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Hey y'all,

Like a lot of us over the last year, I've been trying to figure out what my "new normal" looks like. In the height of the pandemic, I hid, able to protect my family while earning a living behind my computer screen. But over the last six months or so, I've been slowly re-entering the world.

Saturday I went to an "event" for work. There was a band. I put on a suit. There were speakers, and caterers, and 8-top round tables and a lot of very attentive servers making sure my water glass was refilled.

It was both lovely and terrifying, all at the same time.

Because in the Before Times, I didn't go to things like this. I didn't wear suits. In fact, I actively avoided wearing suits, and going to things like this. But it seems like the Hugh in this new, post-apocalyptic world we are building does do these things.

Of course, we humans like arbitrary markers to denote time: Before the war, after 9/11, pre-pandemic, or, my favorite, in the Before Times.

But the world is changing constantly. Every day we wake up in a world we've never been in before, a world where literally anything can happen, where everything is possible, and where we have not yet met everyone we will love. And all of that happens no matter what we do.

A thing I'm thinking about a lot these days is what if - and bear with me here - what if we approached that with intention? What if each day, we decided that today, we are writing a different story? What if this was the day we decided we are not the sort of person who responds to trolls on the internet? Or that we are the type of person who waves at kids when we see them in the store? Or that we are the kind of person who texts or friends randomly, when they cross our minds, and let them know they are loved?

What if we consciously decided that today we build a better world? That today, we write a poem, no matter how bad? That today, we answer that hard email we have been avoiding, or maybe we delete it forever and move on. Maybe today we make a tiny step toward being a better person, or a more healthy person, or a kinder person.

What if today you decided to start over again, and be a new kind of person? You can, you know. It's not fixed. We all change, every day.

But the beautiful thing is that we can do that on purpose.

We can build a better world.

Five Beautiful Things

• Here are the top 20 entries in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography competition. I love macro photography - imagine all of this beauty around us, while we just don't see it.
• On Reddit - a fascinating thread filled with items that happened at the same time in history. Like, Queen Elizabeth and Marylin Monroe were the same age. Or that there was already a thriving European community - with motels and restaurants - in what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico when the pilgrims hit Plymouth rock.
• This lovely trailer for a short documentary about Matt Green, who walked every block in every borough of New York City, and the people he met along the way. More of this, please.
• Then there is this short video, where the audience becomes the choir.
• In the current crap-storm that is Twitter, and the mass exodus thereof, many folks are looking for a new place to land. I'm looking heavily into CounterSocial, mainly because it feels like a much more positive place. (If you end up over there, I'm @hughlh.) BUT what I wanted to show you is their "entropy wall', a tool they use to generate random numbers based on the hex codes on the screen at any given moment. No, I don't really understand it, but damn, is is pretty. You can drag your mouse around to change the colors, too.

Heads Up

I'm still working on the whole re-branding of my newsletter and website, while also starting a new day job, and oh yeah, the time change. Anyway, things are a bit chaotic, but I'm trying to make it all as unnoticeable on your end as possible. If you have any trouble, just holler at me by replying to this email. (You can also reply if you just want to say hi!, or tell me what you're working on).

Thank you!

I've been writing these weekly emails since the spring of 2015. The first email went to, I think, 12 folks. And this morning, it will go to thousands. I've never bought an ad, never really even promoted it. It's pretty much all been organic growth, just someone like you forwarding it to someone they think will like it.

It's all paid for by my members - about 150 people who kick in somewhere between $5 and $25 a month to make sure my creative work (including this newsletter) is free for the world to enjoy. Members don't really get perks - just the knowledge that they helped get more of my stuff out in the world for everyone. I'm grateful to them beyond measure. You can also support my work by buying me a book, or a cup of coffee, or just forwarding this email to a friend.

If someone did forward this to you, you can get your own subscription here.

And most of all, I'm grateful to you, who open the emails, who read and share the emails, who click on the links, and who write me back when something really resonates with you. Y'all are the best.

Take care of yourself. And each other.

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HH

​Hugh Hollowell​

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