The Brinternet Newsletter: Spring 2025
Who knew disasters were cultural?
Happy Spring! In London, the wildflowers truly pop off, and it’s something to behold. Before I moved here, the only daffodil I’d ever seen were the anthropomorphic ones from Alice in Wonderland. They’re pretty wild to see IRL.
Speaking of Britain, I’m in the midst of studying for my citizenship test. While I’ve been soaking up the culture here for many years, this is an opportunity for me to learn a lot of the details most British people have the luxury of absorbing in primary school, like who are the individual saints associated with Northern Ireland, England and Wales, and what are the names, perceived shortcomings and causes of deaths for all of of Henry VIII’s wives. But there’s one thing (of many) not mentioned in my test preparation booklet: What’s the British way to prepare for a disaster?
I often listen to the NPR podcast Life Kit, which is a helpful, well-produced guide to, well, everything. You can find episodes about everything from how to write a really good letter to a friend, how to be a better listener, and in one their most recent episode, how to pack a go bag for emergencies.
I’m from Southern California (home to wildfires, earthquakes, etc), and blessed with the kind of spidey senses/epigenetics that mean I like to be prepared. When I lived in America, I kept an emergency kit with first aid supplies, water, extra clothes etc. in the trunk of my car. If things hit the fan, I’d load my dog into the car and we’d hit the road. But now that I live in a country with public transportation, I (thankfully) don’t have a car. And even if I did, I’m not sure even where I’d go. This led me to realize: I don’t know shit about disaster preparedness in my new country.
I asked some of my British friends. In case of an emergency, where do they go? One friend joked, “To the Winchester for a pint until it all blows over.” No one had answers, and nobody appeared to be to too fussed by the issue. Is it really just “keep calm and carry on”?
God, that British charm! That steely reserve! Is it really possible that we simply don’t have large-scale disasters in a smaller country? This is a country that survived The Blitz, but admittedly this is a nation that’s given a short, relatively cute name to a humanitarian disaster.
Sure, we don’t have earthquakes or tornadoes here (knock wood). But that doesn’t make us exempt from emergencies! We know climate events are becoming increasingly extreme worldwide. We just spent several years locked down in a global pandemic. We know an ever-worsening polycrisis is aggravating geopolitical tensions.
Is the idea that we live in a country where the government actually cares for its citizens and that it has an adequate infrastructure to communicate and execute a plan when things go bad? As an American, I am shocked and delighted by this possibility. The water recently went out in my neighborhood and the water company set up stations to give out free water. Can you imagine? My father-in-law has been in the ICU for a week and no one is going to foreclose on his house. What a paradise!!
But I’m not always an idiot. My guess is that probably vulnerable people in Britain (disabled folks, refugees, people with intergenerational trauma, others who experience more everyday antagonism/structural cruelty related to their identities) think about their emergency plans much more often than a lot of the people I heard from. When you live through difficult things, it’s reasonable to think about how you’d live through them again.
In the meantime, I have emergency stores of water, dog and people food, and medicine (although they are not in any kind of portable bag). I’m a trained first-responder for medical emergencies. I try to stay chatty with my neighbors even though it’s painfully awkward and we all hate it. (Look mom, I’m British!) But I need to replace the batteries in my headlamp, and I have to figure out how to get iodine pills and a hand-cranked radio without buying them from Amazon.
If you’re a British person with an emergency plan, I would love to hear from you. In the meantime, be well, and be prepared. (But not too prepared.)
Work Stuff
This is a reminder that I’m a freelance executive producer and advisor for the creative industries. I specialize in immersive experiences and creative technology projects. You can hire me, invite me to speak, recommend my work to a friend, and follow me on LinkedIn. I open a few pay-what-you-can advising sessions each month, too.
I contributed to Ed Rodley’s new book Designing for Playful Engagement in Museums: Immersion, Emotion, Narrative and Gameplay. It comes out this June, alongside brilliant insights from Ed and other wonderful peers in the museum sector like Seb Chan.
I’m in Amsterdam the first weekend in May for the AIxDESIGN Festival. Please say hello.
If you are in the West Midlands of England, you are eligible for a FREE online advising session from me or Marie Foulston on April 11th or 17th. This is a lovely initiative funded by Create Central and the West Midlands Combined Authority. You can sign up for your session here.
Links
I have a Google alert set for “Memphis Group” because I am just so fascinated and energized by this kind of design, and I can’t believe I didn’t appreciate any of it when I was a just foolish child in the 80s and 90s. My orthodontist’s office had so much neon!
This Tamagotchi-style device dies if you stop vaping. This is kind of Dries Depoorter-y, but not as antagonistic IMO.
Finally, a meaningful application of machine learning.
A beautiful Chinese skatepark.
That’s all for now. Let me know how you’re doing. xx.
Chiz chiz Sarah. Everyone knows that there are more tornadoes per capita in the UK than there are in the US.