On Wild Things, atheism, and crushes on humanity.

In my most recent AIGA webinar, which aired last week, I mentioned how design research is like having a crush on humanity. I’m honored to be in the company of the late, the wonderful Maurice Sendak, who had one, too.

But, you know, there’s something I’m finding out as I’m aging – that I am in love with the world. And I look right now, as we speak together, out my window in my studio and I see my trees, my beautiful, beautiful maples that are hundreds of years old, they’re beautiful. And you see, I can see how beautiful they are. I can take time to see how beautiful they are.

It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music.

And:

GROSS: Do you ever wish that you had faith?

SENDAK: No.

GROSS: Why not?

SENDAK: Because I don’t need it. I don’t believe in that. Faith is – you know who my gods are, who I believe in fervently?

GROSS: Who?

SENDAK: Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson – she’s probably the top. Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These are wonderful gods who have – who’ve gotten me through the narrow straits of life.

I cried when I listened to this compilation of interviews on Fresh Air. Stood in my kitchen and cried like a baby. And I wondered: who are my gods? Frederick Law Olmsted. The Wright Brothers. Georgia O’Keefe. Billie Holiday. Jane Jacobs. Ernest Hemingway. Harvey Milk.

I was compelled to listen to this after reading this post on Orangette. So glad I did.