How to look cool at a dinner party

I’m saying that with a wink wink as I am the epitome of ‘not cool’ at a dinner party – I usually have food stuck somewhere it is not supposed to be – falling down my blouse, caught in my teeth, or stuck in my hair (true story!) And while I’m not the most demure party guest, I turn into quite the conversationalist when discussing the works of creatives I love! And one of those people is Austin Kleon. I am a huge fan. HUGE!

I spent so many hours (sooo many) this past month unsubscribing from emails, newsletters, catalogs, text notifications, and subscriptions because I’m completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of unattended items waiting in my queue. 

One of the few pieces of content that was saved from my slashing was Kleon’s weekly newsletter. Kleon, an Ohio native (I believe we even shared a creative writing professor at one point – Maureen McHugh), is probably best known for his famed Steal Like an Artist book (everyone should go buy it right now, or at the very least check out his Ted Talk). His is a text I revisit again and again and have used as inspiration for some of the activities in my own book (currently shopping to agents). His newsletters are full of movie, book, and music recommendations, and he appears to share my excitement around curating and sharing content that he has found moving.

He pays homage to those who’ve influenced him and is super skilled at the mash-up – mixing content and mediums in inspiring ways. Not only does he effectively encourage us to make, share, repeat, but he also charmingly convinces us that we are all exceptionally capable creative beings. 

High on his hype, and scrolling Insta a few weeks back, I came across one of the countless ads I see for Microlearning programs. While there are mixed reviews on their effectiveness and even criticism regarding how social media has co-opted the term and mutated it into its very own cash cow, I thought it would be fun to make my own little micro-learning grid to share (while spending 15 min a day on random content snippets won’t turn me into a scholar, it might make me into a slightly more interesting dinner party guest – albeit still one with butter in her bangs).

With content ranging from 2-23 minutes and covering topics that span the gamut from medieval fighting snails to the best position to sleep in, I’m sure you’ll find something worthy of mention in between bites of bread  and murmurs of “please pass the pepper.”

I’d love to know what you think!

How far did you go?

What content do you want to learn more about?

What could you have done without?

What learning would you add?

I’m having my 15 yr old read/watch/listen along with me (sure I’m bribing her to play along…but that is beside the point). 

Click here to access the interactive calendar.

P. S. Quite a few of these clickable calendar items came by way of Kleon’s newsletter shout-outs over the years.