Lots of Lists #2

Summer weddings, books, movies, and art!

Dear Ones,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a lovely response to Lots of Lists! Receiving your emails and texts about #1 in the last two weeks has made me so happy and excited to continue this.

I’m delighted to report that Selections, one of the biggest inspirations for Lots Of Lists, has been resuscitated! My work here is done! If there’s only one other Substack I could recommend, it would be Selections :)

Things I Wish We Put On Our Wedding Registry

This summer I have four weddings on the calendar, which is the most I’ve ever had in one season. “Ahh, I’m that age.” (I said it before you!) All these summer weddings call to mind my own summer wedding. I remember pausing about half way through my wedding day to notice that my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. It was truly the best day ever.

We planned our wedding in about six months and putting together a registry was definitely towards the bottom of our to-do list. We didn’t make a registry until folks that couldn’t make the wedding started asking us for one. At the time, we only had a link to our Venmo on our wedding website because we felt uncomfortable asking for gifts, but then we didn’t feel comfortable just sending people our Venmo when they wanted to get us a gift, so we quickly put together a registry.

Now that we’ve been married for almost two years, we’ve been asking ourselves and our married friends “what would you put on your wedding registry if you got married tomorrow,” and nearly everyone responds by saying that they wouldn’t re-list the majority of the things they had on their original registry. Since it’s been so top of mind lately, here’s a few things that I wish we put on our wedding registry:

1. New pots and pans, specifically-

   1. This pot

   2. This pan

   3. And a set of stainless steel pots and pans. Our current set is so old and probably toxic af. If we get cancer, you know why (:

2. A new bed. Is it weird to ask for a bed on your registry? I don’t know but my mattress is from six years ago and it just started making my back hurt, which I think means that it’s on its last leg. Let me know if you have any recommendations for firm mattresses that don’t make your back hurt!

3. Mixing bowls. Why didn’t I put mixing bowls on our registry? I’ll never know, but do you know what’s worse- I bake all the time and still don’t own any mixing bowls! At least once a week I curse fiancée Maya for not putting mixing bowls on her wedding registry.

4. A loaf pan

5. All four colors of the Hay Snowden Tins. They’re all sold out now and I didn’t know about these until much after we got married, but I’ll never stop wondering if I knew about these adorable tins the summer we got married if I would have been able to collect them all.

Reading List

This is a safe space-

When I was a kid, I used to bully my mom so much for listening to audio books and now that I’m almost 30, addicted to TikTok and living in a car-centric city, the only way I can finish a book is by listening to it. Is it fair to call this a “reading list” if we both know that the only way I’m getting through any of these bad boys is through the speakers on my car? Who knows. Here’s a few of the books that have caught my attention lately:

1. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff- If you’ve talked to me in the last 10 days you’ll probably know that I’ve actually started this one and I’m finding it really interesting!)

2. Daily Rituals: Women At Work by Mason Currey- Someone recommended this to me in a 1:1 session and I’m really excited to get into this!

3. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney- I'm always looking for ways to globalize my perspective. Living in America is so insidiously insular and isolating! Ew! Plus, Angela Davis writes the forward to this book!

4. The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration by Jack Norton, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs and Judah Schept, Foreword by Ruth Wilson Gilmore- I’m interested how this book compares to a photo book that I have called Carceral Geographies, which is a compilation of "satellite photographs of every detention facility in Illinois.

Happy Father’s Day!

Recently at a bar, this girl that I had known for about 3 minutes found out I’m Persian and then proceeded to ask if I’m still on speaking terms with my Persian parent (spoiler alert: I’m not! lol). This Sunday is Father’s Day and when you have a strained or estranged relationship with your parent, days like Father’s Day can be weird. Here’s some movies that highlight complicated father/child relationships in honor of everyone who has ever had to father themselves!

1. There Will Be Blood

2. Aftersun

3. Paris, Texas

4. The Place Beyond The Pines

5. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

6. Poor Things

7. All About My Mother

Baha’i Artists Pt. 2

I’m currently on a committee to revamp our local Baha’i Bookstore, which is indeed open despite what Yelp has to say. Recently I put out a call for Baha’i artists on my Instagram to see if I could find folks who are currently making things that the bookstore could sell. I was blown away by the amount of people that I had never heard of with absolutely incredible work. When you’re part of a small community it can feel like you know everyone, but this was such a good reminder that the Baha’i community is a lot bigger than I think it is. Here is part two of sharing Baha’i artists:

4. Using pen & ink, Chilean artist Juan Pablo captures the harmony, tranquility and beauty of the Baha'i holy places and transport the viewer back to those sacred spots.

House of Bahá'u'lláh - Ridván Garden

5. Josefina Hernández is a New York based artist born in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds BFA from the University of Toronto. Josefina’s art practice consists of paper cut works that are meticulously hand-cut. Largely inspired by nature’s sinuous and organic forms, Josefina explores the relationship between us and the spaces we inhabit. In her work, she seeks to convey both the spiritual and material realities of human existence juxtaposing architectural elements with the natural world

BREAK OF DAWN, PAPERCUT, 19”X 25.5” 2019

6. “In my experience beauty is a condition where the concrete and the ambiguous occur simultaneously and in harmony.” -Sasha Rogers

Lots of Grants

Welcome to Lots of Grants! This particular round-up is a combination of grants and awards mainly focusing on photography, printmaking, and photo books! Listed in order of deadline, there’s over $150,000 worth of prize money and equipment on the line, along with opportunities for exhibitions, institutional acquisitions, and publishing! If you ever want an extra set of eyes on an grant application or creative project, don’t hesitate to pick my brain.

Enjoy :)