I want Skewed North to be something you look forward to hearing from.
I’m a person who loves signs, synchronicities, and learning the story behind things. So I’ve been thinking about weaving more of that into the writing, the kind of thing that, once you know it, you start seeing everywhere.
There are two directions I keep circling: the secret life of colors, and the secret life of symbols. I can’t decide, because both feel important to me.
Each week would come with the story behind a color or symbol, and one question to carry with you.
So I’m asking you. Here’s a little taste of each.
Behind the Scenes: Colors
Electric Blue
On April 26, 1986, a 24-year-old engineer at Chernobyl heard a thud. Seconds later, he realized radiation was filling the air. He later described what he saw: “I could see a huge beam of projected light flooding up into infinity from the reactor… It was light bluish, and it was very beautiful.”
Electric blue walked into history in the 19th century, showing up in a British drapers’ journal in 1874. Today we see it as the color of the future, the glow of screens in films like Minority Report. Sometimes that future feels unnerving. The image above isn’t unnerving at all. That one singular color holds the serenity of a night sky and the terror of the future
Where in your life are you holding two truths at the same time?
Source: Kassia St Clair, The Secret Lives of Colour. Engineer’s account as quoted in the book.
Behind the Scenes: Symbols
The Compass
For centuries, the compass has been both a practical tool and a symbol of our search for order, direction, and meaning. On old maps, the fleur-de-lis marking north is often said to have started as a T, for Tramontana, the north wind.
A magnetic compass can be thrown off by its surroundings (hi, that’s me). Our inner compass gets thrown off too, pulled between what we know consciously and what we carry underneath. That’s why finding your direction is never one decision. It’s constant course correcting, until the parts of you finally line up. Aka, True North.
Where are you ignoring your own compass?
Source: The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images, ARAS, published by Taschen.
So, which would you rather receive?
And if there’s a color or symbol you’ve always wondered about, tell me in the comments. It might become a Field Note.
The first one lands in October. I can’t wait to start.
— Jolene