Attention Inventory: Magic Hats, Mystical Jujube Tea, Course Catalogs

Always be seeking

Attention Inventory is a list of 5 things that are pulling at my focus this month, whether meaningful, frivolous, or—ideally—some mix thereof. It’s meant to inspire your own version, so take this and do what you will.

April’s list comes sponsored by…jet lag. And the particular craving it creates for wanting what’s familiar and expansive at the same time (a reminder to myself that those two aren’t always in conflict).

1. Leonard Cohen’s Magic Cap

In February, Julien’s Auctions held an auction of items from Leonard Cohen’s estate, and I loved spotting this in between the letters and photos: a Greek fisherman’s hat, “what Leonard used to call his “magic cap,” that is, the cap he said he always wore when we wrote his best songs.” Apparently he bought many of these same hats over the years, swapping them out, giving them away.

I like that idea: the kind of magic you choose to turn on, that you decide to opt into.

Dibutades Tracing the Portrait of a Shepherd, Jean-Baptiste Regnault

2. Art as Memory (and Failure to Remember)
Spoiler alert: I happened upon a book at a garage sale that has been inspiring next month’s set of Moon Lists prompts…