Year in Review
Looking back at your favorite posts of 2023
Hello friends,
We did it. We made it through another year. Of course, time is made up and largely irrelevant, but rituals are important. Looking back on the year that was allows us to see how we’ve grown. It can also bring up pleasant memories and remind us of forgotten things. That’s what happened when I searched for your favorite posts of the past year. I remember writing these things, but it was a joy to relive them.
To those of you who read these posts when I originally sent them out, I hope you’ll enjoy rereading them. Maybe you’ll see them in a new light. And to those who are reading them for the first time, welcome. Here are the most popular pieces of 2023.
REGULAR LETTERS:
The Endless Mesmerisation of Crackling Light
The Seven Stages of Lo-Fi Hold Music
THIRTY-ONE:
Weeks Twenty-Two & Twenty-Three
THE SAD POETS SOCIETY:
Until next year,
Yardena
WEEKEND POTPOURRI:
Currently on repeat:
Great news, everyone: Five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs have been discovered in southeast Asia.
In other animal news, the Greater Honeyguide is a wild African bird that leads humans to honey. These entirely undomesticated birds have a fascinating relationship with the humans who live near them.
Everything Huw writes is incredible, but his poem “Fraction” contains a special kind of magic.
Photographer Ben Cooper caught this incredible image of a gator watching a rocket launch. Initially posted on X, Cooper writes, “Bonus photo for the year: an alligator watches a rocket launch. In nearly 20 years of setting up cameras around the pads, I have never captured a gator in an image before. And more than just the eyes, they seem to be watching!”
A poem:
Thanks for reading. This edition of Letters on Being is free, but if you enjoyed it, please consider sharing it with a friend or upgrading to a paid subscription.
Happily I have stumbled across your writing, and I’m thrilled to read along. Happy new year, and here’s to a fabulous 2024!🫶🏻