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Hey Reader,

Was in the very swampy gym last night.

Went on safari to find a pair of 5kg weights and a pair of 2.5kg weights.

Round and round the moist, festering weight room I trekked, cursing the fact that they have air con in the cardio room and swamp fumes in here. And also cursing everyone who doesn’t rack the weights where they should be, in size and weight and colour order thus necessitating said swampy safari.

There were weights there, you understand — a pair of 2.5s right in front of me.

Only they weren’t a pair.

THEY DIDN’T MATCH.

Technically, I suppose, they were the “same” but they were different shapes, makes, and colours, and this is unacceptable.

Across the room, though, I spot it: a 2.5kg weight identical to the one I clutch in my sweaty, anxious hand. It’s on the rack on the chest press; not being used, just sitting there waiting to be claimed by a not-at-all neurotic deadlifter on a mission.

Only there are two young gymbros on the machine.

I’M GOING TO HAVE TO TALK TO THEM.

“Um, excuse me,” I say, shifting nervously from hoof to hoof and wondering if they can smell my armpits from there because I can and I’m not happy about it.

They look up. I feel daft.

“Are you using this? Do you mind if I swap it with this one? I know they’re technically the same but they’re not.”

They laugh. I shrink.

“No go ahead, we’re the same, the weights have to match!” they say.

I expand.

“THE WEIGHTS DO HAVE TO MATCH!!!!!” I shriek with delight.

Their eyes widen. I skedaddle away before anything else falls out of my face and as I’m loading up the final weights to make it up to 100kg, I’m grinning like one of those definitely haunted dolls you see in old-timey children’s bedrooms.

Because we connected.

I don’t know those guys. We’re separated by decades, experience, and probably a whole lot of other stuff but none of that mattered in that moment because we looked at each other and understood.

The weights have to match.

These moments are far from insignificant, they’re everything. Absolutely everything.

Life is made up of these moments.

These moments are how we will save ourselves and each other.

These moments show us that we are more alike than we are different.

Everything I do is about making connections: with you, with myself, with my clients, with total strangers who might disagree with my politics and outlook but who are, at their core, also looking for connection.

Everything I do with my clients is helping them make connections with their readers and their communities.

Step offline, away from the fear and hate and propaganda, and into the real world, and make a connection with someone.

“Oh hey I LOVE your shoes!”

“Your nails are bangin’!”

“That cap is cool, where’s it from?”

“Hey you, do you agree that these weights have to match?”

Happy Friday.

Come talk to me if you’d like to learn more about making real connections through the magic of writing.

And now for the Friday Goodie Bag. It’s not too swampy. Dive in…

It’s Juneteenth in the USA! Here’s the deets

Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of legalised slavery in the US, which happened on June 19, 1865. It’s been celebrated for a long time unofficially, but it became a national holiday in 2021. Happy Juneteenth, hang onto hope, and here’s where you can find out more about it!

These incredible sculptural hairstyles from Ivorian artist Laetitia Ky

There was a woman on my flight to Antigua with the most incredible hairstyle. She had big braids that trailed down her back, but they weren’t really “braids”, they were more like strings of pompoms and she looked amazing. She reminded me of this Insta post about Laetitia Ky, who transforms her hair into intricate artworks inspired by various African cultures, histories, and identities. Isn’t this stunning?

If you’re interested in the history, meaning, and culture behind Black hairstyles, I highly recommend Emma Dabiri’s excellent book Don’t Touch My Hair.

This super creative print ad

If I saw this in a newspaper, I’d definitely investigate. It’s “scroll”-stopping, relevant, and just generally really impressive.

These notes on notebooks

Two of my favourite writers collide about one of my favourite subjects, in this Substack about notebooks! Jillian Hess, who writes about notebooks, features Austin Kleon, who is famous for his notebooks (among other things) and this is a really cool read about creativity, making stuff, and being far away from anything billionaire-AI-tech-bro-bullshit-generated.

Ronnie Chieng’s “destroy AI” speech

In the wake of a bunch of tone-deaf talks by tech-simps at universities in the US, comedian Ronnie Chieng delivered a rousing call to arms to reject the AI that’s being pushed onto us from all angles. Not the AI that could genuinely improve the world; the AI that’s literally destroying so much. After his hooky opening, he went into the nuances of why this is a problem. I liked it.

Word of the week

wifty

adj. meaning pleasantly silly or scatterbrained.

Love this word. Not least because it often describes me.

Quote of the week

He ain’t wrong.

It’s gonna be hot out there this weekend, kids. Stay cool. Be kind. Have fun!

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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