Bisola Alabi, Playwright Interview

Bisola articulated some thoughts as to the nature of her creative process below. She is performing her work-in-progress show at the Bush Theatre about mental health, a mythical water deity known as Mami Wata, dealing with loss and trauma while living in an all women’s hostel. Mami Wata will be at the Bush Theatre on 21st and 22nd March 2019 at 3pm on Eventbrite HERE

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How did you feel about stories of people who looked like you or stories of families like yours - when growing up or now? Were you aware of an absence of stories?

When it comes to stories, growing up I was in an interesting position. Although on typical British television I would hardly see anyone who looked like me, except for the typical one dimensional and negative stereotypes. I did grow up in a household where we constantly watched Nollywood films (Nigeria’s version of Hollywood). We had so many tapes and DVDS of these films. My friends and I were obsessed with them and because of having this in my life I could imagine myself as an actor and writer. We did laugh sometimes at the quality of some of those films, especially when they tried to add special affects but I absolutely adored every single one of those films. Seeing beautiful Nigerian women and men on my home screen fuelled my dreams for myself. However, It never permanently fixed the absence I felt when not seeing myself on screen on British TV as I am British and Nigerian. Also, I could not watch many Nigerian films as many of them were spoken in Yoruba (one of the many languages in Nigeria). My family are of the Yoruba tribe and that is our language. Unfortunately, my mother never taught me her language and I have always felt disconnected for that part of myself. This is something I bring up in Mami Wata because is common for Nigerian parents to teach their children their language, especially if they are brought up outside of Nigeria. I would have family members and friends constantly ask me why I don’t speak Yoruba as if I am responsible for not teaching myself, which has at many times left me feeling resentment and more distant from community.

What would you say to a more dominant culture which may not authentically portray stories about black women, about disability about themes which interest you ?

 I would say to the more dominant culture, which who don’t portray more authentic stories about Black women and all women of colour, disability and mental health is firstly, for them to try to imagine being in our shoes and having all the amazing stories that they have created for themselves dwindled down to something that doesn’t truly give you justice, full range and perspective of their experiences and seeing how that greatly affects them in the wider world. Our understanding of the world mainly comes from the media in all its forms. Imagine having all your stories taken away from you.

As part of my Mami Wata project I am working with an amazing charity called the London Black Women’s Project, which is a charity that work with women of colour who are survivors of domestic abuse, young girls, refugees and women with mental health issues. I have listened and helped facilitate writing workshops with some of their clients, who will be sharing their work as part of the Mami Wata sharing. Their stories are absolutely heartbreaking and they are struggling and surviving from hand to mouth in Britain. Their stories are hardly heard and these brilliant charities are underfunded. Theresa May’s words of creating a hostile environment is the stuff of nightmares for these women because they are living that hostile environment.  Words such as hers create apathy, hatred and ignorance, which makes me want to use the privileges and opportunities to help as much as possible, yet I have so much to learn.

It is important to have full representation not just on screen or stage but also behind the scenes, especially when it comes to the decision-makers aka the gatekeepers. We have lived in a world that has thrived on underrepresentation and misrepresentation in the media that has great consequences. That is why I am a passionate writer and why I’ve written Mami Wata. It is important for me to show people the complexities of being a Black woman in Britain. Women of colour, especially have a higher percentage of mental health issues, many of whom do not seek treatment due to the views and taboos placed on us within our communities. From personal experience, I have found it difficult to have a conversation with my own family about my experience with depression. Brought up in a traditional Nigerian household it is easier for them to blame it on superstition with them prescribing prayer (which can be therapeutic) as the treatment instead of dealing with the medical science of it. If that makes sense.

You’ve switch careers and studied law. How has that influenced your artistic practice? If at all.

