Ephemeral Ort: March Iss. 4/5 2023
Art and Music from 2023
Dear bạn, (Vietnamese for “friends”)
We periodically will bring you moments from the archives, a small morsel of art and music and other relevant ephemera!
Here are some highlights from behind the paywall:
Featured Music: Casino Versus Japan
“Erik Paul Kowalski is the producer behind Casino Versus Japan. Self taught on the piano, guitar, and drums, he’s channeled his interests into looping, rich electronic-based music for the last 25 years. CVJ’s tracks are understated, melodic, and spacious at times; at others he deploys what we liken to early noise and low-fi-based electronic. We’re after his more ambient and capacious tracks, however, because they connote a deeper feeling, call upon our internal senses of loneliness and isolation. The Track “Durusey” reminds us of the emotional space of getting used to, enjoying, but still feeling guilty about the prospect of so much alone time, particularly when compared to more socially gracious peers. There’s a layered in thrill combined with a tinge of regret, a type of nostalgia for maybe simpler times when the creative spirit, that call to isolation wasn’t so commanding; and like much self-awareness, many impulses from the gut, the higher-brain recognition of and movement by emotions comes in waves (wink to Woolf). Crests and troughs and crests again.…” Click for the full issue (join to read)
We launched poetry at Ephemera in April, 2023 and last year we selected Maureen Alsop as our first poet of the month!
We’ve received great feedback on the poetry and poets and thank everyone for being such keen and detailed readers. Also, thank you for your positive comments!
Weekly Artist: Baron Batch
“…Batch contributes to art with a team spirit and a social outlook, which is a very appreciated and somewhat rare angle to pursue. We dig it.
“Art is love. Art is free thinking.”
—Baron Batch
Batch creates refined art in many ways, but we’re drawn to the pop-aspects, how easy it is to connect and enjoy the work, to find rhythm, to find meaning, to find verve and catch a vibe. Simple patterning and repeated images with changing bright colors and just enough detail; all this delivers for the viewer, enables us to connect with the work, with the artist via his tag: eyeball with lashes. Batch’s elephants remind us of Hunt Slonem’s bunnies—the animal angle and the intriguing stylization with a bit of graffiti attitude…. It’s all working.” Click for the full issue (join to read)
Interesante: Loneliness Reshapes Brains
From: QuantaMagazine.org
— (10 min read)
“(a) large brain-imaging study … revealed that greater loneliness is associated with stronger functional connections in the brain area that handles visual attention. This finding supports previous … studies that lonely people tend to focus excessively on unpleasant social cues, such as being ignored by others.”
Loneliness can become too big a part of the writer’s life, simultaneously the source of their productivity and inspiration while also risking isolation and even depression. We must be aware of our tendencies and the mental health risks we face. Interestingly, the article finds that social anxiety did not correlate with loneliness. Rather, it’s something like negative social awareness. We recommend this sciency read and the addendum below. Knowing thyself is important for overcoming negative emotion. —Read the article.
Addendum: UCLA Loneliness Scale Quiz
Prizes/Awards/Stipends Winter ‘23
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships 0
Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize
Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Bookstore: Guides, Gifts & Classics
Please consider supporting our letter and literature by buying books. It helps us and others! Bookstore via Bookshop.
Navigate being alone well w/ Rebecca Solnit:
Last Week’s Book: Annie Leibovitz’s Portraits:
Merci. Danke. Kiitos. 고마워 Go-ma-wo. Cảm ơn. Xiè xiè.
~~~Tạm biệt~~~
(Farewell)