Special Edition Release
I’m releasing a few special editions of the book report on Metalabel, a new platform for publishing creative work. I’ve been collecting — mostly books and zines — on Metalabel since the middle of last year, and I like the collective vibes and emphasis on small editions. As part of the release, I’ll be selling books, of course. But the release also includes some extras: a care package that includes a poster and permission slips. A digital version of the book will be available as Pay What You Want, and there’s also a Give It Forward fund to send free books to people who might appreciate them.
The Book Report
At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, I found myself returning again and again to Jenny Odell's remarkable book, How to Do Nothing. Inspired by Jenny's ideas about the interconnectedness of species and ways to cultivate individual creative attention, I started making a zine as a creative response - a remix of Jenny's ideas through hand-drawn illustrations, collages, watercolors and personal essays about the ways those ideas became more relevant during the pandemic. What started as a "book report" became my own practice of attention, a way of recording what things were like for me during that time. Sharing it more widely is a way of asking what things were (are) like for you. I hope you'll tell me.
Events
What does an exhibition about a book that’s about another book look like anyway?
The idea of the exhibition is to show the process of the project, to give a sense of its organic, chaotic expansion (started as a scrapbook and turned into a group project). It is also intended to give people ways to notice and exercise their own attention. Alongside the exhibition, I’ve been organizing a series of events (bird watching! office hours! silent book club!) to help people practice...together. The whole project has become a way to hang out and collaborate with people, so if you’d like to do something together, get in touch.
Recent and upcoming events:
April 24, 2025: NYC Book Launch at School of Radical Attention, Brooklyn, NY
April 24, 2025: Zine-making Workshop at School of Radical Attention, Brooklyn, NY
Jan 4, 2025: Friends of Attention First Fridays
July 5-Sept 30, 2024: Coyuchi, Point Reyes Station, CA
June 4, 2024: San Francisco Design Week, San Francisco, CA
April 25, 2024: The Ruby, San Francisco, CA
March 14, 2024: Clio's Bookstore, Oakland, CA
Feb 1 - 29, 2024: Point Reyes Library, Point Reyes Station, CA
Dec 2 - 18, 2023: Neon Raspberry Art House, Occidental, CA
