Hello there :)
Welcome to issue seventy five of Manufacturing Serendipity, a loosely connected, somewhat rambling collection of the unexpected things I’ve recently encountered.
This newsletter is free to receive, but expensive to make :)
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Speaking of coffee, grab yourself a suitable beverage my loves, let’s do this thing…
Part I: Things I’ve Been Thinking About
A few weeks ago I was asked if I’d be interested in recording another WEM podcast episode; and if so, what I’d like to talk about. I had a half-formed idea, and so, I set about putting together some discussion points for the episode.
Those discussion points quickly morphed into something that looked more like an article, and so, (after a little editing), I published this post on my site last week: Building a Moat (or the Pros and Cons of “Hero” or “Content-Led” Digital PR) - if you work in Digital PR (or a similar field) check it out, and let me know what you think.
I find writing stuff down a great way to figure out what it is I *really* think about a particular topic — words come pretty easily to me, and I infinitely prefer written communication to verbal.
But of course, not everyone feels or operates in this way.
I was talking to a friend last week — she’s in the process of writing a non-fiction book, but she was really struggling to get the stuff that was in her head, written down. She’d tried various things, but nothing seemed to be working for her.
I suggested she stopped trying to write, and started to talk instead. She has outlines for each chapter of her book, and she’s currently recording herself talking through each section. She’s getting those voice recordings transcripted, and is hopeful that editing the transcriptions will be an easier way for her to get those words down.
Maybe she’ll write the whole book like that, maybe this will just get her over this particular hurdle. It doesn’t really matter, right? Whatever works, works.
I’m sharing this here, because it occurs to me that others might find this useful too — if you’re struggling to write, try recording yourself speaking about the topic you’re trying to write about; or record a conversation with a friend or colleague where you’re discussing it.
Get it transcripted, then edit it.
If nothing else, you’ll be starting from a point where there are words on the page (blank pages are the worst, huh?).
If writing isn’t working for you, stop writing and start talking instead — the written word doesn’t have to start out written.
Moar serendipitous finds:
Lamestains Swingin’ on the Flippity-Flop
How Megan Jasper’s entirely bogus “Lexicon of Grunge Slang” came to be published in the New York Times.
A very short history of the F-word
What are the origins of the f-word? No one really knows…
“The oldest unambiguous use of the F-word comes from De Officiis, a treatise on moral conduct by Cicero. No, the Roman philosopher didn’t gift English its soon-to-be favorite obscenity. Rather, in 1528, an anonymous monk scrawled this parenthetical into the margins of a De Officiis manuscript: “O d fuckin’ Abbot.”
It isn’t obvious whether the monk’s remark aimed to belittle the abbot or reference his less-than-celibate hobbies. Either way, it seems brazen to us today that a 16th-century monk would scribble such fresh language in a book like some edgelord middle schooler. And it was brazen, too, but not for the reasons you may think.
That lone “d” served as a stand-in for damned — as in “Oh, damned fuckin’ abbot.” This bit of self-censorship reveals that in the Middle Ages, the unmentionable indecency wasn’t the F-word. It was flippantly evoking matters of religious significance.”
A lovely series of comics from Steinberg Draws Cartoons - this is my favourite:
London’s oldest map, now in colour
“The Copperplate map of the late 1550s is the oldest surviving map of the capital. It shows the streets, the buildings and sometimes the people of that temporally remote city. The detail is delicious. We see long-vanished landmarks, such as Old St Paul’s, the Lud Gate and Cheapside Cross, each egirdled by homes, shops and churches. Buildings are drawn from an elevated position, offering a three-dimensional glimpse of the city (albeit one that is naive of perspective). It is a joy to explore.
The most impressive feature of all, though, is Old St Paul’s Cathedral, which towers over the city to the centre-right. Started in the time of the Conqueror, it grew to become easily the tallest building in London, perhaps 150 metres — almost as tall as the ‘Walkie Talkie’ on the modern skyline. Nothing would beat it until the Post Office Tower (now the BT Tower) in 1964.
At the bottom is the Thames. More than a dozen boats (and two horses) paddle through the choppy waters, intent on their business. Those to the left are probably wherries, carrying lustful men over to the notorious stews (brothels) of Southwark. A few decades later, the trade would pick up, as theatres and bear-baiting rings opened at Bankside. But not yet. We’re at least four decades before the Globe. Shakespeare’s parents had yet to spawn the Bard. That’s how old this map is.
