Have you been to Tbilisi? Probably not. But you should. Soon.
Tbilisi, Georgia! Matt Bernstein! Megha Desai!
Hello friends,
Happy Friday! How are you? Reply to this email and let me know. I want to know! And I truly hope you’re feeling hopeful and energized in all that you’re doing.
I returned this week from spending 6 days in the beautiful country of Georgia. Most of y’all are in the United States so I know two things for sure: 1) most of you immediately thought about the state of Georgia and 2) only a few of you knew that Georgia is a country. Correct? Correct.
I spoke at ZEG Tbilisi Storytelling Festival alongside Sean Penn, John Lee Anderson, Maria Ressa, Carole Cadwalladr, Joe Sabia, and dozens of other journalists, authors, film directors, whistleblowers, and photographers from around the world.
“ZEG is the Georgian word for ‘the day after tomorrow,’ and that’s what the festival is all about: finding and telling the stories that matter for the day after tomorrow.”
I gave a talk on the main stage and I led a Q&A with Swedish filmmaker Magnus Gertten about his newest film, Nelly & Nadine. A stunning film! I hope you get the chance to see it soon.
I’ve spent most of my life traveling the world. I’ll be honest with you, this trip changed me. I fell in love with the people of Georgia and their incredible country and will go back many times. Literally 30 minutes, ago I was texting with one of my friends there about planning my next trip for September or October.
Why is Georgia uniquely fascinating? A few facts before we move on:
They don’t really belong anywhere. They sit at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. They belong to both and neither.
Georgia is the birthplace of wine! And their wine is fucking delicious. Believe me, I drank loads of it last week.
The city of Kutaisi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Their language and alphabet are used nowhere else on earth and they’re uniquely different than anything else you’ll experience elsewhere.
They gained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and have been slowly recovering ever since. All these years later, they still suffer from corrupt government and economic instability. And even today, there is still a Russian military base just a few miles outside of Tbilisi. Their goal is simply to intimate Georgians. Georgians, however, aren’t scared of them. At all. They have been through so much and aren’t going back. I saw “Fuck Putin!” and “Fuck War!” banners and stickers everywhere.
I could go on and on about why Georgia is remarkable but I’ll quit while I’m ahead. Now, for last week’s and this week’s podcasts. It was a joy to my new friend Matt Bernstein and my good friend Megha Desai on the podcast recently.
If you don’t already know who Matt Bernstein is, where the hell have you been? Living under a rock somewhere? Matt is a content creator, a makeup artist, and a self-described “queer jew with very long nails.” Matt uses a simple and unique design style to create infographics and other images that are meant to raise awareness around LGTBQ+ issues, antisemitism, bigotry, and so much more. Matt is also incredibly gracious and puts up with a tremendous amount of shit from trolls.
Matt doesn’t like being called an activist (you’ll hear more about this in our chat) but there is no doubt that Matt is an effective builder of community. We have so much to learn from Matt in this conversation and on social media.
NEXT STEPS:
— Follow Matt on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
— Keep an eye out for Matt’s brand new podcast, A Bit Fruity, which will release soon on all podcast platforms.
— Watch the conversation on Youtube, listen to the conversation here, or click on the Spotify link below:
Next up, Megha Desai from The Desai Foundation!
Megha is a corporate advertising powerhouse turned President of The Desai Foundation. After years working at some of the top advertising agencies—BBH, Anomaly, Wieden & Kennedy, and others—Megha decided to join her family's foundation to help them grow and increase their reach in meaningful ways.
The Desai Foundation is an organization that empowers women and children through community programming to elevate health, livelihood and menstrual equity in rural India. They inspire women and children to dream beyond!
NEXT STEPS:
— Follow Megha on Instagram.
— Follow The Desai Foundation on Instagram.
— Learn more about The Desai Foundation on Youtube.
— Watch the Heroes for Humanity Film.
That’s it for this week! I hope these conversations help you. Thank you for reading. I'm truly grateful. Consider forward this email to a friend? Or send them this link so they can sign up. And you can always email me. I’ll be back next week with good news and steps we can take together to make our world a much better place. We have a lot of work to do. Love y'all.
Peace and love,
Nick Laparra