I’ve always wanted to work in the arts as a writer and actor but I ended up studying law to please my very traditional Nigerian family and I absolutely hated it.  What was meant to be one of the most amazing experiences in my life (going to University) was a bit miserable because I was studying something that I had zero passion for. During those years was when I realised I had depression. As well as getting medical help, I decided that during every summer break I would take part in as many theatre opportunities as possible. ATC, Ovalhouse and the Young Vic are few of the theatres that gave me those opportunities for escapism and somewhere that I could fully exercise my creativity. Looking back, I’m extremely grateful for those opportunities. I am also grateful for my experience at University because it showed me clearly that if I am going to spend my life working towards something it has to be something that I am passionate for.

Has place, where you were born where you live now, affected you and your work ?

 For sure. In fact I go into great detail about Rotherhthe and Bermondsey in Mami Wata. It definitely shaped how I talk about the world and the people who have left an impression on me growing up good and bad.

What made you want to write and perform?

 I don’t now if I can remember a specific time or place where it really hit me that  I wanted to be a writer/performer. Children are great at creating stories with their dolls and stuffed animals etc. As an only child I remember creating a lot of stories with my dolls and stuffed animals and then that transitioned into me writing in my diaries. I would imagine writing epic and adventurous stories in my head and wish that someone would create them. I finally realised I need to have the courage to start writing these stories.  

What do you find hard to write about?

One of the hardest things I find about writing is when I have an idea and the dread of writing the first sentence this has been the scariest part for me. Then the fear of the first draft, which is what most writers go through. Realising that I am not the only one has lifted that fear a bit.

However, I would say Mami Wata has been the hardest play I have written so far because it is my most personal story I have written so far. Finding the right voice has been difficult and I am still discovering it. It was this process where I really felt the hardcore effects of writers block, it was this story that made we question if I should be a writer, can I write? am I good enough? That little negative voice in my head became louder on this project and because of that I knew I have to keep going and trust the process and my wonderful creative team who have held me up, supported me and believed in this project.

What has brought you the most happiness to write and perform ?

 Mami Wata, when I enter the rehearsal room with my team of wonderful creatives/collaborators I am filled with so much excitement and energy. This was the first project where I received Arts Council funding for and having the opportunity to partner with different theatres and practitioners for this process has been brilliant.

What has influenced your artistic practice?

My experiences growing up in London have influenced my artistic practice, including reading about history, the forgotten stories and people of history. Non-Fictions, like the Miseducation Of The Negro, The Many Headed Hydra, The Black Jacobins, The autobiography of Assata Shakur, The New Jim Crow. Then there are the fictions such as A Thousand Splendid Suns, Americanah, A Brief History of Seven Killings and more. Reading the work of some of my favourite playwrights, like August Wilson and Debbie Tucker Green, who have given me the permission to write in whatever form or style I like. I do not need to subscribe the Europe tradition of the five-act structure. For me I believe if I want to be a great writer and expand my range of story telling then reading must be part of my artistic practice, which is a given for any writer.

Are there any difficult lessons that you have learned ? is there any advice you’d like to give others ?

No matter how much your workload is make sure you have a decent eight hour sleep, that is essential. Sometimes you may feel lonely so get used to your own company. The saying goes once you are at peace with solitude you will never feel lonely. Apply for funding while you still can, learn to produce something, especially if it is your own work it will liberate you.

Tell me about your current and future projects?

Mami Wata my first two hander show. The scratch performances are on at the Bush Theatre on the 21st and 22nd March at 3pm. Tickets must be booked via eventbrite (link below).

I am overjoyed to say that I am an associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre as part of the Project 2036 scholarship, which is a yearlong attachment. I am part of an amazing cohort, which includes an associate Producer and an associate Director and together we are programming our takeover in the Bush Studio from the 10th-22nd June 2019, so watch this space!

What was the last artistic work that made you cry ?

The film Moonlight turned me into an emotional wreak, absolutely stunning.

if money was no object what projects would you do?

I would do international shows and tour various countries in Africa. I would make an epic Afro-Futuristic fantasy television series and movies. I would set up my own theatre and film studio.

