october 2022
We ran away to the mountains for the the beginning of the month, so I’m trying to sneak lots of writing in before the end of October. As mentioned here, this is my monthly round-up post of just links. Check out my recent writing here in case you missed it!
Rants and raves
👍 In the mountains, we snuggled up on our big couch for a movie most nights. At home, we’ve had the same couch and loveseat for over twenty years. The four of us squeeze on the couch because Wendell thinks the loveseat is his, and it just isn’t that comfortable, especially as the kids get bigger. Grant and I realized that we probably don’t have a ton of years left with the kids wanting to snuggle with us on the couch, so we ordered a new sectional at home - and we all love it. Consider this your reminder to just do the thing(s) that will bring you disproportionate joy and connection.
👍 It took me a long time to finish The Night Watchman because I listened to it on audio from the library, and I kept losing it to other people’s holds. It turned out perfectly, though, because I would reward myself by saving it for working in the garden and having Erdrich read it to me only while I had my hands in the soil of our place felt like a necessary way of honoring the beauty of the story. I’ll definitely be buying the print version.
👍 I’m totally sucked into this series and staying up way too late trying to read just one more chapter (I was just so-so about the first book, but it gets much better from there).
👍 I decided that I want to enjoy running instead of mostly dreading it until it’s over because I think of running and walking as a triple bottom line activity: 1) It gets me outside 2) It gets me moving and 3) It is a mindfulness practice for me. So I went down the rabbit hole of heart rate training, and I’ve been trying it for a few months now (a good introduction here). I was never a fast runner, but now I’m really slow, which, shockingly, means I am actually enjoying running because I’m never overdoing it.
It’s also a reminder of how going softer is typically the better way - plus it’s a great humility builder on the trail!
👍 We try to eat seasonally, but we cheat on a few things and eat them out of season. Carrots are one of our cheats. We buy the huge organic bag at Costco all-year round. Since that means I nearly always have carrots on hand, I make this soup at least once a month all year long, and I think you should know about it too. It’s delicious, super simple, and as mentioned, I nearly always have all of the ingredients on hand. It’s also the perfect use for when you forget about your giant bag of carrots at the back of the fridge, and they’re starting to look a little sad.
👍 Well done, TSwift. I can’t stop listening.
👎 This headline this week that I wouldn’t have even seen except that I follow lots of climate activists: “All three of the key UN agencies have produced damning reports in the last two days. The UN environment agency’s report found there was ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’ and that ‘woefully inadequate’ progress on cutting carbon emissions means the only way to limit the worst impacts of the climate crisis is a ‘rapid transformation of societies.’”
Stuff worth sharing around the interwebs
Polychronic time. My maybe favorite thing is learning something that makes me think about something seemingly obvious or at least taken for granted in a new way. This AHP newsletter on calendars did just that: explaining that there are monochronic and polychronic cultures. Monochronic cultures see time as linear, orderly, and as a commodity; whereas, polychronic cultures view time as more free-flowing leaving more room for interruptions and distractions. This has mind-bending implications if you think about it (and trust me, I’ve been thinking about it ALOT).
Related: the comment thread that led to the newsletter linked to above is a gold-mine of tips, tricks, and solidarity.
Maker vs manager. In a very adjacent find, I came across this differentiation for the first time, and it, too, has me thinking about myself and those around me in different ways. Of course, managers require different types of schedules from makers. But our world is tailored to the managers, and our creatives (and by extension, the rest of us) suffer for it.
Twitter Zero Hour Thread. This was like a weirdly - mostly fun, sometime cringey - trip down memory lane.
I’m the problem, it’s me. Clare Coffey with the thing I can’t stop thinking about this month. (Here’s where I’ve landed after you go read the thing: the truth is, as usual, somewhere in the middle between responsibility and capitalism).
Other good stuff breadcrumbs. If you need more impetus to vote blue, this should do it with this for some extra motivation. This piece on “momfluencer language” led to a great conversation with my writing group, which weirdly led to me thinking about how/why Evangelicalism became so culturally pervasive and this teaser for an upcoming book. Rabbi Ruttenberg on discerning your anger. I loved this and filed it under my “evidence that curiosity is the second most important virtue behind kindness” folder (yes, I actually have one of those in my Google Drive!).
Share your rants/raves/links in the comments. It’ll be like virtual show-and-tell!
Happy Halloween!
Sara