Ubuntu is an African philosophy about togetherness, about unity. It translates as “I am because we are.” Ubuntu. “A person is a person through other people,” explains Rivers. “I can’t be all I can be unless you are all you can be. I can never be threatened by you because you’re good, because the better you are, the better I am.”

Bong Joon-ho makes history. His movie, Parasite, becomes the first foreign film to win Best Picture—and he wins Best Director. “When I was young and studying cinema,” he says in his acceptance speech, “there was a saying I carved deep into my heart: “‘The most personal is the most creative.’” Martin Scorsese, his idol, said it first. And Bong

“Put yourself into your work,” said copywriter David Abbott. “Use your life to animate your copy. If something moves you,” he said, “it will touch someone else, too.”

The next time you need to efficiently articulate a huge concept—whether it’s about love or business or anything else—zoom in. Zoom in on a specific moment tied to that concept. Focus The Reader’s attention on that one spot. If The Reader can relate, the moment will carry weight. If she can relate, it will tell your story better than you think.

“Yeah, but moments are relatable,” she says, “powerful.” I didn’t know it then, but I do now. Now, I work in copywriting, and moments are everything. Zoom in on the moment, and it will speak for itself.

Direct-response ads compel immediate action. An infomercial, for example, piles on the benefits and then uses urgency and scarcity to create tension, which compels you to act. Creative ads are memorable. A Super Bowl ad, for example, uses humor or novelty or sensationalism to live in your subconscious until you’re presented with a buying

“Look—” said Schwartz: “If you want to write poetry, if you want to write prose, if you want to write novels, and if you want to write literature, go outside of advertising. Because the words in advertising are like the windows in a store. You must be able to look right through them and see the product. If you see the window, it’s dirty—and you’re

Seth Godin said, “Crafting a story that tricks people into making short-term decisions they regret in the long run is the worst kind of marketing sin.” Ads make promises. Promises bring people hope. Don’t mess with a person’s hope.

“What you are doing when you are being creative,” said Schwartz, “is trying to connect two separate ideas that logically would not go together up until that moment.” When you are being creative, you’re making new connections.