Natalie Audelo

Do you know someone who sees the world in a way that reveals new hues to you? Whose sense of self-awareness leads them to move with arresting originality, and invites you to do the same just by nature of being in their aura? It’s that quality I’m increasingly drawn to during these times when it’s all too tempting to see life in dark shades and dull... See more

Let go of self-delusion, which is maybe the hardest thing of all to let go of. Shape the thing you’re making into a pure expression of the thing you’re making: “Cut away, strip away the unnecessary, and strip away what people expect.”

Transitions, down moments, and rest have never been my strengths. I think if I had been more forgiving and attentive to what’s quietest, I might have been less reckless with myself and others when I was young.

But with less separation between art and commerce, Montgomery says, “there’s some self-censorship that happens. If you’re a little too knowledgeable about PR, you start to become way too aware of things like posting schedules, and it’s impossible to be punk anymore.”

“It’s the Italian tradition of dining as a discussion,” the German author Hans von Trotha commented over dessert. At Santa Maddalena, unhurried meals, served with Monti’s century of stories and the camaraderie of table-side banter, break up the workday. The retreat functions like a sleepaway camp for great writers, its ritual group meals and hoursl... See more

There’s nothing more magical than watching someone do things they didn’t know they were capable of.