hierarchy? Emphasis on personal wellbeing? Talk about an office shake up. This got me wondering: If this is what Gen Z is like as office newbies, what might office culture look like in the next few decades when this generation dominates?
If you can get through this without starting some pointless debate about skinny jeans and side parts, it’s a fun read that kept me engaged through the very end.
Young People Are Leaving Their Jobs in Record Numbers—And Not Going Back— by Raisa Bruner for TIME.
Amid the “Great Resignation,” young people outside the office are also prioritizing self worth and personal projects. For some, that means quitting their job and booking it to Italy.
As major U.N. climate talks open, pleas for action to back up big promises — by Michael Birnbaum, Brady Dennis and Annie Linskey for The Washington Post.
There’s loads of coverage this week surrounding COP26 in Glasgow, where world leaders are making all kinds of pledges to fight climate change by cutting back on emissions. But will these promises actually be met in the coming years? Activists are skeptical, and with good reason, too.
From a hidden Picasso nude to an unfinished Beethoven, AI uncovers lost art — and new challenges — by Chantal Da Silva for NBC.
When I ponder Artificial Intelligence’s next moves toward human domination, learning how to paint like Picasso was not at the top of my list. But maybe it should be?
How to Fix Social Media — by Various for The Wall Street Journal.
If my novel’s going to be about technology seriously effing up our lives, I’d might as well consider what leaders think could be efforts to curb it…and break down why such efforts may or may not work. This piece is a trove of ideas.
Honorable mentions:
I’m guilty of watching TV shows with high school characters (Sex Education, anyone?), but seeing characters on the older side might be where it’s at.
This guy made a Metaverse nearly three decades ago. When it comes to Facebook — or, ahem, Meta — he isn’t impressed.
I’ve been waiting for someone to write this profile on Ryan Reynolds ever since I started voluntarily watching his gin and mobile phone company ads. This piece doesn’t disappoint.
Highlight from my reading this week 🌟
Alright everyone, we’re nearing the end of this week’s newsletter! This is the part where I reflect on a takeaway from a book I’m reading that resonated with me on a personal level. I’ll have this for you next time, when I actually read something long enough to have something good enough to share.
For now, I just want to thank you again a million times over for subscribing and perhaps, reading to the end. Have a wonderful rest of your week, and I’ll see you again in two weeks!
Okay, so all YA books, but the Uglies series (four books total) by Scott Westerfield was SO GOOD when I was younger. Idk if I'd have a different perspective now, but at the time it gave such an interesting commentary on beauty standards and also had a very interesting tech aspect to it (imagine: Siri+social media implanted in your eyeball and always in view)
I also really liked The Host by Stephanie Myers (yeah yeah) as a youth (don't bother with the movie)
Also, not cyberpunk but kind of a book that calls to question ethics with technology and discovery, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Also I know not reads but good shows to watch with the sci-fi tech aspect:
Black Mirror, episodes: The Entire History of You, San Junipero, and Striking Vipers
Love, Death, & Robots Episodes (which are all 11-15 minutes!): Sonnie's Edge, The Witness (not necessarily techy but the world in this episode is so cyberpunk), Good Hunting, Automated Customer Service
I wonder what music you listen to while writing! Or if you’re ever inspired by people you see walking around NYC?