Introducing VIVERE — an arts, culture and mystery magazine designed to be read on the toilet

In Italian, Vivere means simply “to live” or “to be alive.” It seems as if today there are more possibilities for how we choose to live and to be alive than ever before.

While the robots and the gene slicers may get the headlines, what is quietly special about the moment we are in is that our culture — from the mediums for art to morning rituals that get us started in the right way to the spaces and places that help us process the mystery of life— is being re-examined, experimented with, sometimes misinterpreted but ultimately transforming with each non-Danish family that chooses to hygge during the holidays.

For many of us, where we come from is a much more complex and multi-faceted answer than that of previous generations. (I personally am Chinese by heritage, Hawaiian by personality and south Asian in a past life). Time-honored traditions no longer hold their stubborn place and social media can transmit a new way of being alive across the corners of the planet as fast as a photo is posted on Instagram.

What I love about culture is that it feels out of place in a world governed by techno-efficiency and tribal self-interest. What I love about culture is that in some ways it is the only hope in a world governed by techno-efficiency and tribal self-interest.

Culture is the thing that makes driving in Hawai’i pleasant because you can shaka your way out of an abrupt lane change. Culture is the thing that makes Swedes fika and Bangladeshis adda — take a break in the middle of the day to savor a moment with their colleagues with coffee or gosssip with strangers at a roadside chai stand. Culture is the thing that connects us to those who we inherited this place from and to those who will come after us. Culture is the thing that connects us to the things so much larger than our narrow lives. Culture is the thing that coaxes us into being our best selves even if being our slightly worst selves is so much easier.

Vivere is itself an experiment to unearth the best of arts, culture and mystery around the world from timeless to the emerging. We will focus on ways of living that help us live our best lives as Oprah might say but we are increasingly interested in ways of being alive that help us live our best lives together.

This medium for this publication itself was designed for one of our most sacred spaces and perhaps the most common ritual of all — pooping on the toilet. We deeply apologize to the 60% of you who may in fact be squatting as you read this.

So here it is, Vivere by Mister Ching and friends. Please join in the conversation.