Homework
Feb 15
Lately I've been feeling almost like a man with no memory. No, I don't mean that I literally have Alzheimer's, rather that it feels like I don't particularly retain things from moment to moment, or at least that there are a lot of lessons that I learn and then pretty much forget immediately. Like there's a lot of useful stuff that I'm losing because...well, I'm not sure why. Mental laziness? Too much information intake? Lack of perspective? The anesthestic amnesia of frequent TV consumption? Probably all of those are culprits.
When I was younger, I was a voracious book reader. I'd read something like seven books a week, just slurping them down, and occasionally someone would ask me about something I'd read, perhaps just a couple of days before. I'd think back to it and realize that all I had lingering in my mind, from some classic piece of literature, was a general sense of "goodness," and not much more. "Wow," I'd say, "wow. Catch-22 was a really good book. Just really...great. And funny. And also horrifying?"
There are a few notable exceptions to this general rule, and it occurs to me that most of them are books I read for some class or another. I mean, I still can't recall everything that happened with perfect clarity, but it seems like the mental effort of saying something about what you've read helps you hold onto what you read in the first place.
The point being that I'm going to try and start writing some brief essays about the things I'm watching and reading, not necessarily because I think anyone will give two shits about my opinion, but because I think I'm losing hold of a lot of what I'm learning, simply because I'm not taking the time to say anything about it.
Thus, I'm giving myself the first homework assignment I've had in almost 13 years.
Next up, Helvetica.