The Ensō of Invisibility
Your Thursday Dose of Birds and The Love of Baseball
This was intended to be a mini Ensōnomics. At most, maybe a couple of hundred words asking what’s so great about optimization and a few bullet points on biohacking that signaled a format change going forward.
It didn’t turn out that way.
Resistance doesn’t begin to capture it. Call it inertia, change aversion or status quo bias. In the end, it’s all the same. Change can be difficult.
So for now at least, the dopamine high of information overload and the shared experience of story remains.
I’ll start next week. I swear. Maybe.
In the meantime, welcome to the Thursday edition of Ensōnomics.
What Is Essential Is Invisible To The Eye
Catalan photographer Xavi Bou has carved out a singular niche in the world of contemporary photography by capturing what is otherwise invisible to the human eye: the intricate, fleeting trajectories of birds in motion.
Yellow-legged gulls and white storks in flight.
His work blends scientific curiosity, aesthetic elegance, and a reverence for the natural world. Bou’s photographs do not merely depict birds as static images - they reveal the invisible choreography of flight itself, turning ephemeral movements into enduring visual records that resemble calligraphy, music scores, or mathematical diagrams rendered in air.
Unlike conventional wildlife photographers who freeze a moment in time, Bou’s method is based on accumulation. He uses high-definition video and compositing techniques to stack hundreds or thousands of individual frames into a single image. The result is a ghostly, graceful trace of each bird's path - a flow state of long exposure that recalls Eadweard Muybridge’s locomotion studies but with an ethereal, almost spiritual quality.
A Murmuration of Starlings
Bou’s photographs remind us that the world is full of complex systems and behaviors beyond our normal perception - and that technology, when used poetically, can help us reconnect with them.
White stork, Emporda wetlands, Catalonia
In a broader cultural sense, Xavi Bou's work repositions photography as a time based art form, not merely a medium for freezing moments but one that can stretch, bend, and reveal time itself. By making motion visible, he transforms the photograph into an avian ensō born of precision, intuition, and wonder.
You can view more of his work at https://xavibou.com/
Sunflower Saturday
The Story That Blooms Behind Florida Softball’s Brightest Tradition
It’s game day in Gainesville, and the line outside Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium is already buzzing with fans dressed not only in orange and blue, but in bright sunflower yellow.
It’s Sunflower Saturday - one of Florida Gators women’s softball’s most beloved traditions. The merch tent is busy. Little girls wear sunflower clips in their hair. A local vendor sells sunflower themed rally towels, and a percentage of proceeds go toward pediatric cancer research. It’s festive, heartfelt, and loud.
But for players, coaches, and longtime fans, Sunflower Saturday is about much more than spirit wear or themed giveaways. It’s about remembering an honorary teammate they lost, but never forgot.
Here’s the thing - it's common to see softball players wear bows, ribbons, or other accessories in their hair. But at Florida, the sunflower means something more.
The tradition began in 2009, when former Florida softball player, 3x All American and now assistant Coach Francesca Enea signed the team up for the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation’s Adopt-A-Child program. The foundation pairs children battling pediatric cancers with college sports teams, offering community, support, and joy during unimaginable hardships.
Enea didn’t know it at the time, but the girl they’d be paired with would change the program forever.
Heather Braswell and Tim Walton
Heather Braswell was 11 years old and undergoing treatment for brain cancer when she met the Gators. At first, head coach Tim Walton was hesitant about the emotional toll it might take on his team. But Enea persisted, and soon Heather was at practices, games, and team outings - laughing with players, sending texts from her hospital bed, and handing out her favorite snack - Twizzlers.
And Heather loved sunflowers.
The players began wearing sunflowers in their hair to bring Heather joy. The small gesture grew into a full-blown tradition. Even after Heather’s cancer returned in early 2014 and she tragically passed away just 10 weeks later, the team continued to wear them, every Saturday without fail.
And that same season, Florida went on to win its first national championship at the Women’s College World Series.
The Gators now wear sunflowers in their hair every Saturday game. Each season, the tradition culminates in a special home game during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month which the Gators designate as the "Yellow Game” - in support of the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. The game is a spectacle of sunshine - giant sunflower signs line the dugout, yellow graphics flood the scoreboard, and players wear custom jerseys to raise awareness and funds. It’s a full on Yellow Out.
Before the first pitch, a video montage plays on the big screen, showing photos of Heather laughing in the dugout, hugging players, and standing proudly in her Florida gear. Fans rise to their feet. Some clap. Some cry. Everyone remembers.
“We used yellow as a symbol of her,” former Florida pitcher Lauren Haeger explained in Sunflowers. “We started wearing yellow ribbons, and then it kind of just transitioned to a sunflower because sunflowers are yellow.”
Here’s a beautiful short film.
To View, Click on Watch on YouTube Icon Lower Left
On Sunflower Saturdays in Gainesville, they still cheer for the home team, but the scoreboard matters a little less, and the story behind the flower shines a little brighter. It’s a time that blooms with hope, remembrance and a tradition - rooted in the life of a young girl, now forever woven into the spirit of the Florida Gators.
The Ensō of Even Flow
A couple of weeks ago, when Pearl Jam was about to crank up Even Flow on stage in Pittsburgh, Eddie Vedder stopped to tell a story about a young baseball announcer at Casey’s Clubhouse in the city’s South Hills, founded by 12-year MLB veteran and MLB Network broadcaster Sean Casey. Its mission? To create a place where every kid can play baseball, regardless of physical or intellectual ability.
At the center of this mission is Clubhouse Field, an inclusive, fully accessible baseball diamond where kids of all abilities join together in community to play, laugh, and grow.
With Casey’s dedication and the support of an incredible team, Casey’s Clubhouse continues to thrive, creating unforgettable game day experiences built on love, inclusion, and fun.
And on Saturday, May 17, between two sold-out shows in Pittsburgh, Vedder spent his day in a different kind of spotlight. He headed to Clubhouse Field with Sean Casey, took a seat in the stands, and soaked in the scene.
He was moved. But what really stood out for him was the voice coming from the announcer’s booth.
That voice belonged to a young man named Andy, an announcer whose passion and authenticity stopped Eddie in his tracks. Andy wasn’t just good, he was electric.
So, the next night at the arena, right before Even Flow, Eddie shared the moment with the crowd. And then Sean Casey brought Andy out on stage.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Shout out to Zaslow, Pearl Jam Online and Luca Villa.
Check out all the feels below.
The Endsō