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Mami Wata, A work-in-progress sharing of a new play by Bisola Alabi 

Fifi is staying in an all-women hostel not far from the Thames. Estranged from her mother and in shock from the death of a loved one, she receives an unexpected letter from her absentee father. Dare she read it? As if that weren’t enough, the mysterious malevolent water god Mami Wata just won’t leave her alone…

A play exploring womanhood, non-western mythology and mental health issues amongst women of colour. As part of the performance, a few participants from the playwright’s writing workshops with the London Black Women’s Project will share a short excerpt from their work, and there will be a post-show Q&A.

DETAILS: Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd March, 3pm

Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush, W12 8LJ

Access info here | Book tickets here ( £5+booking fee)  | (Door tickets are £7 CASH ONLY)

You can follow her on Twitter @elizaalabi

A beginner's guide to Japan

One of my most memorable trips with my bae was to Japan. Not as physically challenging as my trip to the Indonesian jungle but filled with much otherness all the same. 

I was much moved by meeting one of the last traditional bucket makers of Japan (blog here).

I’ve started reading: A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations by Pico Iyer.

It’s brought back memories. 

It’s carefully observed and skilfully written. 

In the “non-fiction” narrative it even manages to evoke to me Sei Shonagan’s Pillow Book in some fashion

Here’s the beginning:

“I’ve been living in western Japan for more than thirty-two years, and, to my delight, I know far less than when I arrived. A land of streamlined surfaces gives you very much what you expect—and so much you didn’t expect, under the surface, that you don’t know what to do with it. The home of collected inwardness has also shown me daily how much, as Proust observed, “a change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world, and ourselves.” 

I’ve never studied Japan or worked here, and I stay in Nara on a tourist visa to remind myself how out-of-it I remain. I speak the language as a two-year-old girl might, since such Japanese as I know I’ve picked up from my wife, and in Japan even the word for “I” is different for a woman and a man. But I’ve been with my Kyoto-born wife—and our entirely Japanese kids—for more than thirty-two years now, most of them in an anonymous suburb where no other foreigners are to be seen. I seldom speak English in Japan, and in any case Japan has taught me how deeply the truest things lie beyond the reach of any language. 

Much of this book may infuriate anyone who knows Japan; it infuriates me most of the time. Assertions in one section seem to contradict those in another, and what appears to belong in the temple appears in a section on the love-hotel, and vice versa. A lot of what I ascribe to Japan clearly applies to much of East Asia, and some of what I see in Kyoto you’d never find in more rural areas. No matter. These are simply provocations, opening lines designed to quicken you to better comebacks of your own. “The opposite of a great truth,” as they say in the temples of Kyoto, “is also true.” 

I’ve tried to order my salvos so you travel, as most of us do, from the noisy, congested streets to impeccably well-made-up interiors to, at last, that private domain where you can’t even think in terms of “Japan” or “the West.” But if you read out of sequence in this fan-shaped book, now on a jam-packed train, now in a noiseless temple, you’ll be taking in the country as most of us do, bumping from the strange to the familiar and back again. I call this a “beginner’s guide” not only because it’s aimed at beginners, but mostly because it’s written by one. Being in Japan has taught me to say, “I wonder,” more often than “I think.” The first rule for any foreigner in Japan is not to talk of this-or-that; the second is never to take anything too seriously. 

ON THE STREETS THE ENIGMAS OF ARRIVAL 

There are eleven arrows on the sign above you, as you disembark in Kyoto Station. They point left, right, straight ahead and backwards. In the middle is a question mark.

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Platform 0 is close to Platforms 31 and 32, and a large “Restaurant Guide” board informs you that there are one hundred and seven dining options around the station alone. There are also twenty-two hotels in the immediate vicinity, just one of which offers fifteen banquet halls, five hundred and sixteen rooms, a halal menu, a clinic, a photo salon and a church.

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So much is available, almost nothing can be found. You’re in a living Web site of sorts—boxes and links popping up on every side, leading to art gallery and “Happy Terrace,” to six-story post office and thirteen-floor department store—but nobody’s given you the password. 

