distance-as-a-dynamic + air cleanliness
WAIT FOR IT, HAMILTON —
distance, my friends, is quite the dynamic.
it is the reason we break up, the reason we stay, the reason we go, and the excuse for not showing up for someone you love.
so for all that it is and all that it weighs, sometimes i think we, or maybe just i, boil it down too naively. the pains of distance are not to be solved or fixed with frequency of facetimes and texts. in fact, i’m not sure if distance pains should be looked at as pains in the first place at all.
so yes, this is where i say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. but i’d argue it makes it grow smarter, too.
more later, including how a litmus test fits into all of this, but first my words + reads:
my words: for a decade, davida herzl has silently spent years understanding air quality to reduce emissions on a hyper local scale. it was a category she deemed was a “far off application.” then, california was met with three back to back years of historically destructive fires. i wrote about what startups are doing to help wildfire management, an increasingly devastating problem for california (and the rest of the world).
etc: according to one founder, the “SaaS subscription model is new to many local government agencies and requires additional education to help articulate the value of the SaaS model.” i think we need to write more about how, when trying to renovate old industries, the government can be your customer, partner, and competition all in one fell swoop.
learning lesson: as a writer, everything you see becomes a story. it can be a found on a billboard, or while walking through a hidden alley. and as proved by my latest with alex, it can be inspired by everyone rolling their eyes on twitter at the same trend.
unorganized tab time:
new graphic for my weekend newsletter for crunchbase news
influencer industry, say hi to venture capital
anyways
this past weekend i reunited with a few friends from bridgewater and boston here in san francisco. it was fun, filled with carbs, and the meRginG of WorlDS. but beyond all that, it was a good reminder that sometimes we’re even closer to the Good Friends We Never Text Back than our facetime history would tell us.
my friend said to think of long distance friendships, and the once a year reunions that come with them, as one big litmus test. they can be a pulse check to see what has changed for the better or the worse. and no matter what that result is, it’ll be a blessing in disguise. we can realize that the best of our friendships can pick up where they left off and move forward, and the ones that can’t, might be time to retire.
on the opposite side, our friendships that get to rely on proximity, instead of their own two feet, don’t get the luxury of a litmus test. i think that’s why i think proximity can let us be stuck in friendships out of convenience, and support subpar people to exist in our lives for far longer than they should.
for the next month, i’ll be returning home to a few of my homes on the east coast, including boston, philly, and of course, my new jersey. it’ll be a ton of eight month reunions, and i’m welcoming the surprises that come with seeing friends. it’s going to be great and recharge the heck out of me.
and hopefully, i’ll appreciate those blessings in disguise, and the nuance, that distance brings.
see you in a month san francisco,
N
s made me soup that reminds me of my mom’s soup