001 | Let us start with: my Google Search History.

and an earring launch, an essay about men being emotional gold-diggers, and more!

***i will be working out the structure of these newsletters, so if there is something you want me to share, please let me know!***

WHAT IS ANOTHER WAY I CAN SAY “HAPPY TUESDAY” ?

(i will get back to you on that).

i intended to get this launched yesterday, monday, but being a perfectionist means being late…often.

welcome to the first edition of keys to the house! this is going to be everything i would normally share on social media, and then some.

why?

1) i want to bring intention and attention back to my content-sharing practice. social media is quick, flippant, impulsive, and then g o n e, and so is the time we spend on it. i want to take back control of my time and put it elsewhere, but i don’t want to lose touch with the wonderful folks i have met online, and those i currently keep in touch with online, especially during this pandemic.

2) i wish to seek out inspiration, friendships, collaboration, community, and from elsewhere, instead of accidentally scrolling upon it in the middle of the night.

3) because marlee grace suggested it in her Patreon-members-only community zoom gathering last week (i have joined a few communities on Patreon and am in love!)

4) i want to draw water from a different well: in short, if i’m always looking at what other artist and musicians are doing on social media, i’m going ONLY see that. it’s an echo-chamber there. regardless of your niche: activism, art, debates, political views, pop-culture…it all exists inside a very tiny part of the world: social media. i want to dive deep within myself and use my intuition and my own energy to create art, opinions, and discourse. i want to use the space that social media leaves and put something else in there. more to come…

WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER IS

• long-form content, carefully curated with intention and attention.

• a place to share updates about my personal, professional, and creative life.

• a place to share photos, videos, music, and other works of art i create: in progress, finished, all states, plus different methods and tools i use for creating (like telling you about Creative Market’s weekly Monday newsletter with FREE FONTS and VECTOR downloads!)

• a place for me to exist online, that is not social media. i will also share *how* i’m limiting my social media time (i.e. i don’t keep any of the apps on my phone anymore - GAME CHANGER!) instead of one-off posts, i’ll round up content once a week and share it all here.

• i’m sure we will add to this list

WHAT THIS NEWSLETTER IS NOT

• a place for your business/blog to advertise or get featured, unless i curate it first.

• a sales newsletter: i will share links to my projects, i.e. music/earrings, but this is not a sales/marketing newsletter. i won’t be heavy-hitting any sales-y things here, ever.

• i’m sure we will add to this list

i am really glad you’re here. if you find something i share enjoyable, helpful, or none of the above, i want to hear about it! leave a comment or just reply to me, directly.

now - onward to the good stuff, below!

xoxo

tiffiny

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NEW EARRINGS and HEART / BROKEN HEART GARLAND PRE-SALE IS HERE!

announcing the pre-sale of LOVEFOOL: my new love-themed collection of handmade earrings and garland! CLICK TO CHECK IT OUT

L I S T S of T H I N G S

(that i usually share via instagram stories or links on facebook)

things i have googled lately (not lying):

“gas stove left on”

“does my cat cuddle near me on purpose”

“dropping things a lot astrology”

“chess moves against bishop’s opening”

“ar theremin”

“how to add hair chunks in photoshop”

“preparing for a pap smear”

“are project management exams real”

“actual emotional age of men compared to physical age”

CURRENTLY reading / just FINISHED reading / going TO READ

(via book, audiobook, or internet):

Anti-Racism Daily: Honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s full legacy by Nicole Cardoza - this newsletter shows up in my inbox everyday and it is absolutely worth a subscription. from today’s piece:

“The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been whitewashed and gentrified to depict him as someone that only advocated for unity and peace (Essence). But during his life, many denounced him as an extremist (Time) and the FBI considered him a threat to democracy (Stanford). Neither narrative speaks to his radical views, nor his lasting commitment to racial equity. It's our responsibility to honor his legacy beyond what's been deemed "appropriate" by education and media.”

“Men Have No Friends and Women Bear the Burden” - Melanie Hamlett / Harper’s Bazaar - this essay is always worth a read, and is top of mind for me lately. I feel for a few of my female-identifying friends who are currently treading water for themselves, and blowing up the life-jacket of their cishet male partners. And of course, I am no different: the entire history of men I have dated or worked for/with has played this out, tragically.

“Toxic masculinity—and the persistent idea that feelings are a "female thing"—has left a generation of straight men stranded on emotionally-stunted island, unable to forge intimate relationships with other men. It's women who are paying the price.”

