What I’m Reading:
JUST finished reading the graphic novel In. by Will McPhail. I finished it in a matter of hours. It’s simple but not and painful and beautiful all at once. It’s also filled with stunning artwork. If you’re feeling the loss of human connection over the past couple of years please go pick it up.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Because who doesn’t want to read about the torments of queer love in Paris?
I just finished listening to the Audible of Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of LA Punk thanks to wonderfully creative friend Andrew Jenkins. More to come on this because I’m still digesting, but WOW was it amazing. Thank you, Andrew!
What I’m Listening To:
SO MUCH SLOWDIVE. When I used to race track bikes at the Velodrome in Minnesota (RIP) this was the soundtrack to keeping a level head and staying cool.
Chill electronic playlists by Soul Search and Destroy, which are all free on YouTube and Soundcloud. If you’re looking for tunes to help you concentrate, write or just relax, look no further.
All the American music pouring out of bars and cafes in Paris.
On Thursday I departed for France with my partner and my stepdaughter. We arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon to a scorching 94 degrees and I took the hottest train ride of my life to get to our Airbnb. Although we don’t have air conditioning here the walls are stone so it stays relatively cool while sleeping, which is the Most Important Thing.
This is my second trip to Paris this year and it never fails to overwhelm me in the best way. Paris, especially Le Marais, the neighborhood we like to stay in (LGBTQIA+ and historic Jewish neighborhood) is an aesthetic buffet for all your senses and the architecture that feels like maybe it just exists in your mind as a work of fiction.
Lucky for those of us on planet earth, these visions are real.
This morning my partner and I meandered out into the morning sun to find a boulangerie and some espresso.
The espresso here. It’s velvety without any bitterness, and the croissants are flaky and heavenly.
I find myself lost in my head wandering the streets here, thinking about all the literary giants who have roamed these streets. Especially James Baldwin. I have some haunts of his to visit between today and tomorrow and when I come back in about a week.
More to come in travel letters since I’m here for the next two weeks.
Starting September 11 I’ll be teaching a weeklong bootcamp in Southern France. I teach the “human to tech” piece with this particular client, meaning I teach people who are often brand new to a job how to work together as a team AND design with humans in mind, because if we solely focus on the work itself we miss a LOT.
These classes are always a massive learning lesson for me. They’re often filled with younger folks who are intense, hilarious, frustrating and amazing. I walk away all filled up and stoked about their future.
One of my favorite parts of the bootcamp is having them walk through the Responsibility Process, which is a staple in the work that I do. If you’ve ever worked with me in any capacity the past few years (or even know me personally) this might look familiar to you.
The Responsibility Process was something I came across years ago, but I didn’t get fully entrenched in it until 2020. Since then it’s become a huge part of my own personal daily practice, thanks to taking the Responsibility Immersion program this year, taught by Christopher Avery himself.
Christopher Avery and Bill McCarley’s work all began with the simple question:
why are so many people unhappy at work and in life?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Rogue Humans - Let's Make Work Suck Less. to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.