Hello and welcome to the 43rd issue of Place! This week, in order to prepare for several upcoming commissions and collaborations, we’re revisiting some of our favorite pieces that you might have missed from the last six months. There are some days in which we all need something a little different, whether an escape, a reflection, or a poem. With that in mind, today is a bit of a choose your own adventure: We’ve created a quiz to assess the piece that will speak the most to you at the present moment. And the journeys will keep coming: We’re heading to Montevideo and Bombay, exploring the history of travel and absence perception, and even embarking on our first ever collaboration. So stay tuned!
And don’t forget! For the price of a cup of coffee per month, you can become a part of our brand new membership program, and help us commission work by emerging writers and artists, while continuing to receive thoughtful reflection each week in your inbox. A thousands thank-yous everyone who has already become a member, we see you and we are overwhelmed by your support! It truly, truly means the world to us.
At Place, we believe that the experiences, sensations and conversations we have as we move about the world stay with us, stacking up as the years go by, forming who we are and the way we view the world. Do you have a letter to share? Send it to us at placeletter@protonmail.com. If you are interested in writing for Place you can find our pitch guide here. If you’re the social type, follow us on Twitter (@place_letter) where you can share your favourite pieces and Instagram (@placenewsletter) for a visual feast. Yours, The Place editorial team.
Choose Your Own Place
What is your current mood?
A. Hungry
B. Cozy
C. Adventurous
D. Friendly
E. Contemplative
F. Inquisitive
How would you best spend a Saturday?
A. Perfecting a recipe
B. Home improvement projects
C. A day trip somewhere new
D. Exploring the city with a friend
E. Walking along the beach
F. Learning about something new
What is your love language?
A. Food
B. Plants
C. Thrill
D. Quality time
E. Poetry
F. Questions
Where would you like to take a trip?
A. Italy
B. Israel
C. Iceland
D. Poland
E. Texas
F. Kazakhstan
What food would you prefer for dinner tonight?
A. Artichokes
B. Hummus
C. Lamb stew
D. Khachapuri
E. Crawfish
F. Wine
Mostly ‘A’ : Kings and Queens
You’re headed to Rome, where you’ll learn about the king and queen of Italian cuisine: the artichoke and carbonara.
“Tasting the cuisine of a place, or learning to make it, can bring you closer to it. Cultures are built up around foods. They tell us about a place’s climate, it’s economy, it’s politics, and perhaps even something about the people’s personalities who live there – their desires, their dreams and their pitfalls.”
Mostly ‘B’: Creating a (Temporary) Home
Tel Aviv is your destination. Be sure to pack your paints and canvas.
“My paintings acknowledge the importance of aesthetics in making a house a home, and the need to invest in your living space to feel both physically comfortable and connected to yourself.”
Mostly ‘C’: Ghost Stories
You’ll be hitting the road in Iceland to explore the ghost stories and fairytales waiting in the dark.
“Icelanders respect their myths, going so far as to halt construction of a major highway when it was said it might disrupt an elf church (as well as interrupt the delicate biosphere of a lava field). Ghost stories, after all, are what we tell ourselves to try to control our fear. And on an island with volcanoes at the edge of eruption, cracking glaciers and gale-force winds, the unknown is always a neighbor.”
Mostly ‘D’: The Mermaid of Warsaw
Join us in Warsaw, where you’ll link arms with a new friend who will make an unknown place come alive.
“Tanya was the city. She was its buildings, its pastries, it's quiet parks in winter. She pulsated with myths and stories. Her person remains nebulous in my mind. If I went through a rebirth during my time in Warsaw, if it taught me what grief felt like, what joy could be in the midst of true loss, it was because of Tanya.”
Mostly ‘E’: Don’t Go Swimming in the Gulf
Stick your toes in the sand and let the surf wash over what has come and gone, this time in Galveston.
“There is something about the water, and the kinship in realizing that it has known and lost the same people that I have. A place to go and search out something of someone that I knew, or want to know better because every time the wind shifts, the shore changes and it looks a little different.”
Mostly ‘F’: To Walk and Not Run
Meet us in Hamburg, where we’ll transport to Kazakhstan - or at least how Kazakhstan has shaped the world of one of its citizens far from home.
“It is perhaps a perpetual process to uncover your identity in a new environment while dealing with the recurring ghosts of your old selves. For those of us who are captivated by Europe’s friendly LGBT environment and the freedom to choose who we love, nostalgia is not fully kept at bay. There are moments when the remnants of the places we grew up in come back to us – at times even, the same remnants we tried to run from.”
Looking for more? You can always find another journey in the Place archives.
Place recommends:
Scenes of frozen canals,
Unloved fish,
Secondhand furniture.
Join us next week for a new perspective.