What a lovely group! I cannot begin to express my love for ‘zines. Zines simultaneously say: I write, I publish and I share. My hope one day is that every little free library hosts zines written by locals to share their thoughts with their neighbors.
I noticed something yesterday that I hadn’t noticed before. Laugh if you must. Inside my faux fall flowers hanging on my glass screen door is a hidden bird’s nest. I saw the bird fly into the decoration but not exit. This morning I confirmed what I thought I saw. And heard the bird squawking at me nearby because I was blocking access to his home. I promise I’m not a recluse. I leave the house regularly. Now I want to write a zine dedicated to birds. I love them so much.
This is delightful. I agree that we should all be starting societies, a word that feels just the right amount of silly pretentious--so that we both take our group seriously and also not at the same time. The world is just too damn serious most of the time.
Certainly not as creative or in depth as the Noticers but my little noticing group of 3 ( myself, sister and friend, who live thousands of kms apart in Australia) pick up your themes of the month and share photos as we go about our lives. I also share your calendar theme with people and they send me photos throughout the year to contribute to the calendar. I live in a conservative rural town and crave connection with more quirky people so your newsletter provides me with a sense of community that you may not even be aware of xx
My family (me, husband, son and 2 of our grandsons) accidentally became a temporary noticing society on a walk home along the beach. We each had to find an interesting shell, stone and 1 other object in any category and keep it a secret. At the end of the beach we put our selections into a grid. We were encouraged to say a few words about why our choices were interesting, then we voted for our favourite in each of the three categories
I love this ethos of noticing. Recently I was on a Tube train in London, where the safety announcements are so incessant and loud that reading a book or listening to a podcast is impossible. But I had my brain with me, eager for a game, and noticing was just the ticket. Shapes of shoes and how I'd describe their character (one pair of trainers looked too white, like marshmallow).
At junior school we did an exercise - assemble a table of blue objects. Everyone brought something from their home. A blue saucer, a blue glass ornament, a blue packet of soap. It was eye opening. I had not ever looked just for a colour before. The next week it was bring something green. I loved it.
This would be after Miranda July's heart -- the sort of thing she would do. I don't know if there's anything to make of that, but it's time, in the scheme of things, for collaboration. Miranda is newly on Substack. If you don't know her, be aware she has a big following,. and on Substack she stays engaged with them. If you connect, you could say I sent you.
Ha yes of course I am familiar with her, she has a huge audience! I did actually try to get in touch with her once but no response. You should tell her about TAoN ;)
I love this! Along these lines, I run a coincidences club in NYC—it’s called The Association Association. 😊 Here’s the website with more info and the link to join! https://www.associationassociation.club/
I just "took a meeting" with several folks here in Kingston NY who have been inspired by the Noticing Club idea. Our first official session will be later this month.
Yes, you can help. Not sure how exactly yet. We are going to do a "mysteries" noticing prompt this month, which is of course inspired by this newsletter. So you are already helping.
I am noticing new (to me) words and phrases. Someone on FB mentioned “predatory capitalism”. A new term for me. I defined it and sent my definition and a thank you to the poster asking for feedback on the definition.
Pittsburgh Parallel Parking competition?!? Too funny!! I’ve always been a great parallel parker (being from the NYC area where it was an extremely useful skill to have) and I’ve often joked that I would have parallel parking as my Olympic event. Where I live now there is almost no parallel parking and I’m probably getting rusty. How about a Backing Into A Parking Space event? I excel at that, too and am able to use my skills every time I back into my narrow one-car garage. And let’s not forget dishwasher loading….another one of my great skills.
What a lovely group! I cannot begin to express my love for ‘zines. Zines simultaneously say: I write, I publish and I share. My hope one day is that every little free library hosts zines written by locals to share their thoughts with their neighbors.
I noticed something yesterday that I hadn’t noticed before. Laugh if you must. Inside my faux fall flowers hanging on my glass screen door is a hidden bird’s nest. I saw the bird fly into the decoration but not exit. This morning I confirmed what I thought I saw. And heard the bird squawking at me nearby because I was blocking access to his home. I promise I’m not a recluse. I leave the house regularly. Now I want to write a zine dedicated to birds. I love them so much.