“A Soft Manifesto” by Cortney Cassidy, published on The Creative Independent - after reading Cortney’s essay, i printer her manifest out and it currently hangs above my ‘studio space’ in my kitchen. her entire approach is beautiful, and puts words to something i have been searching for in my own artistic and creative journey. Cortney also publishes Mail Blog - which you receive via the MAIL! of course, i signed up.

“The monetary motivations of capitalism can be a comfortable place to some because it is known. Capitalism is a well-established masculine monoculture of stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression that relies on dependencies and power structures. I lose my autonomy in it as a sensitive introvert. If I could exist in an undefined space instead, I could use the ambiguity to nourish my emotional needs and create soft definitions of what it means to be.”

“Walk Through Walls” by Marina Abramovic - a memoir about how she got started with her performance art. i’m half way through and am absolutely in love with her story and how committed she is to her art, and by proxy, her Self, with a capital S. reading this book is influencing my a lot right now, as i am also trying really hard to get in tune with my Self, especially after quitting my medication for depression.

a good lil nugget from this book:

“If you experiment, you have to fail. By definition, experimenting means going to territory where you’ve never been, where failure is very possible. How can you know you’re going to succeed? Having the courage to face the unknown is so important.”

“Quit Like a Woman” by Holly Whitaker - most of you know that i am sober, but this book. THIS BOOK. i am still digesting it, and my first interaction with it was a binge-read via audiobook. i have a copy on order, so i can read it again and take notes. it’s one of the best books about sobriety i have read, but not because Holly preaches about sobriety: she rips apart the alcohol industry in the SAME ways we have ripped apart the oil industry, plastic bottle use, gluten, cars, non-minimalism, etc.

“The largest single use of ethanol is as an engine fuel and fuel additive. In other words, we drink, for fun, the same thing we use to make rocket fuel, house paint, anti-septics, solvents, perfumes, and deodorants and to denature, i.e. to take away the natural properties of, or kill, living organisms. Which might make sense on some level if we weren’t a generation of green minded, organic, health-conscious, truth seeking individuals. But we are.

We are hyper-vigilant about everything we put into our body, everything we do to our body, and we are proud of this. We Instagram how proud we are of this, and we follow Goop and Well+Good, and we drop 40 bucks on an exercise class because there are healing crystals in the floor.

The global wellness economy is estimated to be worth $4 trillion. $4 TRILLION DOLLARS. We are on an endless and expensive quest for wellness and vitality and youth. And we drink fucking rocket fuel.”

SMALLER READS:

“PRESENCE issue 1 IN THE MIST” a hand-stamped, full color, 50-ish page arts/music publication, edited by Liz Harris of Grouper

A How-To Guide on Surviving Your First Bee Sting by Olivia Carmel (one of my BFFS!) a beautiful book of poetry about mental health, love, cycles, inner monologues, and existing.

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RESOURCES + LINKS for independent, free, or alternative reading to corporate-backed companies:

• i use Libro.fm to listen to audiobooks, because they support independent bookstores! not am*z*n!

• i use The Libby App to checkout audiobooks from my local library - it’s amazing! definitely sign up for both of those if you’ve not already.

  .

CURRENTLY listening to / LISTENED to / going TO LISTEN to

(music, podcasts, etc):

FINAL THOUGHTS

i am sure i will have more to write in this little section, and ideally, there will be an essay with more personal reflection/opinion once these newsletters get going. i feel the writing bubbling up inside me again.

since quitting my medication, i feel clearer. i feel like someone was messing with the antennae and finally, Signal is coming in clear again. i don’t think the medication was a problem, in and of itself. i think i actually came out of my 5+ year depression, and my mind/body were like, “ok we are ready for you!” and started rejecting the medication.i know that is not based in any scientific fact, but it’s the story that makes sense to me and helps me advocate for myself.

i do feel more agitated and anxious, which is something aside from the depression, the medication was helping with. but i have also learned better coping skills, i workout everyday, and have even started learning to dance routines to musicals and nsync to work on physical expression.

i know once this pandemic is over, we will all be shouting in the streets. it’s so hard to remember that my body aches and hurts because of what we are all going through globally, but also because stored up emotion translates into physical pain. i have a lot to move through and work through.

i’m working on a lot of art right now. of course, music is always hovering around, sometimes following me, sometimes leading me.

anyways, i hope you enjoyed this first blast of intentional content from me, to you. leave a comment or reply and let me know what else you’d like to see - i have so many things to add, but i couldn’t dump them all in this first one.

take care. advocate for yourself. preserve your energy. sit with things.

feel everything deeply.

tiffiny