Current mood: I am Jason and Miranda July from The Future.
Last Wednesday I went to a Substack meetup hosted by Wesley Verhoeve. A real pro when it comes to photography and organizing his thoughts in his Substack Process. It was an inspiring evening and my first chance to talk about what I’m actually doing. Which is, sitting down on Tuesday nights and forcing myself to pull some strings together from a week of work and life. Also forcing myself to send it before it gets too late and we can still watch Sopranos or whatever else is on these days.
Here’s Lotje’s commentary from dinner tonight: Hello readers, this is a newsletter about writing newsletters. And since last week’s newsletter was also about writing newsletters, this week I’ll write a little more about writing newsletters.
Fall is always a good time to rewatch Joe Pera Talks with You. Last night before the Phillies got their butts kicked, I put on his halloween pumpkin episode. Fun fact: carving a pumpkin takes 1/16 of your soul but it can grow back. The series is as good as ever. He talked with Anthony Fantano (Mr. Needle Drop) recently. I really enjoy the depth and sensitivity that he talks about his work and fascinations with. In short: It’s Joe Pera season baby.
Today Lotje and I convinced the twins to make mask with neon markers and pencils and it doesn’t get more spooky than this…
October is about halloween and pumpkins and also tapping into a deep seated feelings from my Design Academy Eindhoven graduation and exhibition period in 2015. It’s a mix of anxiety and excitement of putting your work center stage (something I find difficult and probably the reason behind why I’m doing this newsletter). 8 years ago I presented my first golf related work Birdie to the world, got some press, caught the eye of Joep van Lieshout, which led to a residency and, one way or another, getting married to a van Lieshout and then writing a newsletter about the whole shebang. Wow.
Fall is also the time to dip back into my favorite Pennsylvanian short story writer John O’Hara. The title Waiting for Winter usually pops up around the 145th game of the MLB season and it’s only a matter of time before I start reaching for the rough cut Random House pages. If we had as much money as rain I’d be reading this in this…
I was looking for a good Johnny O quote when Lotje said that dinner was ready. When I came back to the book there was a lady bug walking across the opening lines of Andrea:
Nearly everything she said was truthful, but because she laughed so much her friends often belived she was joking and remained her friends. She had beautiful teeth, even and strong all the way back, and some of her friends had been known to remark that it was such a pleasure to look at her teeth that it actually did not matter much what she said. There were, of course, a few people who were not deceived by her laughter or diverted by the display of her teeth, and those people hated her.
Special thanks to dear ladybug for the help pulling this one through.
Baseball, pumpkins, John O’Hara, I hope you’re enjoying your wait for winter. Thanks for being here!
Jason
P.S. Go Phillies.