Gift Guidance

TAoN No. 207: A (generous) guest prompt from author/artist Lea Redmond. And more.

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I got a nice surprise gift the other day: a copy of This Is for You: Gift-Giving As a Way of Life, by writer/artist Lea Redmond, billed as a “jubilant manifesto” on giving (and receiving). I love gifts as a subject, possibly because I have a very mixed record as a gifter, and I always want to get better. So I was excited to explore Redmond’s thoughtful and helpful take on the subject.

Greedily, I even asked Lea if she’d suggest a prompt for TAoN readerse, and she agreed. Another gift! And seriously, this is a great “gift guide” alternative, any time of year:

Think Beyond the Shopping Cart

As a gift opportunity approaches, visit a few stores you love and you imagine your recipient would love — but with no intention of buying anything.

Instead, treat the store like a museum, a source of inspiration and sensorial prompts to get you started. As you browse, dream up alternatives to the lovely items you imagine your recipient would like, transforming them into other gift ideas: objects, experiences, or gifts of words that are free, cheaper, homemade, found, borrowed, etc.

The hope here is that the alternatives you dream up prove more meaningful and personal. For example: a color combination in a florist shop might lead you to a particular public park for a picnic. A scented candle might spark the idea for a beach bonfire and s’mores. A too-expensive handmade wooden spoon might inspire a trip to the woods to whittle some chopsticks together. A necklace featuring a spiral could transform into a spiraling seashell found while beachcombing, poetically passed from palm to palm.

Pay close attention to what is before you, then let your imagination carry you beyond it.

So good! I love the way Redmond combines careful attention withh creative imagination.

The book very much addresses similar themes throughout (there’s a chapter on the Art of Attention). And it’s charmingly illustrated by Redmond herself:

Here’s a passage that ties in to her prompt, and gives a taste of the book’s overall spirit and style:

To be clear, I am not saying that all good gifts are handmade or cheap, found or free. A gold necklace for a grandmother, with one sparkling birthstone symbolizing each of her grandchildren, might be a home run gift. What the gold necklace and [something like a simple snail-shell necklace from a high school sweetheart] have in common is thoughtfulness, which includes thinking critically and creatively about the role of money in our gestures of care. We can call industrial capitalism’s bluff even while participating in monetary exchange, reining in consumerism-run- amok and the way it eclipses the world’s true offerings. Swapping in richness for riches, we can reclaim our attention and our agency at once. The amount on the price tag is far from the full story. A good gift is always priceless, at least to the recipient.

A gift can leave a recipient feeling flush because it references a shared memory or inside joke, sparks their intellect, attends to beauty, makes them feel safe, honors their past, encourages their future, celebrates their present — or for many other reasons. When I am dreaming up a gift for someone, I don’t assume stores are the only places to find ingredients to activate such a rich experience for my recipient. Indeed, many of the most wonderful phenomena are too big or too small — too fleeting or too slow, too alive or too wild — to pin down, package up, and sell. “Thank God for the things that I do not own,” in the words of St. Teresa of Ávila. A great gift might be borrowed instead of bought. It could merely be pointed at, wandered through, or gazed into. It might be hiding up in the night sky or a grandmother’s attic.

Nicely said. I’m particularly taken with the idea of a gift that could “merely be pointed at.” Naturally I remain curious to hear about your best gift experiences, as giver or receiver.

“If anyone wants to buy an autographed copy of my book or take a Zoom gift design workshop with me,” Lea says, “my online shop’s a great place to send ‘em.” She has a lot of other cool projects and books and products, so there is much more at LeaRedmond.com. Thank you Lea!

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IN OTHER NEWS

• Speaking of notable books, I am so excited to read Mason Currey’s Making Art and Making a Living: Adventures in Funding a Creative Life. This book speaks to such a need; it’s going to be a smash! (Here’s a Mason TAoN guest prompt from back in the day.) More at his great newsletter! I really admire Mason and his work and you should, too!

• Oh wow, these lowrider stamps are hot!

• “38 Days of ICE,” in New Orleans; very interesting read from friend of TAoN Daniel Brook in Harper’s.

• Study finds texting a random stranger is better for loneliness than “talking” to an AI chatbot.

• I just learned about the Buffalo Pothole Bandit, who has evidently visited New Orleans; nice work, more info here.

• Barometers on Television. Never gets old

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  OKAY THAT’S IT!

• As always, I value your feedback (suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, constructive insults directed at me, not at anyone else, etc.), as well as your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers: consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.

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And thanks for reading …
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All this by Rob Walker PO Box 171, 748 Mehle St., Arabi LA 70032.

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