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There are snatches of English, French, German everywhere, but serving almost as decoration—like colors or sounds—and surrounded by characters in three non-overlapping alphabets. The net effect is of a hundred and one people speaking a thousand and two languages, none of which they understand. 

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There are no addresses, it’s said, in Japan—or, worse, there are collections of numbers, but sometimes they refer to the chronology of construction, sometimes to something else. When my daughter, my wife, and I write down the address of the flat we’ve all shared, each one of us inscribes a completely different street name. 

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Before the West arrived, there were twice as many T-junctions and dead ends in Tokyo as there were thoroughfares. A castle town needs to confound invaders. After World War II, the city was reconstructed along the pathways that had come up around the rubble of bombed buildings, rendering the terrain even more impenetrable. 

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On the train into Kyoto, I point out to my Japanese wife a sweet ad full of teddy bears, one sporting a badge, another next to a bright-red ambulance. “Yes,” she says. “It says that if you see a child who’s been beaten, please call that number. If you do not, the child may die!” “And that picture of the cute fox and bear exchanging whispers?” “A lawyer,” says Hiroko. “If you have some kind of accident, he can help.”

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Amazon link to book here.

My trip to the Indonesian jungle 

I was much moved by meeting one of the last traditional bucket makers of Japan.

Do we need more Joe Rogan?

-I look at why Joe Rogan is appealing

-I touch on the “male crisis”

-I conclude his range of subjects is more positive than you might think

I’ve been vaguely aware of the Joe Rogan phenomenon. A recent Atlantic review article (see end, by Devin Gordon) brought him to my attention more closely.

By some commentators, men and masculinity is in a crisis. It’s intersectional with many factors but it’s notable to me that poor white American men have recently peaked in life expectancy and recent trends are downwards.  (See fascinating White / Case paper link end).

Life expectancy is one rolled up blunt figure that can point to problems and these problems revolves around suicide, drugs and alcohol abuse.  These in turn have causal factors embers in our social capital (or lack of). 

So - where are men turning to for their role models? Some would suggest Donald Trump.

Others might point to another phenomenon in Jordan Peterson.  

But, I’d like to suggest that a significant number are listening to Joe Rogan. 

As Devin Gordon observes Rogan interviews a vast array of people.  These people are thinkers as well as extreme sports and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk or Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. 

Rogan’s Musk interview is famous for the spliff smoking but it may well end up as one of the only public glimpse of a complex extraordinary man when he is not on corporate show. 

I was most touched by the comments left on YouTube. 

If you take a typical Bill Gates post or video on climate change or some worthy impact cause.   Typically in the comments a fair portion are vitriolic and mean. In many types of videos do I see that.  It’s part of the problem that online gives you. 

I randomly turned to this video of Rogan interviewing David Goggins. I glanced the comments and sure there were a bunch of jokes but nothing mean (maybe there’s moderation) but also a fair number of comments were along these lines:

David Goggins gives you his life story about how he turned himself round from an unfit fearful person who caught cockroaches for a living from a difficult family background to an ultra althete and elite solider.  Goggins uses familiar - and admittedly cheesy - tropes - the clip of a Rocky about never giving up; the film platoon - the idea of fail, fail, fail again until you succeed.

In edu-consultant speak the “growth mindset” is talked about.  Goggins gives you his real life experience of it.

Sure, there will be more extreme and alt-right people who follow Rogan. But, there will also be people who are not racist.  (And maybe many of those people will be the poor people referenced above). Goggins indirectly comments on this in his early life and takes an intersectional look at racism and the military. He moved to a town where there were good people but also racist people. 

Who do we want people watching and learning from ? They are not going to watch Oprah. They are not going to watch Bill Gates.  They don’t trust the mainstream like the NYT.

I’m sure they can find hate videos. 

Or, maybe they can learn about some like David Goggins.

