Every Monday since 2015, Hugh wakes up, makes coffee, sits down, and writes an email to thousands of folks in at least five different countries. There’s an original blog-length reflection on where he sees beauty in the world right then and links to five things he saw that week that struck him as beautiful. Because the world is beautiful, but sometimes it’s hard to notice.
Happy Holidays | LISB
This is Life Is So Beautiful, a weekly email from Hugh Hollowell, devoted to the idea that our hope for survival in this brutal world is rooted in finding the beauty that is everywhere, but sometimes hard to find.
Hey Y'all!
I once lived in a house that had been built to be a 800 Square foot house, but was an 1800 square foot house when I lived in it. It had started life as a one bed, one bath post-war cracker box, but had, over time, been added onto in a hodgepodge fashion - a deck that had been turned into a porch that had been turned into a third bedroom, the bathroom that was tacked onto the back of the house at a precarious angle, the hallway to nowhere, the refrigerator that lived in the dining room, the washing machine that lived in the hallway while the dryer was in the kitchen, the former attic that was the second bedroom, with low ceilings and AC that didn't really work. The people who had owned it had no plan - they just kept adding as they needed something new. And, eventually, it no longer really worked as a place to live. When I moved out, the new owners gutted it and started over.
This is a true story, but it is also a metaphor.
This is the last email I'm sending this year - the next email I send to this list will be on January 9th.
There are a number of reasons for this, the obvious one being the holidays and taking time to be with my family and so on. But another reason is that I am doing some reflection on how I run my side publishing projects.
A close reading of the last dozen or so Life Is So Beautiful emails will show that I have been struggling with how to make it all work - the membership program, the two newsletters, the new full-time gig, and the blog. Add in *waves hands* all the generalized chaos, and it's a lot. None of it was bad, and all of it served a purpose - just like that ill-fated attic bedroom. It just was never part of a coherent plan. So, I've spent that last six weeks or so trying to figure out how it all goes together, and I've decided I need to just gut it and start over.
Well, start over, but not from scratch. This email is my favorite of my projects, so it will stay, but it will look a bit different in 2023, as will my personal website and my blog. I will be dropping some things and tweaking others - and I need some time to do that. It won't be finished by January 9th, but the bones will be in place.
I hope your holidays are magical, that you get plenty of rest, and that you feel true joy over the coming weeks.
Five Beautiful Things
Alfred Conteh is an artist whose work shows the "african diasporal societies in the south are fighting social, economic, educational and psychological wars from within and without to survive." It's stunning work, almost breathtaking. He's on Instagram, and here is a lovely writeup on Colossal.
In keeping with last week's love of anthropomorphic animals, check out these lovely otter illustrations.
NASA has uploaded tons of pictures from Artemis 1 - these are amazing.
Sessame Street has existed my entire life, and no show more shaped my childhood. I loved this writeup about the philosophy behind it, and how early, foundational decisions were made that shaped it into the cultural force it is.
Shoutout to friend of the newsletter Abby for pointing me to these photos of Chicago nighttime storefronts. I love everything about this.
FYI
They have begun shipping free COVID tests again - you can get 4 free ones here.
This newsletter remains free and ad-free because of the support of my members, who insist on my making it free for everyone else. Other ways to support this project include buying me a cup of coffee or forwarding it to your friends.
Take care,
HH
Hugh Hollowell,
Publisher, LISB
Hi! I'm Hugh Hollowell.
Every Monday since 2015, Hugh wakes up, makes coffee, sits down, and writes an email to thousands of folks in at least five different countries. There’s an original blog-length reflection on where he sees beauty in the world right then and links to five things he saw that week that struck him as beautiful. Because the world is beautiful, but sometimes it’s hard to notice.
Click here to read this on the web, or to have a link to share on social media The eclipse as captured in my wildlife pond. NB: Resent, because I missed not one, but two links! I was in a rush this morning, and it shows. Thanks for all the folks who let me know. - HH Hi y’all, Thanks to the folks who wrote and checked in when your inbox didn’t have a note from me in it for two weeks in a row. Over Easter weekend, our cat Felix ended up in the hospital and we spent a few days thinking we were...
Click here to read this on the web, or to have a link to share on social media The eclipse as captured in my wildlife pond. Hi y’all, Thanks to the folks who wrote and checked in when your inbox didn’t have a note from me in it for two weeks in a row. Over Easter weekend, our cat Felix ended up in the hospital and we spent a few days thinking we were going to have to put him down (we didn’t, he’s still with us, thousands of dollars later) and I was a mess. And then last week, my Monday was...
Click here to read this on the web, or to have a link to share on social media Here I am! This is Life Is So Beautiful, a handcrafted weekly dose of hope and aspiration. It’s lovingly curated by Hugh Hollowell, and is devoted to the belief that our hope for survival in this brutal world is rooted in finding the beauty that is everywhere, but sometimes hard to find. I hope you enjoy it. - HH Hey y’all, Born in the early 1970’s, I was surrounded by, and cared for by, people who had come of age...