Walker Special
TAoN No. 188: Vignettes of joy, a valentine to imperfection, and the appeal of contrast. And more.
Quick note to paid subscribers: I’ll be posting June’s Savor of the Month thread on Thursday. The May thread on “the temporary” remains open (and is so good!). Thanks for the patience :)
I got interviewed by The New York Times the other day about creative approaches to talking a walk, many of which I’ve addressed in TAoN in the past. Thinking this might lead to some new folks discovering TAoN, I de-paywalled some of my past walk-related posts — color walks, counting walks, shape walks, neighborhood-calendar walks — and decided I would share a couple more, new walk ideas today.
In the end, the piece quoted me — but didn’t actually mention or link to this newsletter. Aw, maaaan. Cue the tiny violin!
But whatever! You don’t have to be new to TAoN to appreciate a good walk idea. But now you know why I’m revisiting walks! Here are the three new ones:
1. A Micro-Joy Walk: In a recent issue of her ever-inspiring Iridescent Ordinary newsletter, TAoN pal Rubi McGrory mentioned a recent trip to New York that involved lots of walking. And so, she writes:
“I set myself a mission of finding little vignettes of joy.”
You can define that however you like, including ruling out stuff that’s too obvious. For Rubi vignettes of joy meant in part: “exquisite wallpaper, surprise smiley faces, stripes.”
2. A Broken Walk. Rubi’s joyous idea reminded me of a past project from David Wondrich and Kenneth Goldsmith called Broken New York, which seemed to have the opposite urge: Paying attention to flaws, problems, and busted stuff across the NY streetscape. They described their resulting image collection as:
“A visual chronicle of entropy in action--a repository of the chipped, the cracked, the rusted-out, twisted, bent, amputated, sheard, smashed, scraped, munched, scrunched, worn, torn, frazzled, frayed, snapped-off, lopped-off, broken-off, dented, dinged, corroded, crumpled, crushed, crimped, creased and generally clapped-out.”
This was not a downer; it was, as The Times said when the project debuted back in 2002, “a heartfelt valentine to imperfection.” Wondrich suggested there was something uplifting about focusing on the ubiquity of flaws: “We can live with a lot more brokenness than we think.”
Here’s a variation: On your next walk notice one “broken” thing that could be fixed. Now fix it.
3. A Contrast Walk. This is most easily explained as a variation on the color walk: Instead of focusing on a single color, focus on pairs. That is, pay attention to colors bumping into each other — contrast.




That idea of contrast can of course be stretched in all sorts of directions. Invent your own!
And as always I’d love to hear your walk (or other attention ritual) practices.
SNUBBED BY THE NYT 25% OFF SPECIAL!
Naturally I was hoping that NYT thing might bring in new paid subscribers, but now I’ll just try a sale price instead! If you appreciate this newsletter, please become a Supporter with a paid subscription. You get lots of extras: posts, discussion threads, audio, and more. And it’s way cheaper than The Times ;)
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(*Note to my NYT friends: I’m just kidding around here! It was flattering to be interviewed, and I was happy the book got a mention.) (That said, the sale is real.)
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IN OTHER NEWS
“People who are bilingual in English and another language, what’s a word that exists in your other language that you are surprised doesn’t exist in English?” Answers here. Via swissmiss.
I love the miniature “installations” of artist Slinkachu. More here.
On the subject of “the temporary”: here’s some dirty van-window art. Kind of astonishing. More here.
Things to do while waiting. (Thanks Zach!)
Really incredible work: artist Lito cuts intricate compositions from a single leaf.
Funny:
OKAY THAT’S IT!
As always, I value your feedback: suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, etc. Constructive insults may be directed at me, not at anyone else. I also welcome your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers, at consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.
—> Tell someone about TAoN! Or just click the heart symbol. That always makes my day.
And thanks for reading …
rw
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All this by Rob Walker PO Box 171, 748 Mehle St., Arabi LA 70032. Send me mail!
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Points for the “snubbed by the NYT special” 😂
I almost skipped the NYTs article as I don’t have to trick myself into walks (because I have a dog!)