Having watch some Rogan - I don’t think I will be watching that much again - though who knows with the range of guests he has - but I end up on the same page as Devin.

I think we might need more Rogans not fewer but don’t make me drink Mushroom coffee. 

Link to Atlantic article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/my-joe-rogan-experience/594802/

link to life expectancy studies

My new old writing desk, a small piece of British industrial design history

My new old writing desk £23 on ebay and a small piece of English design history.

I bought my new old writing desk this week on ebay. As a metaphor for my life, my last writing desk is currently buried under a mountain of keep sakes, special education needs puzzles, games and paraphernalia, miscellaneous bric-a-brac of life, toys we should have given to charity shops but have somehow kept... and is stuck in my "writing" shed that has no more space to write in. The shed itself looks beautiful from the outside. The inside is awkwardly packed with items we stubbornly cling to. That must be another metaphor for something. Unsure quite what.

This desk is cheaper than IKEA. Its re-use is "circular" economy, a more sustainable consumer strategy.

The desk (designed for children) happens to be a more perfect size for a 5 Ft 4 / 163 cm sized person (me), as typical modern "Western" furniture are designed for taller humans.

The desk and associated chair (also included in the £23 but with a broken seat) hark to an era of industrial British design.

Pressed aluminium frame and plywood. Sturdy yet light. Relatively inexpensive but can survive decades.

Putting the chair in its place in British history the V&A suggest it reflects a vision of "design for the many" and should be seen in the wide projects for a democratic post-war prosperity

"...Alongside its great success as mass-produced school furniture, it was also celebrated in the British press as an example of good industrial design (see, for example, Design [January 1949], p. 5). This combination of critically-acclaimed design with public life reflects a particular, mid-20th century vision of British modernity. Part of a broader aim to provide good design for the many, the furniture is deeply embedded in wider projects for a democratic post-war prosperity. As such, it should be seen alongside late 1940s schemes for New Towns, social housing, and the provision (under Clement Atlee’s Labour government) of universal free education and healthcare...."

There's a decent market for re-used furniture. Design classics do well but lesser known pieces or even re-used IKEA saves money and contributes to a more sustainable way of living.

Perhaps it takes a little more time, but should be considered more often as a way of consuming that's a "double bottom line" impact (money and environment).

A detailed design note is below (via V&A)

Historical context note

This desk and associated chair  were part of a group of school furniture designed by James Leonard in 1947/8 for the British company Educational Supply Association (ESA). Other designs in the group included a larger chair for older children and a teacher’s armchair and desk. All of the designs combined a lightweight cast aluminium frame with moulded plywood or solid wood (in the case of the child’s desk) parts. The chairs and school desks are particularly distinctive for their use of a one-piece frame with splayed back leg. The form of this frame has strong resonances with the work of French designer Jean Prouvé – Prouvé had been experimenting with splayed legs in metal seat frames since the mid-1930s, although Leonard’s chair bears closest comparison to his ‘Compas’ tables and chairs, designed from 1950 onwards.

The chair is an early example of the use of moulded plywood in British post-war furniture, and must be seen in relation to the broader and very widespread adoption of plywood in 1940s and 1950s domestic design. Strongly influenced by the work of American designers Charles and Ray Eames, moulded plywood was adopted by furniture designers around the world as one of a raft of ‘new’ post-war materials – seen to have proved its worth during the war through its use in aeroplanes and boats, plywood was widely celebrated as one of the peacetime rewards for wartime technological advances.

Similarly, aluminium was strongly promoted in late 1940s Britain as a modern material for post-war design. This was helped by the fact that (unlike solid wood, which remained restricted until the end of the Utility scheme in 1951) there were no limits on its use: aluminium had been crucial to wartime aircraft manufacture and furniture designers were encouraged to adopt re-smelted aluminium after the war as a means of using up excess stocks. Leonard’s cast aluminium frame relates to other contemporary designs in the V&A’s collection, most significantly Ernest Race’s aluminium-framed BA-3 chair. Race’s chair was shown at the V&A’s ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition (1946) – a clear indication of the resonances that aluminium had with modern design and post-war industrial recovery.

