about the slow philosophy
have you ever wondered why your mind feels scattered, and your inner world feels washed-out, despite filling it with so much to dwell on? why we read what we read, who tells us to read it, and why we read endlessly yet retain so little — or feel intellectually underfed in a world swollen with words?
as deep literacy erodes even as we stand surrounded by books, headlines, and a ceaseless chorus of opinions, the world is becoming more superficial and less contemplative — and people are losing the habit of indulging in the greatest pleasures.
you shouldn’t read and analyze texts because it’s your civic duty to do so. you should do it because there’s quite like it. the way i propose this is by exploring for ourselves.
exploring newness refines taste. to refine taste is to know ourselves more clearly. by indulging in what no one else is indulging in, we recover our own sensibility and resist imitation. there is no greater joy than discovering what genuinely moves us.
this is why i am drawn to overlooked, underrated, under-discussed, “difficult,” and rare works — from dead poets, authors, artists, and hidden libraries. i spend hours foraging, curating, and highlighting books and films beyond what is most popular or currently fashionable — works not always in the limelight but still enduring.
i write the slow philosophy to share my findings.
what to expect
reading guides
each week, i share a curated reading guide to the best pieces of writing in a week (essays, op-eds, classics from the canon) from the corners of the internet, media, and old libraries that most people miss. i also share reading lists for novels, plays, poetry, essays, literary criticism, and other great books.
monthly postcards
each month, i share an archive of books, films, essays, and other jollities (poetry, songs, unforgettable conversations, favorites, comforts, trinkets, art) centered around aesthetic and susceptible themes that fascinate me.
long-form essays
i write the essays i cannot find elsewhere but want to read — exploring the liminal space between philosophy, literature, psychology, art, and the cultural forces shaping modern inner lives.
topics i’m interested in
• overlooked and under-read books and films
• vintage and modern classics
• reading, media literacy, and intellectual intimacy
• philosophy, meaning, and self-knowledge
• psychology, behavior, and emotional life
• culture, media, and hidden forces
• literature, film, art, and interpretation
• identity, beauty, and aesthetics
• memory, longing, and sense-making
• science, astronomy, space, and life
• chic, slow living and the modern psyche
my process
i choose what i read and watch for myself and take my time with it. i follow interests rather than trends. i question inherited ideas and the cultural forces shaping belief. each week, i spend hours foraging for overlooked books, essays, and films, and write about how we think — and why our minds feel the way they do.
this space is for you if
• you reread paragraphs
• you want to think for yourself
• you feel like an old soul in a noisy century
• you suspect literature understands you better than most people
• you find meaning in rain, dusk light, and distant thunder
• you’re drawn to the aesthetic life — fog, dawn, slow mornings
• you annotate books
• you’re tired in mind but still curious at heart
about me
i studied government and classics in college, which is to say i spent four years learning how people acquire power, squander it, and ultimately, redeem themselves, either through elegant sentences or pure gall. since then, i’ve worked inside elite and rarefied halls of government, global public service, and the film industry — none lacking for angst or theatrics. i have kept a diary since i was young enough to mute everyone around me (middle school). as a self-identified patron of the printed word, i love libraries, secondhand books, slow films, saxophones, fine dining, fog, gothic architecture, camping, and ferryboats. i’m devoted to liberty, justice, romance, loyalty, beauty, and aesthetics like virtues from a dead era. i am always a little heartsore from being away from loved ones. i see life a little cinematically, don’t take matters too seriously unless i determine kantian morality merits it, and otherwise try, as all sensible people should, to live analog, compassionately, and with face-swallowing sunglasses and spritzes of red apple and black currant to mark a chic composure.
i have traveled my whole life — all over the world. i live in one of the biggest metropolises now — with my imperious kitten.
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about dear jane books
in partnership with bookshop.org, dear jane offers curated rare book collections promoting slow reading. proud to support local bookstores.
about tea and town
my photoblog celebrating cuisine, poetry, and travel since 2018.
about the slow philosophers club
an intimate circle that discusses one short book over a month — sessions announced as they arise. limited space. request to join here.
