White text 'Ana Somnia' on white background

Black and white AltSalt logo on a black background

Campfire beside a boulder at night in front of a starry sky

I’ve started and stopped this letter about 10 times now. It’s like, how do you capture a crystallized moment of what you’re thinking and feeling? Then you look back and recognize that the person you were before is just an echo, and you’re slightly changed despite being the same.

Moreso than before, I’m coming to appreciate how everything and everyone is in a constant state of renewal and transformation.

We might take someone’s outward appearance for granted, just beneath the surface though everything is always flowing. It takes listening to one another’s stories to feel just how malleable life is; and there’s so much beauty in that.

In terms of where I am lately, I’ve been trying to do a better job of expressing gratitude. Before meals, for example — and I don’t always remember to do this — I’ll touch my necklace of an Andean cross under my shirt to be thankful for the meal, and to recognize all of the processes required for that food to arrive in front of me. In this way, I’m trying to make more aspects of my life sacred, in a world where so many things are made to feel cheap and disposable.

In your last letter, you wrote about how technology has accelerated the rate of change between generations, and how some Gen Zers look to millennials rather than elders for guidance on navigating life’s challenges. I feel that. We’re all improvising, learning from one another, taking things a step at a time.

This also leads me to think about our institutions and cultural practices. My gut feeling is that many of our institutions are inadequate, on an existential level, to address the challenges of our times, including these generational gaps that you mention. For sure this challenge isn’t unique to our moment — still, it’s wild to think how we’re facing a climate crisis, mental health crisis, pandemic, and more all at once.

In face of all this, I feel like social media and technology is a way of putting a bandaid on something that’s broken and needs tending to. It’s easier to caught up doomscrolling, to get a dopamine rush, than to address how we can create a fundamentally healthier culture overall. Maybe though that does begin on a person to person level, like this, you and me, talking about stuff as we see it, maybe thinking about what could be.

You spoke briefly about how our approach to creating technology contributes to the divide between generations and is fundamental in the issues we face. Of course, someone — in this case, millennials, Gen X, and Boomers — were the ones who created and financed all of these systems. So a big question for me is, what are the cultural values in place that allow such institutions to flourish? If we had a different system of values, would we as a culture gravitate towards different kinds of experiences?

It’s a tall question. Myself, I’m thinking of what it takes to make a shift in culture, even in my own life. I’ve been trying, as mentioned, to think more deeply about my connection to the earth and the processes around me. The small acts of gratitude I’ve been doing are, I think, contributing to a sense of consciousness and connection that has started to make me feel, rather than fragmented and anxious, whole.

It’s still an ongoing process, and I’m not sure where this ends up for me. I do know that, rather than taking a plane to see my family in Florida for a wedding this October, I instead booked a train despite it being more expensive and taking more time. It’s a sacrifice for sure, and it was painful to do it. At the same time, I feel at least that I’m living a truth that goes beyond the individualistic, frenetic emphasis on everything being fast, and cheap, instead thinking more holistically about how my actions impact the planet, trying to cultivate different ways of being within myself.

I’ll leave you with this last thought: I recently got myself a plant. It’s a bromeliad, an offset from one owned by my mom. It’s such a seemingly insignificant thing; for someone so mired in technology and disconnected from nature here in NYC though — always thinking about being more productive, more of this, more of that — it felt like a step towards something. Who knows how these little changes will add up. It’s a journey for sure, and honestly I’m just being led by faith and intuition, a sincere belief that everything will lead to a better future and, in a traditional Andean view of reality, that the mind and body are one.

Anyway, I’ve been so glad to be able to write this to you. Apologies for the delay, and I’m looking forward to reading your next letter (which has already been published for a while now!)

We might take someone’s outward appearance for granted, just beneath the surface though everything is always flowing. It takes listening to one another’s stories to feel just how malleable life is...

(Dear Charles #2) Cultivating Cultural Change

<a href="https://anasomnia.com">Ana Somnia</a> is a meditation on what it’s like to dream. It’s also a piece that uses a single interactive element to draw us into an animated world, a clever decision that is minimalism at its best.

On the title screen, atmospheric sounds introduce us to Ana Somnia’s creepy Tim Burton-esque world. We promptly find ourselves inside a little girl’s bedroom. The girl, sitting up in bed, tells us to turn off the lights and goes to sleep. The piece then waits for our interaction, and we hear a music box playing in the background.



<img src="https://altsalt.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/article/3/anasomnia-2-1024x652.jpg">



It’s here that the clever trick comes out. To “turn off the lights,” you can spoil the fun and cover up your webcam with your hand; or, if willing to play along for a moment, you can turn off the lights in the room you’re physically in (yes, that involves getting up and turning the lights off in real life), to trigger the webcam into opening the rest of the story.

After doing so, Ana’s dream world comes alive, and we progress through a series of animated images, including strange creatures, tentacles, and assorted objects, as well as music and sound effects to match.