Leonard’s ESA furniture was produced in very large quantities into the late 1960s. Alongside its great success as mass-produced school furniture, it was also celebrated in the British press as an example of good industrial design (see, for example, Design [January 1949], p. 5). This combination of critically-acclaimed design with public life reflects a particular, mid-20th century vision of British modernity. Part of a broader aim to provide good design for the many, the furniture is deeply embedded in wider projects for a democratic post-war prosperity. As such, it should be seen alongside late 1940s schemes for New Towns, social housing, and the provision (under Clement Atlee’s Labour government) of universal free education and healthcare.

Place of Origin

Stevenage (manufactured)

Date

1947 (designed)

Artist/maker

Leonard, James (designer) 
Educational Supply Association (manufacturers)

Materials and Techniques

Moulded plywood, solid plywood and cast aluminium, painted

Marks and inscriptions

ESAVIAN / ESA / MADE IN BRITAIN

Dimensions

Height: 63.5 cm, Width: 51 cm, Depth: 43 cm

Source: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1428065/desk-leonard-james/

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50 playwrights on Their Craft

-An excerpt from a playwright interview book

I’m a little bit suspicious on some “top tips”. I still read them like a bowl of open chocolates I find it hard to resist. The “morning routine” or the “business day” categories are so far away from what a typical person does or can do.  On top of that, what works for one person often doesn’t work for someone else especially if that person is a CEO.

Yet, I make exceptions for writer interviews. While  I still may not be able to practice how other writers practice there’s often thoughtful ideas in the answers they give on why they write what they write. 

This is a set of interviews by Caroline Jester and Caridad Svich on 50 playwrights (half US, half UK more or less) on their Craft.

Fascinating in the variety of craft and thinking from playwrights.

From the first chapter:

“WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM AND HOW DO THEY BEGIN THEIR TRANSFORMATION INTO PLAYS? 

Surely playwrights know what they are going to write about before they put pen to paper, or fingertip to keypad? This chapter investigates where they find their ideas and how they follow them on the journey as they become plays. Each writer was asked whether their ideas come from a sudden conceit or if they are more planned. There really doesn’t appear to be one clear route to follow. 

José Rivera finds it hard to separate inspiration from craft when writing for theater but feels playwrights are always looking for that “riveting metaphor” to help a deepening understanding of our times. He writes plays not to understand himself but rather to understand an idea. It is through the craft of playwriting and the toolkit of conflict, spectacle, language, and story that he carves an idea, or “maps an obsession.” 

Steve Waters can look back on his body of work and notice the aspects of himself that keep popping in. He believes playwrights carry around instincts and experiences that make them alert to particular stories they want to write about. But he has to wait for those instincts and experiences to come into view. Once he senses character or a scene, everything starts to fall away. But once he imagines place, he can write the play. 

Charlene James usually gets an idea from hearing a conversation, watching a documentary, or seeing a headline. It is an impulse, a reaction to something, but the idea needs to sit there and “marinade” before it starts to talk through her characters.

 Quiara Alegría Hudes is interested in the inward battles we face and is open to inspiration from anywhere, waiting for the seed that has been planted to take root. She responds to the work of her predecessors as well as witnessing the changing landscape around her. It might be “feng shui,” but what are the truths that have been hidden underneath? 

Alecky Blythe uses the words of real people to create her plays and seems to follow their lead once an idea has struck. Casting her net as wide as possible before crafting the play ensures an authenticity to the story that doesn’t come from a desire to write about an issue. And her dictaphone gives her a license to go to areas she hasn’t been before. 

Steven Sapp’s ideas come from where he is in his life at that time. But he is part of an ensemble, and how ideas develop always begins in collaboration with others. He started in the poetry and open mic scenes in New York City, where there were no rules, and that organic process did not stop when the ensemble “arrived” in the theater scene. 

