Field Notes from a Friend
Short videos from Laura Illig on friendship, community, and what it means to build technology that actually helps
Skateboarding
June 7, 2026
McGuffins
May 31, 2026
Video Slots
May 24, 2026
The Most Radical Act
May 17, 2026
Sit-Down Girls
May 10, 2026
15 Cigarettes
May 3, 2026
The Loneliest Generation
April 26, 2026
Once a week or so, I sit down and record a short video reflecting on something I’ve been thinking about. Community. Friendship. Loneliness. Why the apps we were told would bring us together have done the opposite. What a different kind of technology could look like.
I call them Field Notes because that’s what they are — simple observations from the ground, from someone who’s been trying to build a better way for a while now. They’re not polished. They’re not produced. They’re just me, talking plainly about the things I care about most.
The thread running through all of them is a way of looking at the world I’ve come to call the New Authenticism. It’s the idea that in a synthetic age, the most radical thing a person can be is a real, imperfect human being.
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The Philosophy Behind the mission
The New Authenticism
In a world full of synthetic media, algorithmic curation, and AI-generated everything, the most radical act — and the most valuable one — is to show up as your real, unoptimized, imperfect self
The New Authenticism is the philosophy that sits underneath everything we build at Sidekick, and underneath everything Laura makes as an artist · It’s a set of six principles about what it means to create, to connect, and to belong in an age of machines that can imitate all three
About the Artist Behind the Field Notes
Laura Illig is also a painter
Outside of Sidekick, Laura makes abstract paintings and mixed-media collages under the name La Woman Studios. Her work is characterized by bold color, emotional honesty, and a celebration of imperfection. Her approach to art and her product vision come from the same place: the belief that the human, imperfect, made-by-hand thing is the most valuable thing there is.
Woman-owned
Mission-driven
Built in Eugene, Oregon
Let’s Re-Build the Connection Economy Together
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who believes technology should bring people together, we’d love to hear
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