The Human Connection Project

Exploring how the cultural tissue of storytelling in various mediums brings us together.

Originally conceived as a podcast (which still may manifest!), The Human Connection Project is primarily a newsletter of personal essays on culture, recommended reading/listening, art, and the creative process. Each issue is centered around a writing piece where I thoughtfully consider stories and other media that seem relevant to our present moment, even if they aren’t the buzziest right now. It’s what I usually ended up doing with a lot of the posts and reviews on the blog, but in your inbox. Me to you, practicing my nonfiction writing and slowly emerging from the surreal cave I had been in during the first two-thirds of 2021. I hope it’s a nice break from the usual social media feed.

Newsletter

Instagram

I use the Instagram to share the newsletter, artwork, and historical and personal–a lot is contained in the captions. I also use it to follow other artists, archives, museums, and general inspiration, which has been a breath of fresh air.

a night’s thought in a doodle wearing a beekeeper’s hat found enough material to make a collage that is essentially the inspiration for this project. and yes, phoebe has been influential throughout. and that is indeed a note i wrote to myself up right. i hope the art speaks for itself taking a break from the newsletter this week because i need one. i have also finally caved to the joy of the of #thesims, which i will probably be writing about soon. i went in with the goal of creating characters and playing out a storyline i was brainstorming for a possible book, and of course that didn’t quite go according to plan. what i quickly learned was that taking care of a virtual person requires much of the same needs and prioritizes as a real one, like getting enough sleep and decent food and showering…things that I’ve neglected for myself, too, when pursuing a larger “story” of my life which animal are you?? i had not been to a zoo since i was a kid so seeing the animals with more knowledge as an adult was interesting. i learned about conservation efforts and generally saw a lot of animals i either never saw as a kid or did not appreciate. here are some of my faves wrote about the new #foundation series this week! it struck me as charmingly optimistic to predict such a long future of humanity…even if the society itself is doomed. my order from @creativenonfiction came in!! excited to read and learn more about the form sad sight in a parking lot 🧩 yesterday, my best friend texted me excitedly about the painter rose bonheur, who they had loved studying art but did not know before then was queer. she had an official permit to wear trousers. she twice married women. my friend could see a part of themself, a connection through history, in bonheur and yet this important fact of her identity had not been widely known in the art history world. so much of the personal aspects of historical figures are concealed or thought to be unimportant but that it does is distance us from the humans who were not yet canonized as a single thing today’s newsletter is all about the musical @wecomefromaway (proshot now streaming on @appletvplus), a story that’s all about human connection and kindness to strangers following 9/11, but which also displays the thornier aspects of that history. link in bio!
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Published by Olivia Anne Gennaro

Writer. Storyteller. Reporter. Podcaster. Nerd.

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