This is delightful. I agree that we should all be starting societies, a word that feels just the right amount of silly pretentious--so that we both take our group seriously and also not at the same time. The world is just too damn serious most of the time.
Certainly not as creative or in depth as the Noticers but my little noticing group of 3 ( myself, sister and friend, who live thousands of kms apart in Australia) pick up your themes of the month and share photos as we go about our lives. I also share your calendar theme with people and they send me photos throughout the year to contribute to the calendar. I live in a conservative rural town and crave connection with more quirky people so your newsletter provides me with a sense of community that you may not even be aware of xx
Sally this is fabulous, I love it! Great to know about the way this bridges distances too!
My family (me, husband, son and 2 of our grandsons) accidentally became a temporary noticing society on a walk home along the beach. We each had to find an interesting shell, stone and 1 other object in any category and keep it a secret. At the end of the beach we put our selections into a grid. We were encouraged to say a few words about why our choices were interesting, then we voted for our favourite in each of the three categories
That's lovely!
I love this ethos of noticing. Recently I was on a Tube train in London, where the safety announcements are so incessant and loud that reading a book or listening to a podcast is impossible. But I had my brain with me, eager for a game, and noticing was just the ticket. Shapes of shoes and how I'd describe their character (one pair of trainers looked too white, like marshmallow).
At junior school we did an exercise - assemble a table of blue objects. Everyone brought something from their home. A blue saucer, a blue glass ornament, a blue packet of soap. It was eye opening. I had not ever looked just for a colour before. The next week it was bring something green. I loved it.
Noticers unite.
The shoe character game is a definite winner !
I love the activity on the Tube and the fact that at school you did this thing with the colored objects. How lovely!
I assumed all schools did this, but maybe they didn't. Still it's never too late to start!
I truly enjoyed reading this!
Thank you!
This would be after Miranda July's heart -- the sort of thing she would do. I don't know if there's anything to make of that, but it's time, in the scheme of things, for collaboration. Miranda is newly on Substack. If you don't know her, be aware she has a big following,. and on Substack she stays engaged with them. If you connect, you could say I sent you.
All kidding aside I didn't know she is on Substack will check that out, thanks!
Ha yes of course I am familiar with her, she has a huge audience! I did actually try to get in touch with her once but no response. You should tell her about TAoN ;)
You tell her, and say I sent you. Trust me. Better that way.
I love this! Along these lines, I run a coincidences club in NYC—it’s called The Association Association. 😊 Here’s the website with more info and the link to join! https://www.associationassociation.club/
I love this! Especially the name haha!
Haha thanks! 😁
I’ve shared your post with three people I think would be interested. That’s a lot for me as I have very few friends/acquaintances.
Good job! Hope it leads to something! 🤞
I just "took a meeting" with several folks here in Kingston NY who have been inspired by the Noticing Club idea. Our first official session will be later this month.
This is very exciting news! Let me know if I can help!
Yes, you can help. Not sure how exactly yet. We are going to do a "mysteries" noticing prompt this month, which is of course inspired by this newsletter. So you are already helping.
I am noticing new (to me) words and phrases. Someone on FB mentioned “predatory capitalism”. A new term for me. I defined it and sent my definition and a thank you to the poster asking for feedback on the definition.
I’m reading “Vulture Capitalism” by Grace Blakeley which is certainly adjacent.
Pittsburgh Parallel Parking competition?!? Too funny!! I’ve always been a great parallel parker (being from the NYC area where it was an extremely useful skill to have) and I’ve often joked that I would have parallel parking as my Olympic event. Where I live now there is almost no parallel parking and I’m probably getting rusty. How about a Backing Into A Parking Space event? I excel at that, too and am able to use my skills every time I back into my narrow one-car garage. And let’s not forget dishwasher loading….another one of my great skills.
Backing in -- there might be a competition for that LOL!
And dishwasher loading is a great one. Maybe there's a post to be done on this ;)
Thanks!
This made my day—thank you!