Chris Goode is suspicious of an idea that seems to be complete. He will carry it around with him until something largely unconnected finds a space to lodge inside his head as well. When the differing strands entangle, a traction occurs and an idea begins its journey into a play. 

Sylvan Oswald lets ideas stew inside for a long time. And the ingredients that make up the stew are disparate elements that have been chopped, with spices added, sealed in a jar, and buried in a hole. It is ready when it is ready, and thoroughly ingested before giving fuel to the play. 

Naylah Ahmed can have a desire to address something that is unpindownable and it can be with her for many years before the writing begins. But how do you unravel what is unpindownable into a play that others can share? 

Paula Vogel writes to share her concerns about the world we inhabit and her plays are written with a sense that she is trying to understand what disturbs her. And as a dialectical artform, the responsibility of playwriting is to “explore the gray areas and eschew the black and white.” 

As you enter the chapter, be ready to be taken on a journey. But there isn’t one path to follow. Be open to many twists and turns along the way as ideas emerge and the creative processes begin. As with any creative process, it is usually best to acknowledge that it is a trip into the unknown…”

Amazon link here. 

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Check out Stephen Jefferies book on writing plays.

Zadie Smith Q&A here and her writing tips here.

Hear about the chat with legendary agent, Mel Kenyon.

Some notes from listening to the literary manager of the Royal Court, Chris Campbell. (soon to be at Oberon Books)

Be inspired by Artistic Director, Kate Wasserberg’s Dauntless Theatre.

Messy, Borges, Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge

Jorge Luis Borges once told of the ‘Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge’, a fabled Chinese encyclopedia. 

This tome, according to Borges (highly likely Borges invented these himself), organised animals into categories: 

(a) pertenecientes al Emperador,

(b) embalsamados,

(c) amaestrados, 

(d) lechones,

(e) sirenas, 

(f) fabulosos, 

(g) perros sueltos, 

(h) incluidos en esta clasificación, 

(i) que se agitan como locos, 

(j) innumerables, 

(k) dibujados con un pincel finísimo de pelo de camello, 

(l) etcétera, 

(m) que acaban de romper el jarrón, 

(n) que de lejos parecen moscas. 

a) belonging to the Emperor,

b) embalmed,

(c) trained (or tame; Eliot Weinburg translates as tame, but trained is more literal),

(d) suckling pigs (Weinburg) or piglets,

(e) Sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs [EW] (or loose dogs),

(h) included in this classification [present classification, EW],

(i) frenzied [EW]  (or crazed or agitated like crazy), (

j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine brush of camel hair, (

l) et cetera (m) having just broken the vase (EW water pitcher], (

n) that from afar seem like flies [that from a long way off like like flies, EW]

[ offer my own translation alongside the classic one attrib. to Eliot Weinberger, I think]

Borges wrote these in response to John Wilkins (a 17th century philospher) who had proposed a universal language and classification system.

Tim Harford in Messy offers this:

This looks like a joke, but like other Borgesian jokes, it is serious. Most of these apparently absurd categories have practical merit. Sometimes we need to classify things according to who owns them; at other times we must describe their physical attributes, and different physical attributes will matter in different contexts. Sometimes we must be terribly specific–a cat is not a good substitute for a sucking pig if you are preparing a feast, and if we are to punish wrongdoing (whether breaking a pitcher or committing an armed robbery) we must identify the wrongdoer and no one else. But while each category is useful, in combination they are incoherent, and the encyclopedia sounds delectably unusable. Borges shows us why trying to categorise the world is not as straightforward as we like to believe. Our categories can map to practical real-world cases or they can be neat and logical, but rarely both at once.”

It’s a wonderous and insightful riposte to clean tidiness of exact categories.

