Hello! Here are some notes and questions that I’ve been grappling with after reading the aforementioned portions of How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell.
OK, I’m just gonna get stuck in.
Ideas that struck me
Introduction:
- Being busy in today’s context can take different forms. However, for the purposes of this introduction, Odell is saying talking about occupying our time in a way that results in selling our time and information –> engaging in a cycle of self-involvement –> creating needs in ourselves that we previously didn’t have.
- Doing nothing means… seeing + accepting what is already there (even things that we may perceive as flawed or “useless”) –> manifests in connection with the self, others and the environment –> striving for a “placefullness” (vs place-lessness) = getting curious about the ground on which we stand – who was here, what was here + who/what survived, continues to exist here?
Chapter 1:
- The chapter opens with considering the current state of things (primarily, the internet, social media etc): there’s just a lot of noise and fury. But the question is – is this actually a form of oppression? Silence is the first step to helping us understand that we do have something to say.
“… Stupidity’s never blind or mute. So it’s not a problem of getting people to express themselves but of providing little gaps of solitude and silence in which they might find something to say” – Giles Deleuze, Negotiations.1
- Labyrinths, gardens and small museums – the physical nature of such places means that one cannot rush straight through. Conversely, one cannot be a passive observer and refuse to move at all. Instead, the twists / turns force a participant to enter a state of contemplation (architecture that facilitates doing nothing). Perhaps, this provides a refuge from our everyday anxieties + desire for shortcuts + preference for noise.
- Decline in public spaces that allow for such contemplation related to a decrease in labour movements, who fought for: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight ours for what we will!“2 They fought for the right for a worker to determine themselves what to do for 8 hours – a right to refuse.
- Tools of resistance:
- Repair: Choosing to keep ourselves well and whole through the act of maintenance can be counter-cultural, especially when the expectation is to participate in structures that ultimately lead to the human body falling apart.
- Empathy:
- achieved via Deep Listening as put forth by the artist Pauline Oliver’s, which entails paying attention (listening) to everyday sounds (urban/in nature), words/tunes/sounds from our own consciousness, or any actual music/media consumed.3
- trying to understand the perspectives of others via sensitivity – i.e. staying open to interacting with someone else, being curious, being aware that one might change as a result of such exchanges. It takes intention and time.
Practices/Questions for consideration
- Staying busy: How busy am I feeling? What’s pulling my attention in a day?
- Repair as a Resistance: I know that I often go onto social media when I am feeling especially tired/exhausted. I find myself saying: “I’m tired”, as I tap the Instagram button… Can I recognise the patterns that lead to me getting into such a headspace? Can I start to wind down and initiate rituals that would help me enter a state of rest instead?
- Remembering the body: Nowadays, we often exist primarily in a virtual space. What are some practices that I can integrate into my everyday to help me remain aware of my bodily senses?
- Remembering the country: What are some ways that I can get place-full + explore the bioregionalism of the place that I live in (estate, suburb, country, region)?
- “Multi-farious perspectives”: Taken by the idea of labyrinths, gardens, small museums. Spending time and walking through. I’m going to look for a space to explore in the next week.
- Empathy as a Tool: Working off what I heard at Neal Shusterman’s talk – what are some stories that I can read up on to try to explore new perspectives, new worldviews that are different from mine?
The idea is that I will actually take some time to engage with these questions above… maybe I’ll come back with an update? I’ll probably choose 2-3 prompts to work with over the next week, and might write a follow-up post about it, just to reflect on how it’s going.
Notes on the Process
I’ve been reading, note-taking and reviewing these pages by way of mindmaps, in order to help me process what I’ve been reading.
On the one hand, it’s started to get a bit tedious because I feel a need to go over the material a few times for me to get a grip on the author’s message.
On the other hand, it has been a luxury to acknowledge that I have the time to do this exercise, without fear of critique by others. It has also been refreshing for me to slow down, for once. I often feel that I gorge myself on media.
I do anticipate that I will get somewhat impatient with myself and eventually stop reading this book because of the friction that comes with such copious note-taking? So I might need to consider how to adjust my approach so that it’s less involved…
Notes on referencing
I know this is just a blogpost, but I’m still paranoid about plagiarism, LOL. So anyway, I’m just going to take a more diligent approach but it’s still a bit loose. I’m reading on my Kobo/Phone via Libby so the page numbering is variable/varied. If Odell/Publisher finds this, please do pardon.
–
- Quoted in Chapter 1, Odell. ↩︎
- Roy Rosenzweig, Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 (UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 1 – as quoted in Chapter 1, Odell. ↩︎
- Pauline Oliver’s, Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice (New York: iUniverse, 2005), xxii – as quoted in Chapter 1, Odell. ↩︎
the quarter light 