The image dominating our feeds this week is that of sunglass-clad Rayyan Arkan Dikha, a 11-year-old Indonesian boy not just balanced nonchalantly at the tip of a racing boat slicing through water, but dancing like his feet were welded to it. The internet was quick to find a phrase for his actions: aura farming. Itâs a TikTok term that, according to The Guardian, means âcultivating the coolest version of yourselfâ. (Few care that the video is likely almost a year old.)
In what other ways do we indulge in aura farming? Maybe itâs the persistent effort we put in warding off FOMO, finding intersections in what everyone is reading, watching, and listening. Have you seen the Emmy nominations yet? What do feel about the snub for Andorâs Diego Luna? So sad! Noah Wyle for The Pitt? Sooo well-deserved.
Sometimes, though, you run into something youâre not dying to share with the world just yet. For me this month itâs been Gary Shteyngartâs 2006 novel Absurdistan, which I chanced upon in an independent bookstore. (Iâm highly aware of the irony of sharing this on a newsletter but Iâm practising letting go.) What culture finds are you quietly sitting on?
As you ponder that, here are some reads from The Nod that will prompt other discoveries.
