The Style Files
My thoughts on design, writing and entrepreneurship.
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
The Myth of Scientific MaterialismLast week, I spoke to an English student who mentioned his background in engineering. He explained it by casually saying anyone could study language but that you have to be smart as an engineer. While I don’t disagree that engineering is difficult, his dismissive attitude towards language is one I’ve heard before. What I cannot understand is how someone belittles something he knows so little about. It’s one thing to dislike reading and another to categorically dump on an enormous and varied group of people. Later in the week, I was enjoying the last few pages of “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki. (It’s phenomenal and the subject of a previous entry!) Here's one of the passages that caught my eye: “But she had something she wanted to tell us. I think she’d been waiting. She raised her arms and struggled to sit up. I tried to help her, but her body was just bones in a skin bag, and I was afraid to hurt her.” (p. 361) To someone outside of the story, this passage alone means relatively little. Ozeki’s writing is a work of art in its own right as other literary enthusiasts might tell you. To me, the text mainly reminded of similar wording from somewhere else entirely. My friend and her husband took an extended trip years ago involving a couple months of walking and hiking. As the story goes, her husband bought some shoes for their vacay based on branding rather than comfort for feet that felt like “a bag of bones.” That right there is the missing piece: not bags or bones but a fleeting link. The engineer I spoke to might think of words as a means to an end without appreciating their depth or character. How can a few short letters transport me from a contemporary piece of Japanese (or Japanese/American/Canadian) fiction to an anecdote of everyday disappointment? Language connects us to place, time, emotion and nuance. It may be difficult to qualify the value of overlap and connectivity so numbers don’t tell the full story. Ironically, I think this moment is part of a larger discussion. Medicine and physics are both butting heads with anything outside the realm of strict logic or material science. It wasn’t until recently that doctors began to genuinely recognize the mind-body connection or recognize social factors on a person’s health. Physics operates in much the same way: metaphysical theories are gaining traction as our understanding of consciousness is called into question. Will the engineering dude change his mind? Probably not. Still, these examples of colliding perspectives and potential common ground leave me feeling cautiously inspired.
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For the Love of NigellaAs much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, some areas of my life are utterly predictable. One such source of timeless inspiration is none other than Nigella Lawson. Really though, how could you not? There's so much to her persona we already know and love like her background in journalism and famous English family. (Truth be told, I'm not super interested in her prior fame but it's apparently a big deal to a lot of people!) Of course, she's also a stunning beauty known for her cuisine and allure. Then there's the unfortunate loss and sadness in her life and her ability to bounce back from death, family tension and domestic violence. We can all agree she's all of those things and more to each and every one of us. Be that as is may, Nigella has earned her crowning glory as this month's inspiration based on her credulous approach. Obviously she applies this to cooking first and foremost at least from our curated vantage point. I suspect part of the reason for her sustained adoration comes from her authenticity and likeability. She's nothing short of the real deal. You don't have to watch every episode to realize Nigella is equal parts sloppy and sophisticated without the hint of an apology. There's something to be said for celebrating the ordinary and learning as amateurs. Let's break it down: no one else inspired my entire generation to make real food! So what's that got to do with design? Well, not necessarily anything. Because my brain is nearly as scrambled in eclectic influence as the domestic goddess herself (or so I'd like to think), what that actually means is everything. Food is inherently like design: both are brimming with style, personal preference, color, texture and mood. Love it or hate it, at least make it something. And just because her medium is pasta and mine is interiors doesn't mean I can't revel in her being. At the end of the day, my point is that we need to drop the charade. We live in a world where titles used to mean everything and people put on airs. It's frankly unnecessary. If we could stop for a moment and remember that we're all a little bit basic on even our best days, maybe we'd be a little more pleasant. Perhaps we'd be kind. Recognize we're human. We could focus on enjoying the process rather than striving towards expertise. We could follow the one thing we know and let it drive us rather than getting bogged down in linear cages. Who's got time for that anyway? Let's all just remember to bring some curiosity and originality into the mix. With that in mind, the world according to Martha via Nigella means life on repeat needs a refresh. |
AuthorHi, my name is Martha Oschwald and I'm a content writer focused on design. This page is meant to give you a taste of my writing style and latest musings. Archives
April 2022
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