#13: Deixis Downlink
A monthly correspondence: September 2023
Deixis Journal Archive
Featured work by Mohamed Sahid & Debora Cheyenne.
Photographed by Henri. Featured in Deixis Journal No.1
In Deep Thought: Identity Vortex
“Identity gave me a headache that contorted my frontal lobe. I realized who I was, then realized I was nobody at all. I was a lake in a forest. An ant off route. A misplaced pen. I count the dollars in my bank account and smile today, close my eyes, and shake my head the next. I ponder upon the ocean and say, “Incredible,” to hear it repeated beside me, and land ho. I tell the same stories to different people until my audience depletes. There’s been a nationwide experience deficit. I am unsure as to when the life business will pick up again, but my suitcase, sword, and toolkit are ready for when it does.
I get the feeling it’s going to work me hard, but I’ll have a more lofty position then… People will respect me more… People will think I am… Maybe I’ll even be…”
Notes for the Futurist
I have been binging old interviews by Charlie Rose as of late. The myriad of guests he’s sat down with never fails to impress me. Not only due to their grandeur and accolades, but due to their foresight, their conversations of the future, their expectations for today from a completely different time, and how in hindsight, they were either spot on or way off the mark.
As someone who “studied” literature in college, (not that I went to class much or really understood what was going on) — Rose’s interview with Harold Bloom is what I wish I watched as a student. He said everything I was skeptical of at the time. His statements were prophetic, yet at the time they were stated, notions of complete absurdity and delusion. But after seeing this, I realized why he studied and wrote a book about geniuses — because you must familiarize yourself with them in order to be one. This interview is something any and every ‘literarian’ should familiarize themselves with:
Deixis Book Club
Not a real book club (yet), just a bit about what we’re currently reading.
Halima recently read the book, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck
Detailing the trip taken by Henry David Thoreau, this piece of nonfiction reads like fiction in that Ben has a perspective that you rarely read out loud. He is able to embellish plain things that you love, and you become curious about things as he experiences them. He gets Lyme disease in the process of walking paths and trails that Henry David would. Ben stops somewhere for a bite to eat, describes his meals, gets rained on, meets a stranger, and describes them to make you watch as the light makes shadows on their face. I really love everyday-routine-like things, and this book encompasses that somehow, a trek that is rarely taken, a random trip to Norway, things that are spontaneous but living and it’s really boring but so fulfilling. It also reminded me of my closest friend, Lourdes, who I told in an email immediately after reading that, “Every time I think of Henry David Thoreau I think of you, and so in reading it I felt a certain closeness to you, an understanding of your psyche that I wasn't able to completely comprehend but still adored.”
An Excerpt from Six Walks by Ben Shattuck
“This place,” Paul said, pointing to the ground, to the mountain we shared then, “I come here every day. I’m addicted to it. Sometimes I say to myself, ‘I don’t have time for this,’ but I always come.”
Open Invite - Author The Deixis Newsletter
If you enjoy reading our newsletter, you may have noticed that we call upon friends and fellow geniuses to guest write for us.
If you are interested in being considered to author an issue of The Deixis Newsletter at some point, simply LIKE this letter by clicking the heart button, and submit a quick interest form HERE.
