- Things you can find in the woods.
- These are clever. (I think the Netflix one is my favorite.)
- Speaking of Netflix, between losing THIS and The Office, is it worth keeping?
- Has your facebook account been hacked?
- A plastic eating mushroom?!?
- Things not to put in a dishwasher.
- This one thing will change your life. (Or not.)
- 50 Memoirs from the Past 50 Years.
- The energy you send out is the energy you get back. (Thinking on this a lot this week.)
- 2019’s Top 50 Restaurants
- BarleyBoy is a cutie.
- Yes, please.
- We need to stop talking about the teacher shortage.
- Clean your laptop.
- This bracelet is a gift to myself as I’m trying to tackle some personal goals.
- I can see how this would become a thing. Also that it would be annoying/dangerous.
- What if we stopped pretending. Both immensely depressing and hopeful.
- I’m definitely checking these books out.
- Some tips for talking to your kids about the news.
- Lions are matrilineal.
- Intimacy and the internet. I think about this a lot.
- Some of my sketchbook inspiration.
Have a happy weekend!!!
I apparently am washing many wrong things in my dishwasher. I’ll try to do better.
The article about energy is fascinating and I know I’ll be thinking about it for days to come. I have a memorable experience from decades ago when a woman at a business cocktail party asked me if I had any vacays planned. I was charmed by her question and liked her instantly. Just like the example mentioned in the article. Trippy, huh?
I have a friend who always asks the BEST unexpected questions and it’s a skill I’d like to cultivate.
And you aren’t the only one who is washing things wrong. I linked that because I think there were at least four things on that list that go in my dishwasher that probably shouldn’t.
I am home sick (that UTI turned into a kidney infection) but also have a lot of work to do so I can’t read through all of these as I’d like, BUT: I love your Pinterest sketchbook! So, so much. I wish I had your artistic eye.
Thank you for sharing the teacher shortage piece. I had SO MANY thoughts in response to it when I first saw it last week. (Earlier this week? The days are blending.) This “crisis” is a result of policy choices. And priorities.
I have a lot of thoughts, also, about internet and intimacy. I just shared a short video of a little girl because I loved it so (even though the way the toddler was interacting with her own photo in the video creeped me out/made my heart hurt a little), but I am increasingly put off by photos and videos of small children (and so rarely share them). I especially hate the ones in which the child is distressed in some way (mad, sad, frustrated) because all I can think about is how it must be adding to that feeling to know you are being filmed. I think this is just another example of how our thinking/understanding can’t keep pace with our technological innovation. I am so glad that my children were young before the advent of social media. I’m sure I would have been an over-sharer. I’m pretty sure I was at times during their teen years, before I’d really thought through the implications of this kind of sharing. Like the writer of the piece you linked to says, it seemed much more innocuous in the early days.
As for the dishwasher thing: I’ve been realizing that I have at least as many things as I don’t put in as things I do. As I move to replace items that are more quickly disposed of with those that are not, I’m realizing that the higher-quality items more often require a higher level of care. Still doing it, though. Easier for me now than it would have been when I had a house full of kids.
Finally, for now at least, I love the graphic at the top of this post. I’ve owned almost all of those books!
That was a toddler reacting with her own phone, not photo.
I was DEFINITELY an oversharer when my kids were little. I’m trying to be more thoughtful and they have veto power over stories of any significance and most social media pictures but I think anyone on social media bumps up against not just what is theirs to share but what they WANT to share.
I agree with you that the teacher shortage is absolutely a consequence of decision making. Being from Wisconsin, land of Scott Walker’s public union busting laws that largely impacted teachers, I know just how much decisions to devalue educators creates environments where we no longer have people willing to do the work.
I love janemount’s work. I have a bundle of her postcards that I’m waiting to frame and hang up. Someday I want to get a larger one of her prints. She’s so talented!!
And finally, I’m so sorry to hear you are dealing with a kidney infection. I hope you get lots of rest and care and REALLY hope you are feeling better soon.
I wish I had time to give a proper read to all these, Kate! š
How did you make out earlier this week at the clinic? Any answers/relief in sight?
