Welcome to Durational Study

If you’re wondering how you got here, you were previously subscribed to I Am Organic Material

Over the past few years, saying “I’m getting back to creating this year” has really felt like saving a document as finalFinalReallyFinal.docx. The platform I initially started my newsletter on in 2023 no longer exists, and I stopped updating shortly after my grandfather’s unexpected passing. In late 2023, I had an idea for how I could revive it in 2024, which I picked up again at the start of 2025 but didn’t follow through. In thinking about reviving a newsletter, the question that gave me pause was: “Would a newsletter take away from time working on my actual projects?” When I posed this question to myself, I had both less energy and time, though the latter also included not making the time.

At the start of April, having just started a new job, I made the decision to try writing every day. I didn’t have a word count goal, but I had the expectation that I would make the time to at least get some ideas down. Turns out, making oneself live in the world of a project means generating more ideas for a project—who would’ve thought. I started this re-entry into writing alongside my friend Via with whom I had a creativity pact in May that we’ve continued into June. This low stakes commitment has been a joyful way back into this part of my life.

Thus, Durational Study is a periodic newsletter about creating in time. Yes, the experience of creating in the current timeline, but also about the experience of time in my own work. I set aside a poetry project for a few years because I couldn’t fathom where to take this far future project until recently; it sounds painfully obvious, but I realized that I need to root the timeline in some version of this present, or a less further future. Likewise, I have been thinking about speculative prose as a site to imagine other possibilities beyond what currently exists. Hanafuda, a Japanese card game, is a creative anchor I will return to throughout my life.With twelve suites representing the traditional Japanese months, I am constantly conceiving of ways to represent the game across mediums. 

So, as Durational Study emerges, you can expect reflections on what I’m creating, or the materials I’m engaging with. I hope you’ll join me as I make my way through this work.

Until next time,

Alyssa

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