The Bridge #91
in which we continue going because life is in the living not the quitting
Hello
& Welcome ! The Bridge is a newsletter connecting the professional and the personal creatively across cultures and a diversity of topics, until we are not only full of ideas but also ready to take action. Thanks for joining in the conversation.
A Thing to Get Us Thinking
It’s my nature to search for words to say things I haven’t ever yet said. That’s why I love poetry and other creative forms of expression (like books, TV, music, podcasts, and art).
Lately I have been putting myself out there more (on LinkedIn specifically), and it is challenging. It opens me up to feelings like - “Is anybody listening? Will they truly understand?”
When feeling low energy like that, I remind myself : Maybe it’s a lot for others to take in. Maybe they’re still processing. Maybe they’re grateful without saying.
I encourage you to believe: Your story, your message — it’s worth telling. Speak, if you have words to say, and (even if it’s not mainstream) people will come to understand you (even if it’s not right away).
Something to Spark Conversation
The Old Oak (film directed by Ken Loach)
saw this film The Old Oak advertised locally in Montreuil (where I live), and I was like — oh! that’s in English. turns out I needed to set up a VPN to watch the film via Netflix UK. no doubt you’ll have your methods, if you really want to see it.
Syrian refugees are settled in a small UK mining town. The town residents are caught off guard, even a bit upset (this is British under-statement — because in fact, they’re furious) to see various unoccupied buildings being filled with impoverished foreigners. It touches on a number of pain points…
The local mines had been closed by the British government ~40 years before, and that had stolen away the spirit of the town, caused the local economy to implode. Many local families felt forgotten, felt unheard, and they were suffering themselves financially. In a way they were jealous of the charity being shown the Syrians. & of course there are the language and cultural barriers.
It’s a story we don’t often hear told, and it’s thanks to Ken Loach, the director (one of a handful of film directors worldwide to win the Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or twice), who is now 87 years old. It’s a story with tension, much at stake for the people in the film (many of whom are first-time actors, in a based-on-reality story). It’s not news of the rich and famous, but it is a story that helps us shift attention to what mainstream news often ignores.
Something to Enjoy
The song “Right Back to It” has been trending a little in the circles I run in (the radio at a vegan cafe, listed in a female angel investor’s newsletter, playing on repeat at my “office” [working from home]), and I like that it’s about LOVE but not in the usual way.
The music video filmed on a bayou bordering Louisiana and Texas, the artist’s name Waxahatchee signifying a creek near where she grew up in Alabama, it feels very place-based, rooted in a way that’s difficult to come by nowadays.
The singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield has said, “I wanted to make a song about the ebb and flow of a longtime love story. I thought it might feel untraditional but a little more in alignment with my experience to write about feeling insecure or foiled in some way internally, but always finding your way back to a newness or an intimacy with the same person.”
Your love written on a blank check
Wear it around your neck
I was at a loss
But you come to me on a fault line
Deep inside a goldmine
Hovering like a moth
I lose a bit of myself
Laying out eggshells
I've been yours for so long
We come right back to it
I let my mind run wild
I don't know why I do it
But you just settle in
Like a song with no end
If I can keep up
We'll get right back to it
Something to Practice
Have you been hiding yourself a little? Could you be sharing more of you with others?
Be sure to listen close: Sometimes our balance is found when giving space more to others, sometimes it’s found when giving ourselves the space.
Thanks for reading,
JPC ❤️