I loved this essay, especially the part where you touched on society's acceptance of performance and imagery, and how we all see construction of the self as a norm. Suddenly, authenticity isn't needed anymore, just transparency about our performance is apparently enough. We've found a loophole where people can get away with lying blatantly, as long as they say so; where we can fold to societal pressures and uphold standards as long as we admit that it doesn't come natural to us. Much to think about. Keep up the great work, man, this is real stuff you're doing here.
thank you so much for reading. wow, your point about the transparency of performance reminds me a lot about another essay on the hyper visibility of how stars are made, how we no longer ascribe star power to the individual but the faces of the creative team, stylists, photographers who construct their image. i've linked it here: https://www.readloosey.com/p/how-the-sausage-is-made
I had never connected the two until now. thanks so much for the kind words :)
I grew up moving around frequently, at most I've lived in one house for 4 years before something happened that necessitated us to move. Now I'm in the military, and the pattern continues. I get an ache to move after a while.
Places eventually start to feel stale. Perhaps it's because my locales have been smaller towns, a large part of the discomfort of remaining in one place is the sense that too many people know me.
It may be shame, then. For all the mistakes and wrongdoings I've made, and if I can leave, I can leave it in the past and never have to think about it again. On to fresh new relationships! But I definitely am tired of that cycle.
Thank you for writing about another aspect of frequent moving that I've felt deep down but have never consciously thought about.
thank you so much for reading and sharing your experience. there’s so much to ‘try on’ when you visit or move to a new place and i ultimately believe that has granted me a lot of freedom to be who i want but there’s something about sticking around and growing roots that i think is also important. maybe New York will be that for me. im happy you found this relatable!
What an engaging, thought provoking, well-written essay! Thank you Brendon for expressing your thoughts in a way that helps me, a 58 year old woman with two 20-something daughters, understand mine and their “reality” better.
As I move forward into the latter part of my life I am questioning my identity and where and how I am in today’s world.
On another note: the switch the salt and sugar bowl trick comes to mind …
brendon! a big fan of the way you move between topics, smooth and seamless, like butter in a pan. this is a great, introspective analysis on how our environment and living space really does shape us and the way we think and move about the world - i’m poised to move elsewhere soon (still in my own city) but i’m wondering what kind of behaviour that will encourage and how different (or same) it’ll be from me now! the only thing I’m at odds of is the question of authenticity. is authenticity dead? well, on the internet, yes I think so - because even the ‘authentic’ characters are tailored and engineered to be just messy enough to be unpolished but just clean enough to be aesthetic. authentic is a genre, the same way horror or comedy or self-improvement is, frankly. despite that, i like to believe that this doesn’t stop us from being authentic in our own lives with the people we really know and the roads we really walk :))) love this post and definitely adding perfection to my reading list!
I loved this essay, especially the part where you touched on society's acceptance of performance and imagery, and how we all see construction of the self as a norm. Suddenly, authenticity isn't needed anymore, just transparency about our performance is apparently enough. We've found a loophole where people can get away with lying blatantly, as long as they say so; where we can fold to societal pressures and uphold standards as long as we admit that it doesn't come natural to us. Much to think about. Keep up the great work, man, this is real stuff you're doing here.
thank you so much for reading. wow, your point about the transparency of performance reminds me a lot about another essay on the hyper visibility of how stars are made, how we no longer ascribe star power to the individual but the faces of the creative team, stylists, photographers who construct their image. i've linked it here: https://www.readloosey.com/p/how-the-sausage-is-made
I had never connected the two until now. thanks so much for the kind words :)
the real salt from sugar here is your effortful connections weaving an effortless piece!
ahhhh thank you so much for taking notice :) i was ‘in flow’ with this
The best ones always are
Delicious read from top to bottom. Adding Perfection to my reading list too
let me know what you think :)
The way you connected all these topics seamlessly. Wow. Fantastic.
thank you so so so much!
fantastic read.
thank you AJ!
I grew up moving around frequently, at most I've lived in one house for 4 years before something happened that necessitated us to move. Now I'm in the military, and the pattern continues. I get an ache to move after a while.
Places eventually start to feel stale. Perhaps it's because my locales have been smaller towns, a large part of the discomfort of remaining in one place is the sense that too many people know me.
It may be shame, then. For all the mistakes and wrongdoings I've made, and if I can leave, I can leave it in the past and never have to think about it again. On to fresh new relationships! But I definitely am tired of that cycle.
Thank you for writing about another aspect of frequent moving that I've felt deep down but have never consciously thought about.
thank you so much for reading and sharing your experience. there’s so much to ‘try on’ when you visit or move to a new place and i ultimately believe that has granted me a lot of freedom to be who i want but there’s something about sticking around and growing roots that i think is also important. maybe New York will be that for me. im happy you found this relatable!
Loved this essay. I'd really love to hear your take on different troupes of influencers, especially booktok.
thank you so much for reading!!!
What an engaging, thought provoking, well-written essay! Thank you Brendon for expressing your thoughts in a way that helps me, a 58 year old woman with two 20-something daughters, understand mine and their “reality” better.
As I move forward into the latter part of my life I am questioning my identity and where and how I am in today’s world.
On another note: the switch the salt and sugar bowl trick comes to mind …
thank you so much christina :) im glad you found it relatable. and ill have to do the sugar / salt swap at my next dinner party… 🤭
brendon! a big fan of the way you move between topics, smooth and seamless, like butter in a pan. this is a great, introspective analysis on how our environment and living space really does shape us and the way we think and move about the world - i’m poised to move elsewhere soon (still in my own city) but i’m wondering what kind of behaviour that will encourage and how different (or same) it’ll be from me now! the only thing I’m at odds of is the question of authenticity. is authenticity dead? well, on the internet, yes I think so - because even the ‘authentic’ characters are tailored and engineered to be just messy enough to be unpolished but just clean enough to be aesthetic. authentic is a genre, the same way horror or comedy or self-improvement is, frankly. despite that, i like to believe that this doesn’t stop us from being authentic in our own lives with the people we really know and the roads we really walk :))) love this post and definitely adding perfection to my reading list!