Max Zidel & Cece Xie

This past April, I attended for the first time the Venice Biennale Arte (this year’s theme: “Foreigners Everywhere”). I fell completely in love with Venice. I found myself in awe that a place like this could exist, a labyrinth of little canals and bridges and terrazzo-lined buildings, each one more beautiful than the next. All of this literally built up over the centuries on virtually uninhabitable marshland in the middle of the sea. You have to squint a bit to see it, as over-tourism has pushed most of the locals out and muted its once vibrant culture. While we were there, we were lucky enough to cross paths with local glass designer, France Thierard, who works with the dwindling cohort of artisan glass blowers on the island of Murano. She invited us to her apartment overlooking a canal, where we had the chance to see her amazing pieces, and I gravitated immediately to the striped vase featured above. Oftentimes when I look at it on the shelf in my living room in Brooklyn, I am brought back to Venice and this magical trip - and the power of craft to hold memories and generate joy.

One of the best things about summer in the Northeast is the arrival of peak growing season. For the past few years I’ve subscribed to neighborhood CSAs (“Community Supported Agriculture”) that deliver local farm produce boxes from June through November. Above is my first CSA box of the season from Hearty Roots Farm (@heartyroots) located in Germantown in the Hudson Valley. You can see that it begins mostly with greens and young root crops like scallions, lettuce and radishes. I love the weekly ritual of walking with my partner and dog (Ralph) to the park to collect our produce. The produce is amazing, and it also gives me a reason to cook and have people over, all of which brings me immense joy.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit that I’ve lived in New York for so long but have never gotten around to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden–but better late than never, right? Since leaving corporate law, I’ve realized how much of my work and outside-of-work lives revolve around frenetic energy and perpetual motion. The Botanic Garden was an excellent reminder to stop and smell the tulips and magnolias! I’d intended to only spend two hours walking around with friends, but those two hours soon stretched into three, four–and then we got ice cream! Two years ago, that expanse of leisure time would have sent me into an anxiety spiral about not being productive enough, but this time around, I simply ate another spoonful of Van Leeuwen’s Peanut Butter Brownie Honeycomb and appreciated the excellent company.

When I played Final Fantasy X in middle school, I got to the big reveal–and immediately started sobbing uncontrollably. The characters felt like real people to me; what happened to them, felt like it happened to me. Because of this the Final Fantasy video game series will forever be a defining aspect of my childhood. Imagine my delight, then, when Square Enix announced that it would be remaking the story-driven Final Fantasy VII. The second installment in this remake trilogy came out earlier this year, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I can tell that the remake was made with a lot of love–sometimes while playing, I simply stand there and pan the camera around to marvel at the landscape and details. I mean… just look at this!