I understand!! I hope you’ll get a chance to read the “What if we stopped pretending” piece. I thought of you while I was reading it.
Thank you so much for asking after me! We don’t have any answers but we have a plan that will eventually lead to answers and that’s about as good as I can hope for. I like decision trees. (I’ll email you a little more detail later if you’d like.)
Hi Kate,
I like decision trees too. And you know you can always email me if you want to talk or to let me know about things in more detail.
On the “What if we stopped pretending” article . . . the author angered me, tbh. This article ā https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/fight-climate-action-or-stop-pretending ā sums up my reaction to it quite nicely.
I didnāt agree with everything Franzen wrote but I do think heās correct in saying that weāre going to have to put systems in place to handle the fact that we havenāt minimized our impacts as quickly as we needed. I definitely wanted to hear your reaction. Thank you for sharing the reaction piece, Marian.
Are the art works your sketches?
I’m not sure if you’re talking about the picture I posted above (it isn’t – the artist’s etsy page can be found using the source link) or my pinterest page which also isn’t – just inspiration I’ve found. Either way, the art isn’t mine. I wouldn’t consider myself a skilled artist. I just like to play.
Yes, Kate, I was asking about item 22 the sketchbook inspiration link. There were lots of fun artworks! I understand now. Keep playing with art; itās definitely a great activity!!
From your list of titles, I thought I might enjoy the following and read 6, 7, 9, 16, 21, 22.
On intimacy and the Internet, I am not one that posts to social media. Although I do understand why people enjoy sharing on these platforms. I have nothing against it and I can see value in sharing.
I read in todayās paper, New York Times, Opinion section, written by Rob Walker a column that I found very interesting and might add to the thoughtful conversation about intimacy and the Internet.
Rob Walker says, āWe all know people who have theatrically quit this or that social media service, or announced digital sabbaticals. But the evidence suggests that we love our devices as much as ever…ā
Iām a novice at this, but I think this is how to link below. After reading it, I wondered about my comment that āI am not one that posts to social media.ā Are blogs social media? When I send a friend a text message with a photo, am I participating in social media?
I think maybe, probably, yes to both. Even though I donāt have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat accounts, nor do I publish a blog, I do read blogs and occasionally post in comment section and I do some socializing via text message using my cell phone tied to the Internet.
I do love my device as much as ever… because it is and has been a great tool that facilitates a basic human desire to connect with other people… and the distance that my connections travel are over the entire world at anytime. How positive and great is that! I suspect that it is a responsibility to set moral values to the intimacy that each of us choose to share, yet still there is an area of privacy that is not individually controlled.
A photo taken in 1978 was sent to me this summer via text message from a dear trusted lifetime friend. The photo was of a group of people on a week outing that my friend was not part of the photo or at the outing. My friend said that the photo was posted on a friendās Facebook page and it looked like I was in that photo (before the age of digital). Indeed, I confirmed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/opinion/tech-backlash.html#click=https://t.co/oCusdd98xS
Iāve absolutely been one of those people to theatrically quit social media, and I DO love my device. I use it to stream music, podcasts, read my newspaper subscription, books, text friends, share calendars with family, as a gps when Iām traveling, or to recommend a restaurant when in a new town.
And you are correct about the privacy not being individually controlled. One of the main reasons I have a FB account is to see if others (schools, after school activities, friends) are posting pictures of my children.
How did you feel about having your picture posted, TD?
I was surprised, but not at all offended. People will do what they do regardless of my thoughts and feelings. My friend told me who posted it, but offered no other context to Facebook conversations going on. And since I donāt engage in Facebook, I donāt know what social media followers were saying. I knew the mutual friend way back then, but didnāt keep up. It did bring up some good feelings of old friends and at the same time assisted me to reflect about a few personal incidents that caused some discomfort. Their was a lot history in the relationships built within that group. Interesting to reflect about that time, what played out, and how much personal growth has been accomplished and/or perhaps somethings left undone. So unclear.
As a mother, I think that you are wise to keep yourself aware for your childrenās best interest.