Welcome to Found Objects, a column where I reveal what’s been lingering in my psychic field for an uncomfortable period of time. There are Some Opinions™️ I’ve been sitting on for a bit below, that I’m (annoyingly) going to put behind the paywall/safezone because I am a coward not really interested in publicly criticizing individuals, but I also feel something strange is happening in the worlds I wander in, and I wonder if maybe you’re noticing it too?

The benign, then the charged!

Failing

I set out to fail one thousand times this year, and although I’m far behind my monthly fail quota I’ve unfortunately found this exercise to be only beneficial to my life. Old timers know that I’ve waxed poetic about failure tolerance for a while, possibly because my natural set point for failure is remarkably low and I find I have to actively push myself to suck at things / make a fool of myself in order to really have any meaningful experience in life. Like, I applied to one PhD program as an exercise in increasing my failure threshold — color me shocked when I actually got in.

The “tried to fail” box in my planner gets checked any time I put myself in the position to be rejected. In the last month that’s led to:

• Applying to an academic conference to talk about archival theory and spectatorship, seeing a panel on Taylor Swift and media theory, applying to the TS panel for kicks, getting accepted to present a paper on autotheory and Taylor Swift at said conference. (Wow am I gonna have a lot of material thanks to her recent MSG “wedding” performance…)

• Reaching out to an acclaimed choreographer I’d like to meet, and getting invited to their studio. Emailing a professor I admired and getting invited to join their lab in the fall. Sending a note to an editor regarding an article I wanted to write and getting invited to pitch to a more prestigious publication instead. (Always send the email, why not!)

• Texting a friend I hadn’t caught up with in a while and getting invited to visit their home the next day <3

• Finishing two pieces of pottery that I’d let linger on my studio shelf for too many months. Glazed and done.

• Met with a major LA museum to discuss supporting my PhD research.

• Trying a to adapt a dress pattern I like into a little off-the-shoulder ditty — see above! It kind of worked!

Alas, I continue to learn that Shooting Your Shot and Having the Audacity (combined with self-discipline, a muscle that’s wasting away in the general public in the age of AI) will often get you further in life than being talented or smart or “good.”

I also notice that when I open myself up to failing, more ideas come to me. It’s like I become the physical embodiment of that “Why don’t you just … call Taylor up?” sound byte — I see someone doing something interesting, and it wouldn’t usually occur to me to just like, email them? But then I do, and all of the sudden I’ve unlocked so many more options for what could happen next.

Spell candles

I do spell work more than I let on publicly. Honestly, if I’m a little bit anxious about something, I’ll do a spell around it. Just to get a little cosmic support. Etheric wind beneath my sails, so to speak. Some spells require creative innovation, but lots can be accomplished with a simple candle spell or a jar-candle combo spell. I’m seven months sober from Amazon, where I’d normally buy little chime candles, but I’ve always felt a bit of a weird vibe from the artificially colored options you can buy in bulk on The Devil’s Website. I picked up a dozen of these natural beeswax skinny legends, and wowwweee am I in love. They burn beautiful and quick, which is what I’m looking for in a small candle spell. Pro tip: Stick them on to any surface with some candle stick paste.

The Moon Papers by Emmalea Russo

Emmalea’s new book, The Moon Papers, is finally here!

It’s pretty phenomenal that my favorite astrologer also happens to be one of the most talented working novelists out there — how lucky are we? I just started The Moon Papers and it’s already got me in a chokehold. I’ve been purposefully arriving early to appointments just to carve out extra time to read, which coming from my almost-always-late ADHD ass is REALLY SOMETHING.

Color theory makeup and makeup products

@geniusgirlalertHear me out on the purple #makeup #makeuphack #makeuptutorial #mua #colortheory

My whole makeup world changed when I got indoctrinated into complexion-correcting color theory makeup in 2020 (ty, TikTok), but have recently been inspired to take my color theory exploration to new heights by this painter-cum-makeup artist. As a cool-toned gal with olive undertones, I’ve finally learned that purple-ish blush is my BFF (olive tones make pinks and mauves throw orange-y on my skin). I love, love, love playing with fun makeup, and this creator has totally inspired me to embrace a surprising daytime eye look that’s wearable but just freaky enough to be magnetizing.

@geniusgirlalertPosting while I wait for love island lol #makeup #makeuphack #makeupartist #mua #makeuplook

@geniusgirlalertGirl who thinks all the time #makeup #makeuptutorial #makeuphack #mua #makeupartist

Decluttering according to feng shui