Austin Kleon - The pirate gardener

Hey y’all,

Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Brian Eno says you’re either a cowboy or a farmer. Dave Hickey says you’re either a pirate or a farmer. I would like to be a pirate gardener.
    
2. Very excited to announce my August pick for the Read Like an Artist book club: Tamara Shopsin’s totally wonderful Arbitrary Stupid Goal.
    
3. I’m reading Dana Gioia’s Studying with Miss Bishop, but I’m a little baffled by the cover and title: Elizabeth Bishop is just one of the six people who formed his life as a poet who make up the chapters of his memoir. I came to Dana’s book via his brother Ted, who is a terrific music writer. (As someone who is raising a set of brothers, I’m fascinated by such dynamic duos.) Ted was named after their uncle Ted, who died in a plane crash, but left Ted and Dana’s parents a piano and a huge library of books, which the two brothers put to excellent use. (Ted recently shared his parenting advice.)
    
4. “Isn’t it a miracle that we’ve ended up as ourselves?” A Paris Review interview with Hilton Als. (Love his New Yorker columns and his Instagram.)
    
5. Cartoonist Kevin Huizenga sent me some cool zines that were supplementary material for his masterpiece, The River at Night. (One of the best books I read in 2019.)
    
6. “Cease to be a drudge. Seek to be an artist.” I read those words on a banner in a photo in the NYTimes, and just had to read more about the woman they came from: Mary McLeod Bethune. 
    
7. Ear candy: designer Kelli Anderson made a sax playlist. (If you can’t get enough of that woodwind, see also my friend Julien’s playlist, “Surprise Sax.”)
    
8. Eye candy: our family is way behind, but somehow Paddington 2 is just as good as everyone says it is? (Tonight’s pizza night viewing is the original Paddington.)
    
9. RIP artist Jane Kaufman.
    
10. When I don’t know what to write in my diary, I copy a poem and pick it apart.