So Much Paper
You'd never know I speak for the trees
Four Score and Seven Years Ago….
When did we stop using score to keep score of time? First we need to know when we started to keep score. Here’s that info. Short version: every 20 sheep were counted as they passed with a chalk mark or “score” in a piece of wood (we still call scratched wood “scored”) and hashmarks to track game and sport scores also has same etymology, as does the bill (settling the score)—all very exciting, but I wanted to bring it up because right now at the South Street Seaport Museum there is an absolute gem of a show called The Promise of Liberty: Words that Shaped a Nation with a tiny footprint in an utterly overlooked but lovely historic building (raw wood beams, ink-stained walls, exposed bricks) that shows documents from the past.
Not just any documents, an early draft of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which lists an awful lot of States that the proclamation doesn’t apply to; a list of reasons women should vote, a letter written and signed by Alexander Hamilton; a couple of books that purport details of lawsuits in treason cases that were overturned—one of these is authored by “An Englishman” proving that even back then, if you were not already a celebrity, publishing houses didn’t even know your name.
But the crowning jewel, as you can imagine is an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. The paper is thick enough that the light doesn’t bleed through (like it did on Hamilton’s letter). The letters are embossed, so that every word looks as it is has literal weight and depth to press into the thick paper. I spent an amused moment wondering if the signers fought over the pen, or dropped it, or if it could have run out of ink.
The list of grievances against King George were also a bit eye opening.
This week was my birthday (last Tuesday) and I got a huge unexpected surprise in the form of a poem to hang on my wall, and later, between a brilliant mostly-business lunch and a staggering beyond-colleague dinner seasoned with a kid-breakfast and another-kid Kaffeklatch, I received a copy of my book to proofread. My book appeared! In 3D! Touchable! On paper!
I forgot how absolutely beautiful Edita Suchockyte’s art is in real life. Like the ancient documents that transformed our country, her six original etchings based on the six folk tales newly translated in my book thoroughly transform my novel into a higher order literary work. (Preorder link is coming soon.) For now, just wish me luck that I can get through all the emails, strategy plans, and socials posts.
Also if you have used a publicist you really love, please let me know.
Wanted: used publicist. Must be well-loved.
Inspired by the absolutely devastatingly honest new play at Playwrights Horizons, Rheology, in which two people and one cellist convincingly play themselves and make the entire audience either weep or sob (I wept, for the record), I made a ridiculous unboxing video which is only available to people on Instagram (possibly also people on Facebook since my mom saw it)…(if you can’t click through try me on Instagram @femmekafka) —and I was fairly proud of my 500+ views
I felt in fact, quite clever, until my friend’s video of an octopus toy picked up twenty million views overnight. Yes that is correct. This video of a toy gathered twenty MILLION views and now my friend (who deserves it) has more than six thousand followers! Social media, you flighty thing!
While we’re on the subject of the value of paper, I was horrified to hear that 500 old-growth trees are being cut down in BPC to make way for flood abatement protocols. Putting aside my belief that trees probably are better than cement at keeping soil and humans safe from the rest of nature, the mere fact of losing this many trees that shaded my kids - and some of these trees are just about my kids’ ages (though many are older than me) - hurts my heart. Here’s more on that if you can stomach it.
Random Final Thought
Two things about this sign tickled me.
when I read line up vertically I imagined people on top of each other like a skyscraper in the store.
this might be the sweetest “don’t do it” sign I’ve ever seen.
wonderful to see all that handwriting! And to see how many creative things are going on in your life!