<img src="https://altsalt.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/article/3/anasomnia-3-1024x695.jpg">



For me, it’s the subtleties that really make this piece come alive. The world is nicely fleshed out, from the sound design and music down to the seemingly trivial details (in the opening scene, for example, hovering over the teddy bear will cause it to cover its eyes).

Also interesting is how much the webcam adds to the experience. It’s a great example of creating new kinds of artistic meaning with technology. This animation could’ve been a simple video… but isn’t it cooler when there’s interactivity involved?



<img src="https://altsalt.s3.amazonaws.com/catalog/article/3/anasomnia-4-1024x648.jpg">



I always love to see artists doing interesting things with the technology at their disposal. Now this is just an idea, but it’d be great to see, for example, an e-book that uses the same webcam principle to add some extra immersion in telling its story.

Ana Somnia was created by German artist <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kimkoester.com">Kim Köster</a>. You can support him by purchasing Ana Somnia posters and other merchandise <a target="_blank" href="https://rostlaub.com">here</a>.

Ana Somnia is a meditation on what it’s like to dream. It’s also a piece that uses a single interactive element to draw us into an animated world, a clever decision that is minimalism at its best.

Get Lost Dark Ana Somnia

Turn out the lights and explore a dream world in Ana Somnia

I’m happy to announce that Resonating is freshly complete! This is a special kind of comment section that allows everyone to share appreciation with the creators of a publication. You can find it at the bottom of every listing!Resonating is a real-life practice used to cultivate deep listening and connection. On AltSalt, the idea is to use this practice to cultivate a welcoming environment encouraging everyone to connect in a way that centers positive exchange.We offer a few example prompts to use when resonating on publications, for example… - I resonated with you when... - I was right there with you when... - I really felt when... - I really appreciated...Every story we receive is a gift. To reciprocate with the receiving of that gift, we can offer storytellers resonance to let them know that we connected with them, that they were hard. Storytellers can then express their gratitude in return!In keeping with the spirit of Resonating, only original commenters and creators can reply to threads to center the act of listeners hearing a story, then offering resonance back, as this is how the practice is done in real life.This is all a large experiment, and I welcome your feedback!You can read more about the practice of resonating by clicking the “What is Resonating?” link at the bottom of every publication.My deepest gratitude to <a href="https://relationaluprising.org" target="_blank">Relational Uprising</a> for devising this framework, and to the <a href="https://ayni.institute" target="_blank">Ayni Institute</a> for sharing it with me, which I’ve have adapted for this platform.Looking forward to reading your resonance!

This is a special kind of comment section that allows everyone to share appreciation with the creators of a publication.

New feature now available: Resonating

Offering resonance is an intentional practice used to cultivate deep listening and connection.

Typically done in person, participants take turns sharing and listening to one another's stories, practicing both telling stories earnestly and listening deeply (or in our case, reading).

After the speaker has finished, listeners share the specific moments in which they felt emotionally connected to the story, for example saying, "I resonated with you when you said [insert moment]." Storytellers can then in turn express their gratitude by saying, "Thank you for listening."

Every story we receive is a gift. Offering resonance is a way to reciprocate with the receiving of that gift, to let each other know that we've been heard.

We believe that receiving and offering resonance is a human right. Our aim is to cultivate more sharing, more resonance, more connection, both here and beyond.

Example prompts when resonating:
- I resonated with you when...
- I was right there with you when...
- I really felt when...
- I really appreciated...

Resonating is not:
- Telling your own story
- Offering advice
- Reviewing a piece's quality

If you'd like, we'd love for you to try cultivating this reciprocity muscle and offer resonance to storytellers as a way of practicing deep listening. And in turn, we hope you'll consider sharing your story as well!

You can find more information about resonance in this PDF. 

Our deepest gratitude to the Marshall Ganz of Harvard University; Mark Fairfield, Cedar Landsman, and Lucien Demaris via the Relational Center; and Relational Uprising for devising this framework, and to the Ayni Institute  for sharing it with us, which we have adapted.

in this PDF.

Relational Center

Relational Uprising

Ayni Institute

Offering resonance is an intentional practice used to cultivate deep listening and connection; we've adapted it for AltSalt.

What is Resonance?

Everyone

United States

Peru

MacOS

Windows

Multimedia Storytelling

Zine

Game

New Media Literature

Poetry

Adventure

Horror

Visual Art

Essay

Experimental

Letter

Slice of Life

First Person

Children's Lit

Perzine

Indigenous

Quechua

Latinx

Andes

English

Spanish

A few minutes

About a half hour

Apple App Store

Etsy

Itch.io

Cover of the author walking down a city sidewalk

Title page of Riveted in the Word, showing title and author name Warren Lehrer against a clouded sky

Text alongside a black and white image of a woman

Front and back covers of a zine showing illustrated flowers and a colorful collage

A small machine using a flashlight to repel a tentacled monster

A small machine facing a tentacled creature with option to use "vacuum" and "flashlight" as attacks

A small machine next to a mustached scientist speaking technobabble

A woman being followed by a llama down a sidewalk

Words "Birds shuffling like" within a window pane

Words "Don't know how many years" inside a dark circle

Words "All jumble up" in front of a jumble of words

A woman standing in front of a wall of graffiti

First Generation

Andinx

See Sandy is a 14 page storybook zine — follow the protagonist (yours truly) through a sunny day of exploring New York City!

