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Some brief links that sum up a lot of what text is about.
On fast fashion
This piece on Shein doesn’t convey much about the mindset of thoughtful consumption that long-time text readers don’t already know, but one thing stuck out:
Overconsumption exists across the price spectrum: Americans buy an average of sixty-eight garments per year and wear each an average of seven times before discarding.
I buy… two? Three? I wear something over 100 times before discarding?
On good books
It would be really funny if a book on writing recommendable nonfiction were itself not recommendable. Unfortunately, this one is very recommendable. I’m sad that it ended up in my hands shortly after Store Design came out, but at least I’ll know more for my next go-around.
On why the rich are harmful
Probably 101-level for those who know this on a soul level, but here’s the economic explanation for why inequality sucks for everyone, including the rich. Related.
On our generation’s paper of record
For the past 25 years, I have loaded one website in the morning: Pitchfork. I know many of the staff, since most of them lived in Chicago at some point over the years. Their gutting by Condé Nast has made me sad, even as I remain caremad about their lack of interest in many of the genres I personally care about. An oral history goes over the good & bad.
On Richard Serra
In the wake of his passing I owe you more text on what Richard Serra means to me personally, but in the meantime, this remembrance hits. His art was a form of his psyche – intense, uncompromising, present – rendered in a way that will likely outlast our civilization. To come to the practice with that level of confidence and succeed makes him into a powerful inspiration for me personally.
On calm companies
My pal Justin Jackson wrote about the traits of a calm company and why we need more of them. The first order of business is in marginal capture, allowing us the headspace to create something like this in the first place. If there were ever an argument for Draft to grow beyond its current headcount, this is it.
The mother sauces of China
I make some of these and keep them in my fridge at all times, especially scallion oil & chili oil.