Maybe he could have said of humans:

1. Belonging to God

2. Dead

3. Law-abiding

4. Babies

5. Seductive

6. Star-Shaped

7. Nomadic

8. Uncategorised

9. Crazy

10. City-Dwellers

11. Captured on digital image

12. Other

13. Having just made something

14. Having just broken something

15. Look like slow moving ants

Olafur Eliasson: Tate Modern exhibition

We popped by the Tate Modern to see the Olafur Eliasson work. I hadn’t fully appreciated how much of a climate activist he was and is.

On a more surface level, there’s a danger that his type of immersive playful work can trip up, but a good test is always a 7 year old. And my 7 year old had a fabulous time, playing in water – holding up rainbows, admiring water falls and hiding in orange fog.

There’s a lengthy wall of all the projects Eliasson is engaged with. It’s a 10000x plus wider impact than Thinking Bigly (my climate performance lecture) but in many ways pointing at the same engagement and challenges.

For those who want to deeper metaphorical thinking, it’s present in the work too. Personal agency (and activism) vs systemic change has cropped in many recent discussions and it is a tension in Thinking Bigly too.

Still for this exhibition it has an immersing playful heart which young and old should enjoy.

Breadth as well as deliberate practice

David Epstein in an essay based on his book suggests that late specialisation is useful and that the narrative of only 10,000 hours deliberate practice is not the only path to happiness and success.

Practice is still needed though. It chimes with being a “fox” over a “hedgehog”.

This is also useful in super-forecasting.

“Over time, as I delved further into studies about learning and specialisation, I came across more and more evidence that it takes time to develop personal and professional range – and that there are benefits to doing so. I discovered research showing that highly credentialed experts can become so narrow-minded that they actually get worse with experience, even while becoming more confident (a dangerous combination). And I was stunned when cognitive psychologists I spoke with led me to an enormous and too-often ignored body of work demonstrating that learning itself is best done slowly to accumulate lasting knowledge, even when that means performing poorly on tests of immediate progress. That is, the most effective learning looks inefficient – it looks like falling behind.”

Link to Guardian article here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/12/generalise-dont-specialise-why-focusing-too-narrowly-is-bad-for-us

Ideas that don't make sense, Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland  (advertising exec, Oligivy) on his book exploring similar themes on why human stuff works. For instance, we brush our teeth to feel/look good, not to fight teeth holes. We buy more stuff some times when prices go up. That we are really not “rational” most of the time.

His rules...RORY’S RULES OF ALCHEMY: 

The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea. Don’t design for average.

 It doesn’t pay to be logical if everyone else is being logical. 

The nature of our attention affects the nature of our experience. A flower is simply a weed with an advertising budget. 

The problem with logic is that it kills off magic. 

A good guess which stands up to observation is still science. So is a lucky accident. 

Test counterintuitive things only because no one else will. 

Solving problems using rationality is like playing golf with only one club. 

Dare to be trivial. 

If there were a logical answer, we would have found it.

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Chimes with the study showing in the real world, people hand back wallets with money over those with no money… https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2019/6/29/civic-honesty-wallets-with-money-more-likely-to-handed-back

I wonder what the Founder of Oligvy would have thoughts: https://www.thendobetter.com/investing/2017/7/29/oglivy-principles-of-management

The book along with Messy by Tim Hartford well worth a read.

Thanking donors, no impact on donation

Study on if thanking donors has any impact on donating.  Answer = No (which is unexpected).  

Abstract

Calling to thank donors is a key fundraising strategy in the non-profit sector. Yet the effectiveness of these calls remains untested. We report on field experiments with public television stations and a national non-profit in which new donors were randomized to receive a thank-you call or not. The experiments involved about 600,000 donors and 500,000 thank-you calls over 6 years. We found a precisely estimated null effect of calls on subsequent giving. This result is in stark contrast to the incentivized forecasts of fundraising professionals and the general public, who anticipated that calls would increase donor retention by about 80%.

Samek, Anya and Longfield, Chuck, Do Thank-You Calls Increase Charitable Giving? Expert Forecasts and Field Experimental Evidence (April 13, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3371327