[…]
The key landmarks we see in the map have all vanished today, and are mostly forgotten. Old St Paul’s aside, how many Londoners know about Gray Friars monastery (top centre-right), or Benams Castle (usually written as Baynard’s Castle) on the waterfront? Both are depicted as colossal buildings, edifices that every Londoner would have known about. Both have utterly vanished save for echoes in street names. The Cheapside cross (one of the Eleanor Crosses) would be toppled in 1643; Lud Gate in 1760. White Friars monastery survives only as a little-heeded fragmentary basement ruin, while Black Friars lives on only in name. Thanks to the Great Fire (about 100 years after this map) we cannot point to anything material that persists into our own time. Even the section of Roman/medieval wall shown on this plate is utterly demolished apart from a few fragments hidden beneath modern buildings. Yet the street names and many of the church names linger on.”
A Strange Plastic Rock Has Ominously Invaded 5 Continents
“By now, many of us have seen the disturbing photos of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where the vortex forces of the world’s biggest ocean has created two massive patches of plastic waste and other maritime trash that litters our watery globe. But plastics aren’t happy just remaining in the form of a discarded shopping bag or McDonald’s straw—plastics tend to get everywhere. In fact, plastics are so ubiquitous, they reside in your body right now.
Plastics are now also infecting the Earth’s geology—so much that experts are now calling to formally recognize a new kind of sedimentary rock: plastistone.”
What Would a Car-Optimized Hellscape Look Like in the UK?
This is brilliant work from Kyle Franchesi — using a combination of photoshop and AI image generation he’s imagined what the UK might look like if the motorists won:
“Amidst a political landscape where the ‘war on motorists’ is wielded as a populist tool, this series captures a future where this rhetoric has prevailed. The transformation of UK landmarks like Stonehenge into vast vehicular realms underscores the absurdity and danger of prioritizing short-term political gains over sustainable urban planning. These images mirror the contentious debates in the UK, challenging the narrative that prioritizes car ownership at the expense of public health and environmental sustainability.
As Rishi Sunak, The Prime Minister of the UK stated “I will go further so that we stop the war on motorists once and for all” - For this we can see the outcome of these policies.”
Part II: Books I’m Reading Right Now
The Talk, Darrin Bell — Bell was six years old when he had The Talk: his mother told him he couldn’t have a realistic looking water pistol because if the police see a little white boy with a toy gun, they see pure innocence; but if they see him with a toy gun, they’ll see a menace. A thug. A threat to be dealt with. They may even shoot him. In this graphic novel, Bell examines both intimate and public moments from his childhood through to adulthood, as he figures out how to have The Talk with his own son. Buy a copy for yourself, and for everyone you love.
Part III: Things I’ve Been Watching
Jacqueline Novak: Get on your Knees (Netflix) — you might think that a 90-minute stand-up comedy special about blow jobs isn’t for you, but I’d encourage you to watch this anyway, because it’s brilliant. I’d also recommend reading this profile of Novak in the New Yorker.
Carol & the End of the World (Netflix) — in this animated miniseries, a planet is on course to smash into the earth and obliterate humanity. But this is not a show about whether or not the apocalypse can be averted — it can’t — with the time they have left, most people are out partying and living their best lives. But the question for introverted forty-something Carol Kohl is, what do you do with your time left on earth if you don’t want to join the party?
The Kitchen (Netflix) — set in a near-future, dystopian London, the world building here is glorious. Possibly the setting is more distinctive than the story itself (at times I felt the film lacked pace and was in danger of losing its way), but the actors’ performances are great, and I think this love letter to community, and chosen family is definitely worth watching.
Part IV: What I’ve been up to…
I got to meet up with Kate and Jane in Oxford and had the loveliest time, plus I finally managed to catch up with Laura over Zoom which was ace.
I’ve also had lots of fun work stuff going on (yay), but have utterly failed to stay on top of any life admin stuff (boo).
What’s next?
I am excited about:
Delivering the final workshop for this cohort of my Ideation course (I’ve had the best time with this group)
This free PR workshop
Continuing to prepare for the PR Pitch Writing workshops I’m running with Britt Klontz
Recording a new episode of the WEM Podcast
Shameless self-promotion
There’s still time to bag yourself a ticket for the PR Pitch Writing Workshop series I’m running with Britt Klontz in March! Full course details can be found here & you can book your spot here.
I’ll be speaking at the Digital PR Summit in April this year, and the line-up is incredible. You can buy tickets here.
Planning on heading to BrightonSEO in either April or October this year? If so, you might like to sign up for my in-person Content Creation for Digital PR training course.
That’s all from me for now :)
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it, and if you would like to support me you can buy me a coffee.
Big love,
Hannah x
PS Wanna find out more about me and my work? Head over to Worderist.com
For those who struggle to write but don't have the time or budget to get things transcribed - just use your phone or other devices. I have written the bones of entire articles by dictating into Evernote on my phone using Siri and then copying it into a Google Doc or Substack page and editing it from there.