This is a trilingual zine in English, Spanish and Quechua. I made this zine with lots of love for my baby niece because I wanted her to grow up knowing, hearing and seeing Quechua. I also made it as a way to continue practicing Quechua and challenging myself to keep learning.

This is written at the beginner level of Quechua.

See Sandy

Quechualish is a zine I made about learning my ancestral language, Runasimi (better known as Quechua).

I made this zine for people like me, who want to learn Quechua and connect to it because it is their culture and ancestry.

It is a short zine with only 4 pages. This zine centers on my experience as a heritage language learner. I'm not yet fluent in Quechua, so I often code-switch between Quechua/Spanish/English, which I lovingly call "Quechua-lish."

I also included some very basic and introductory lessons and short exercises in Quechua if you are interested in learning.

Quechualish: An Indigenous Language Zine

Mosqhoq is a poem both about dreaming and the longing to wake up. It's also a bit of a love story, for a person and a language. 

It is written at an intermediate Quechua level with English and Spanish translations. Notes are included at the end to explain my translation choices and also give more context for Quechua words that have no exact translation.

Mosqhoq (Dreamer/Soñadora)

A new kind of ebook, Riveted in the Word is inspired by the true story of a woman’s hard-fought battle to regain language after a devastating stroke. Written and designed by Warren Lehrer, this multimedia book app places the reader inside the mind of a retired history professor as she recalls her journey with Broca Aphasia. The custom interface toggles between columns of text that readers navigate at their own pace, and animated sections that evoke gaps between perceptions (thoughts, memories, desires) and the words needed to communicate. This deeply moving story about overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles is told in a dynamic new way, with kinetic typography and an original soundtrack by composer, multi-instrumentalist Andrew Griffin. Programmed by web/electronic literature developer Artemio Morales at AltSalt, this e-edition of Riveted in the Word, is made for iPad, iPhone, and Mac computers (System 12 and above).In the late 1990s, Lehrer conducted a series of interviews as research for interior narratives and short stories about people who have taken great leaps in their lives. One of the people he interviewed was Willie Lee Rose, an author and professor of American History, who 20 years earlier, at the age of 51, suffered a massive stroke. Riveted in the Word is published in her memory. The fictionalized protagonist in Riveted in the Word, Norah Hanson, PhD, wakes to the sound of birds singing outside her window, hopeful for the day ahead. The reader witnesses her delightful sense of humor, determined spirit, and seemingly fragmented-but-intelligible thoughts as they shift from present to past, and toward her upcoming lecture at Cornell University—a milestone breakthrough scheduled for later that day. She meditates on: the daily struggle to find the right words; the grace of her late husband who never gave up hope; the generosity of friends who take her out on jaunts; miracles like VELCRO®, rehabilitation, life-saving doctors and therapists; and her disdain for the doctors who told her she’d never speak again. She sees the very yellow chicken consommé she was eating the night the stroke ruptured the hemispheres of her universe; the red dot between her eyes that still comes and goes throughout the day; a new book she’s envisioning.EarSay is publishing Riveted in the Word simultaneously with Jericho’s Daughter, Lehrer’s anti-war, feminist reimagining of the biblical tale of Rahab, a powerful and physical book, printed in four colors, with images by Sharon Horvath, bound in a dos-à-dos binding. Both publications are based on stories written by Lehrer, create haptic, sensuous, and empathic reading experiences, and use bifurcated structures that reflect lives that have been ripped apart and begun anew.A percentage of the proceeds from Riveted in the Word will go to the American Stroke AssociationYou can find additional information on Riveted in the Word and Warren Lehrer's work on his website: <a href="https://warrenlehrer.com/riveted-in-the-word-2024/" target="_self">https://warrenlehrer.com/riveted-in-the-word-2024/</a>&nbsp;

Riveted in the Word

Inspired by Lovecraft and stories of abandoned ships like the St. Mary Celeste,  you play as GWR 3000, an autonomous Rooombra vacuum cleaner.One night aboard a transatlantic vessel, you and your creator are having a relaxing night when an interdimensional portal opens on the ship, killing the whole crew. Now it's up to you to save the world.<ul><li>Fend off intergalactic creatures with your flashlight.</li><li>Engage in an epic RPG final showdown.</li><li>Ponder humanity's coexistence with robots.</li><li>Do it in less than 10 minutes</li></ul>Made with love during the Isolation Game Jam of 2020 hosted on itch.io

Envisioning an alternative world

Riveted in the Word

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Comments & Resonance