Colin Wright's Blog, page 30

Cabins

Cabins are beautiful. They’re ubiquitous examples of simple architecture: a place for everything, everything in its place, and nothing that doesn’t need to be there. Some walls, a fireplace to keep warm, a bed to sleep in, and some kind of heated surface upon which to cook a basic meal from un-messed-with ingredients.

But as much as cabins have become a visible representation of the ‘simple life,’ not all of us want to live in cabins. Even those of us who crave that kind of simplicity, upon r...

The Right Laboratory

I love experiments. Being able to try new things, see how well they jive with my ambitions, and then adjusting my lifestyle accordingly. Experiments are a key component to my happiness, present and future.

I started Asymmetrical Press with Josh and Ryan from The Minimalists because the three of us wanted to build a laboratory. We wanted to have an optimized means of creating new work, using new technologies, trying out new business models, and distributing in new ways. We wanted to bring new...

Thirty

Today is my 30th birthday. It’s a day that pop culture tells me I should fear and worry over. A day I haven’t really thought about these last six years, focused as I’ve been on wringing every last drop from my 20s. It’s a day that, though no different from any other day, marks a psychological occasion for many people.

I’m happy to find myself more excited than trepidatious: I can’t wait to see what happens next, and what I might be able to accomplish and experience these next ten years. What...

Appropriation

There’s a meme going around in which an attractive person is shown wearing fashionable clothing in public. Typically they’re wearing something a little over the top, or at the very least rugged in a high-end way. The caption of the post or the text displayed over the image reads “Live your life.”

If you trace such messages back to their source, it’s remarkable how they promulgate. This one started out as a reference to a hip-hop song by T.I. and Rihanna, which, if you watch the video, evokes...

Kindness and Reason

This essay originally appeared in my free newsletter.

When we ask someone to be reasonable, what we’re really asking is for them to see things our way. To put on our shoes and walk around a little. Certainly once they’ve seen our point of view they’ll rethink their position on the matter in question.

But reason is not the study of truth, it’s the application of logic, establishment and verification of facts, and justification of our actions and beliefs based on data (experiences, science, con...

Air

Air is common. So common that we don’t think about it most of the time. Maybe if we’re scaling a mountain and the chemical composition of what we’re breathing starts to change, or have just finished a marathon and are struggling to catch a normal breath.

But beyond nonstandard circumstances, air is valueless. It’s the most valuable thing in the world in that it allows us to exist, but it’s also valueless.

Air on Earth is made up of mostly nitrogen, about a fourth as much oxygen, and trace amo...

WordTasting Tour, 2015

I’m a huge fan of road trips.

I love exploring a country overland. There’s so much worth seeing in the space between places, and a road trip is the longer-term embodiment of that type of exploration. It’s a project that allows you to take more wrong turns, enjoy more random opportunities, and encounter more people you wouldn’t have ever met, otherwise.

As such, I’m thrilled to formally announce the first ever Asymmetrical Press WordTasting Tour, which will take place in May and June of this...

Fuel

For me, novelty is fuel.

I stoke my inner-fire by introducing my senses to new things. I do this all day long. “Check out these new flavors,” I tell my taste buds. “Or how about this new texture, that’s pretty nice,” I say to my fingertips, running them over a particularly appealing fabric while murmuring to my eyes, “That’s pretty interesting, right? Those colors? The pattern?”

Most days, particularly when I want to make something — to do creative work — I’ll change my work location every twen...

Rework or Retreat

Many of the emails I receive each day relate to the topic of imperfection.

More specifically, I hear from people who are trying to determine how they might extract themselves from a lifestyle that seemed to creep up on them; a lifestyle rife with responsibilities and issues that weren’t part of the plan. Whether because of work, or a non-functioning relationship, or monetary issues, or a combination of these and other variables, they’ve found themselves stuck in a rut. Fine, but not great. Mak...

Real Life

Upending my life to travel full-time was, without a doubt, one the better decisions I’ve ever made. Despite the sacrifices required, and even during the really tricky or troublesome times, I’ve yet to regret that choice even for a moment.

But something I’ve learned since then is that ‘travel’ itself isn’t what I was after, and isn’t why I enjoy my lifestyle so much.

It isn’t the act of locomotion that thrills me, nor the status of ‘living elsewhere,’ nor the passport full of stamps. It’s the ex...