What did you encounter this year that truly moved you?
Sublime and
What did you encounter this year that truly moved you?
... See moreLast year I found my great grandma’s old diaries, they ranged from the moment she met my great grandpa until they got married, which was 16 years being together without a ring—from 1911 to 1927. As you may imagine, my great grandpa wasn’t the best man, he brought much pain to her and my family, but reading about it made me infinitely grateful for
I believe I read both Watchmen and From Hell at the start of this year (time is hazy these days) and was struck by both. Watchmen is probably one of the best novels I’ve read full-stop and, though I’d heard it was incredible, I was still really astonished by its narrative depth and psychological acuity. From Hell has possibly stuck with me even
... See moreThis is the year I learned that love and loss come together, and that our greatest pains are the path to deeper love. A couple of days before the year ended, my friend Ophelia sent me this episode of Modern Love with Andrew Garfield, in which he reads Learning to Measure Time in Love and Loss. It was bizarrely good timing, like a summary of what had been on my mind, expressed beautifully. — Lola Wajskop, Asylum VC
I'm an avid reader - primarily fiction; give me your high school reading curriculum and I'll devour it. I read because it takes me out of the day-to-day of running a company with 3 small children at home. This past year, I read a book called Trust by Hernan Diaz that lives rent free in my brain. The book is magnificently written as the same story
... See moreAttending Derrick Gee's 'Radio Hour' in Berlin.
Derrick Gee is a music critic, who hosts IRL 'radio hours': a mix between a listening session, live podcast and talk show. There were 100 or so of us sitting in this cozy, large auditorium in complete silence, listening to a playlist of songs curated by Derrick, interspersed with spoken word essays
... See moreThe little kid I'm watching as I write this: crouched under his dad's legs—a man three times his size—trying to lift him up for a piggy back ride; Lonesome Dove; that Lily Allen album; the end of a relationship, the start of another; teenagers jumping from Monhegan’s dock into the wharf to send off the ferry; watching two pigeons kiss on the subway
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In 2025 I encountered this collection of Georgia O’Keefe’s lesser known work, and it was extremely influential as I started my business two months postpartum. There is a shell in the book she drew hundreds of times. Not to perfect it, but to stay close to it and get inside of it. “There is a fascination about trying,” she said. Trying as in: returning, starting over, and being dedicated enough to “keep circling the pencil until it speaks back. - Carly Valancy
Seeing Helen Pashgian at The Getty. It’s raining in Los Angeles and I’m crying at the museum. Uncommon for me, but apparently not so uncommon for this installation. I wandered in by accident, but once I was there, I couldn’t tell you how long I stayed, in awe of what was unfolding in front of me. A great Light and Space artwork, Pashgian’s
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-Reggie James