yesterday, I saw a lot of orange.

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Yesterday, I saw a lot of orange. The book I was reading had a sunset cover, I had chosen a chrysanthemum printed headscarf from early that morning, I’d prepared turmeric tea, and without purposefully sticking to theme, I was also diffusing orange essential oil throughout the day. Maybe I saw orange because I noticed it all at once – reading and drinking tea near the diffuser, hair wrapped in a silk scarf (otherwise, Sunday by the book).

I’ve heard orange is energy.

The day I arrived back to the states was the first cold day of Chicago’s fall season. I’d been coming back from three weeks in Cambodia’s consistently tropical weather. On a physical level, anything cold is without energy. On a subconscious level, maybe I was compensating for the sudden lack of energy around me.

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the garden

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Using a garden metaphor – your time should be spent nuturing your life like a garden. Tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, and radishes. The most nutritious should stay and be cultivated – these are your relationships, your passions, your dedications. Nothing should stay that doesn’t enrich your life. Maintain the edges and pull out the weeds.

That being said – when weeds sprout or hopefuls grow stagnant, then they simply shouldn’t stay. Nothing more. No pesticides or animosity. Remove them and start planning for what will grow in their place. Shed your peripheries, and devote yourself to what (or who) remains. Don’t keep what doesn’t bring you life.

Head down, hands turning through soil.

You, the gardener.

ibeyi

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Yoruba, a West African language that was imported to Cuba in the 18th century due to the slave trade. Yoruba is now the mother tongue of Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion that fuses elements of Catholicism and West African tradition.

Ibeyi, Yoruban for “twins”, is a French-Cuban musical duo made up of twin sisters, Naomi Díaz and Lisa-Kaindé. Songs are in English and Yoruba, along with the sounds of two Afro-Cuban percussive instruments, the cajón and batá. It’s sultry and cathartic – jazz, soul, and electronic. “That’s something I love about Yoruba,” says Lisa, “—you don’t need to understand the words to feel it.”

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being and nothingness

.Reading time 11 minutes.

First, Sartre says:

being-in-itself: not conscious, not aware of itself, and has no ability to make conscious decisions. A being-in-itself can’t be a person, but rather an inanimate object or an animal. Therefore, your beta fish, Gerry, is a being-in-itself.

Gerry may seem to chart a course in his .5L home, but Gerry is not making any conscious decisions. He is always going to be a being-in-itself. Therefore, as much as Gerry means to you, Gerry will never mean anything to himself. This is because Gerry doesn’t have to create meaning for himself. Gerry is a fish.

But you – you are not a fish.

 being-for-itself: you are irreversibly conscious.

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