Happy summer! The solstice passing a couple of days ago also marks the two-year anniversary since launching Circling. If you have enjoyed following along, consider becoming a paid subscriber — paid subscriptions allow us to offer a small honorarium to the artists we interview. For those who may have become a subscriber more recently, consider delving back into the archive to check out some of the earliest artist features: Rebekah Osborn, Rachel Dupont, Darren Chittick and more.
This summer, I’m slowing down.
After an extremely busy 18-months of work during which I did work of which I’m really proud (launching a brand new, weekly free event at the Whitney—on top of our existing member programming) and also felt totally bulldozed by, I am scaling back to part-time hours with a plan to transition out entirely by the end of September. I’m not fully sure what’s next after that, but will spend these months sorting that out. I’ll write about the day job of it all in more depth at some point but feel too in the middle of everything to do so quite yet. My new schedule begins in two weeks and I’ve been pondering how to use this “extra” time. After months and months of the fast lane, I am craving some slowness.
A side effect of the way these schedule shifts are playing out is that I am being presented with a more clearly defined “summer” than I’ve had in the nearly ten years since finishing school. Did you make a summer bucket list as a kid? That’s what I keep thinking of, and the throughline is slow and steady. I’m working toward spending more time prioritizing my art practice, tending to my health, and hopefully drumming up some freelance business for the fall and beyond. Here are some of the things on my mind and small ways I’m hoping to shape the months ahead as I both rest and explore what might be next.
Commit to less: In addition to peeling back job responsibilities, I held my line on the goal of not being in charge of anything in the community garden this season. I’m still a member, still participating—but after several years in various small leadership roles because there wasn’t anyone else to do them, letting others step up (and they’re doing a great job!)
Reading longform: While I always read a lot, a brief lapse of my BPL card recently interrupted my usual steady stream of audio books and it feels dumb to say but I feel like I really rediscovered the pleasure of reading a physical book. I’m not multitasking the way I do while listening to an audiobook. I appreciate having something to listen to while doing the dishes or other cleaning, but there is something so enjoyable about sitting and purposefully not doing anything else simultaneously besides, perhaps, commuting. Reading a chapter of a novel instead of a series of short news articles or “content” on the train really makes the time pass more quickly too. The most obvious thing is that when I’m holding a book, I’m not holding my phone and the more I can not do that, the better. As a former nerdy child, perhaps nothing feels like summer break more than reading an entire novel in one beach day (which I did, while off work on Juneteenth last week—and it was great).