I. MY HAIR
I’ve always kept my hair short. It always felt cleaner. Sharper. Less hassle.
My hair, when it does grow, is extremely curly. Tight. It doesn’t grow out into the space above my head. Like my brother’s. No, mine wants to return from where it came. I’ve never liked it. I didn’t view it as something to like.
When I’m thinking, I’ll pull a couple of curls out as long as they’ll go. In between my fingers, I’ll rub them together. Trying to feel some connection to what it means.
In middle school, most of my guy friends grew their hair out. They looked like Panic At The Disco. To keep hair out of their face, they would whip their head from a bottom left position in an up-and-to-the-right motion. Maybe out of wanting to fit in, I too started doing this motion.
These past few weeks, I’ve been letting my hair grow out. It’s still stubborn. It’s still tightly curled. But something has changed in our relationship. Maybe it’s walking around BedStuy more and more. Maybe it’s just seeing myself in my hair, more than I ever did as a child.
II. SEINFELD PRODUCT
I had a realization that Instagram Discover is what Seinfeld would be as a product. It is an endless stream of nothing. And it circles around everything that Seinfeld circles around.
Jerry is constantly dating new attractive women every episode, discover is an endless flow of attractive LA influencers.
Sex touches every other episode, one of the appeals of discover is finding a new digital crush and potentially sliding into the DM’s.
Kramer busts into every scene with a jolt of energy and physical comedy, discover has a new meme of someone getting hurt daily.
Seinfeld is the definition of quotable situations that you share with friends, discover is where you find meme content to DM to friends.
I could do this all day… maybe it’s a dumb thought. Whatever.
III. HOLDING GROUND
It is the same behavior you see with people that choose to walk 3 abreast on a narrow sidewalk. For me, as a black man, I start to go through a mental ballet. As of late… I’ve been shoulder checking a lot of people.
Two weeks ago I was at a birthday party at Fig19. My girlfriend and I were waiting behind someone else at the bar. After receiving two drinks, picking up those two drinks, turning around, and walking past us. He decided to nearly forearm my girlfriend in the face, to hand a drink to his friend. Now we have a story. This is the abbreviated version.
Me: *sternly* My guy, we’re not having that here. You’re being extremely unconscious of your space. You nearly forearmed my girlfriend in the face. And you don’t have the decency to apologize.
Him: You’re being a dick. You don’t have to be tough guy in front of your girl.
Me: I’m not being a tough guy. You’re being disrespectful.
Him: *turns to my girlfriend, sarcastically* I’m sorry.
GF: You know what…
Me: *cutting her off* That’s fine. It’s over. I’m just letting you know what you did.
This is something you become extremely aware of when your space gets routinely violated. And when a group of people are not used to being called out on their actions in a public setting, things can elevate very quickly. I didn’t want to fight. But it was clear that he was willing to. I find this interesting. It was also clear that my girlfriend was willing to let ME fight, which I find comical.
It’s not that I want to have this level of carelessness, because carelessness is a lack of self-awareness. But I do wish I could have the choice not to care. Although this is the start of an entirely new essay, the ability to not care about the space one is occupying is a modern luxury that only extends to some.
“To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.” - James Baldwin
IV. FINAL ONE-OFFS
I’ve been really intrigued in the idea of building a VR Church, and what that could look and feel like.
The mimetic nature of people at large, really hurts what gets built and funded that would push us towards the edge of what is truly interesting.
I’ve been listening to, slowly, the Founders Fund Anatomy of Next podcast… and I love the mindset of being a multi-planetary species. What it will take to reach and build those worlds. And how we can think about our own sense humanity.
I think George & Elaine are the funniest in Seinfeld, but I’m definitely “a Jerry”.
I really want to see more private truths in public forums, but I don’t think we are ready for those conversations.
Social founders anchor too deeply on current form factors, and there will be limited outcomes from this. I would rather fund a VR social garden then the next Discord.
Thanks for reading. Share it with a friend. Shoot me some questions. Until next week.