DISPATCH 001: On cleaning the glass and why I’m getting off social media.
As I watched a stage full of tech billionaires on Inauguration Day, I started thinking about how our data is used— to track our habits, to “optimize” our experiences and frankly to sell us more of x,y,z while supplying all of these insights to major corporations. Meanwhile, the algorithm is taking note of every swipe, every second, every rabbit hole, doom scroll or casual IG stalking you do and feeding you more and more. Have you ever wondered why everything you see is starting to look the same?
The homogenization of culture and thought has been the most exhausting part of it for me. I’m tired of seeing the same things, hearing the same thoughts. Where are the interesting ideas? Honestly, they’re everywhere but when you hear and see them the same way 7 times in 3.2 seconds, they lose their intrigue. Something revolutionary can become mundane in the blink of an eye when you’re dopamine seeking and brain rotting at the same time.
This is impacting our brain chemistry and our culture has embraced the concept of “brain rot” as a cute past time.
“NETFLIX AND CHILL” : OUT
“BRAIN ROT”: IN
Ew.
But here’s the double edged sword of it— Instagram is how I built my business as an artist and my community. It’s how I’ve met people who have become dear, dear friends and it’s how we’ve been able to keep up with each other in real time. I love that part of it. This is the part that gives me pause when I think about deleting the whole thing.
So I deleted Facebook instead. I straight up googled how to delete it, pressed all the confirm buttons and GOODBYE. I didn’t save a single photo. I didn’t tell people I was going. I just pulled the plug. (Facebook has kind of become a political anxiety and rage pool anyway. And I will only occasionally miss Facebook marketplace, but not really because people have some excessively inflated ideas about what their ripped up Maw Maw’s upholstered recliner should cost).
So what am I going to do about Instagram?
Well, I’m going to keep it for now, using the grid as a portfolio and announcement page and popping in stories occasionally to share something, ask questions, give you a preview of what’s coming in the newsletter, new collections, new adventures and ways for us to connect.
I’m using this opportunity as a new frontier, an invitation to innovate.
In times of turmoil, turn to the artists to be beacons of light in chaos.
I have been spending more of my own time in the company of artists. Just today, over coffee and a walk with Birmingham-based Caleb Clark, we stumbled upon a brilliant conversation inspired by this interview between great opera singers.
“A glass is not a mirror. You do not see yourself in it… You’ve got to keep the glass clean and you’ve got to be able to see out to that purpose that is bigger than you are, and people have got to be able to look in.”
We bare our souls and let people look in. We can’ keep the glass clean all the time, but we’ve got to have practices to keep the glass clean so others/the outside world can see in.
WHAT ARE THE TOOLS AND PRACTICES THAT HELP KEEP YOUR GLASS CLEAN?
I hope you spend time considering this and how it pertains to your life and place in the world. For me, I require a lot of quiet time/solitude. This can be hard to come by as a mother. So I often pull time from other areas of my life to make sure I am “cleaning the glass.” It is a long walk, a long bath. It is my sketchbook practice. It is showing up in my studio and asking what needs to be explored. It is travel, dropping myself in other places and setting my art tools in front of me and making marks, allowing exploration.
“Cleaning the glass” right now also looks like this radical reevaluation of how I use social media. These platforms and apps where we can share and create and connect, they are a version of “the glass.” In cleaning this glass I’ve discovered that the glass itself was never really clear. Rather, there’s been this growing film across the surface. And, now, like crystal that has gone bad, I cannot unsee the marred barrier between us all.
I’m not telling you to get off the Internet. It still has many gifts. I am simply sharing my thoughts and insights as I clean my own glass.
AND NOW….
Here’s all the other stuff you love and can count on from me
WHAT I AM WATCHING…
I just watched seasons 1-2 of The Diplomat in a weekend. It’s aesthetically on point, political intrigue and thrills without giving me anxiety. I watched seasons 1-2 of Killing Eve and it did give me anxiety (but that psychopathic assassin has a gorgeous wardrobe and apartment). I also am really loving a few things on YouTube, which is kind of a new way for me to watch things. I LOVE Rajiv Surendra’s channel. And also Parisian Vibe, parce que je suis toujours une fille francophile.
WHAT I AM READING… The two novels I’ve read so far this year: The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl, which was one of my favorite books I’ve read in the past several years. Just trust me. And SHOCKED, a memoir about the author’s childhood, growing up with a fancy NYC mom and parallels to Elsa Schiaparelli as a framework for understanding style, expression, the passage of time, etc. It was really good. I’m definitely into the Surrealists and Paris between the wars lately.
YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT… You’re probably familiar with the Pomodoro method of keeping time and managing your productivity. My friend Moneeza Khan of Lotus Blu Book art turned me on to this little cube timer and I am LOVING using it. It’s cute and delightful and helps me have a greater grasp of how I’m using my time. (I actually got one for each member of my family.)
DISPATCH FROM THE STUDIO
After discontinuing pet portraits at the end of 2024, I have been reconnecting with my work in the studio, allowing myself to explore new, richer colors and gestures through my ongoing study of flowers and portraits. My son often joins me in the new painting studio and it brings me an insane depth of joy. I will be heading to Paris again soon to create more new work, exploring the city I love. Like I said, it’s time to “clean the glass.” Xo Morgan
This article was originally sent as the Rugged and Fancy DISPATCH newsletter. Like it? Love it? Subscribe to receive the dispatch every Thursday, HERE.