The Sunday Digest 082

Inspiration, move me brightly.

Apr 28, 2024

Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.

Sunday Read: Six Artists Look Back at Work They Made in Their Youth

via The New York Times

When I first started Sunday Scaries, I wrote anonymously for no other reason than I didn’t want to directly confront any judgement that was hurled my way. While I don’t believe it affected how I wrote, I do think the decision showed my extreme hesitancy to share my work publicly in the first place. After all, it was raw, largely unedited, and directed at an audience that I hadn’t even established yet.

But even before I decided to try my writing hat on, I enjoyed the arts significantly more than I ever enjoyed any more-traditional topics in school. From my bootlegged copy of Photoshop that I installed on my parents computer to the arts mentorship program my parents enrolled me in while I was in middle school, I was never truly deterred from pursuing something more creative.

And now that I’m a bit older, I look back fondly on the creativity I had early on in my life. For reasons that I’d rather not unpack on a Sunday morning while my coffee gets cold in front of me.

Here’s an excerpt from this week’s read:

I didn’t know then that painting wasn’t my ultimate goal. It takes a long time to realize who you are. I remember the incredible joy of going into my studio — an extra space in my family’s apartment — with my little cup of Turkish coffee. I would be so much in the dream of painting that I’d accidentally drink turpentine instead of the coffee.

Read in full here.

The Sunday Haiku: I’ve spent the entire morning looking at nooks on Tumblr.

A case filled with books,

in a den I’ll never own,

not that I’d read them.

New Episode › Retail Therapy 073: Spring Trends and Restaurant Resellers

Breaking down 11 spring trends from the GQ team, a discussion surrounding the putrid act of reselling dinner reservations, breaking down Aime Leon Dore's golf release, the Bode x Nike checkout process, some recent collaborations of note, what our butter shelves look like, and some wishlist additions.

Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube (see above), and anywhere else podcasts are found.

Relaxing Watch › 2 hours of calm film photography in Japan.

A few years ago, the concept of “digital rest stops” emerged — essentially calm videos that stop you in your tracks and allow you to take a breath of fresh air while scrolling. Sure, this is highly contradictory since you’re still just staring into your screen but I still think these serve some value in a digital landscape where everyone’s trying to capture your attention in the first 2.7 seconds.

This week’s Relaxing Watch is a collection of videos from Teo Crawford’s travels through Japan. And I must say, it makes great background while knocking out some chores.