Syllabus #62

Back to school prep starts next week.  I move this week.  Excellent timing.  I'm not overwhelmed, you're overwhelmed.  If I can make it through the week without breaking out in actual hives like the last time I moved, I'll chalk it up to a win.

Is this where we're headed?  Will the extent of our international travel be to restaurants with country-specific cuisine?  Will you be honeymooning off the coast of Olive Garden or enjoying an all-inclusive stay at Waffle House?


"We have the wealth in this country to care for people, and to set the herd-immunity threshold where we choose."  This article is hopeful but also infuriating to be reminded that we have the ability to drastically reduce the spread and impact of this virus on our lives but our asshat government is not taking those measures.  


Slate's Christina Cauterucci has taken one for the team and done some hard-hitting investigative journalism so we don't have to.  Need to stand up to pee but don't have a penis?  You've got options!  I'm ordering the pStyle asap.

If you read advice columns regularly, you might feel like you've already been exposed to the full spectrum of relatively petty human conundrums, but this is the thing you've been missing:  Middlemarch BDSM role play

The distinction between outcome and intent matters.  People can have the best of intentions, but if their actions or the systems they design are executed from a place of ignorance, they can still cause harm.

I mean John Lewis just died, and RBG is sick again?  How much more is 2020 going to take from us?


Listening:

Slate's Decoder Ring podcast episode on The Rise (and fall) of The Karen


Watching:

Finally got around to consuming the first episode of The Baby-Sitters Club reboot on Netflix.  It was like watching a hug.  It was like stepping into a time machine and setting the dial to 1994, which was probably peak BSC idolization for me.  As I was watching, I was afraid I'd reach up to twirl my hair and discover my growing-out bowl cut.  I had to run my tongue over my teeth to confirm the results of expensive and painful orthodontia, so afraid was I that I had actually been transported back to my buck-toothed, awkward innocence.


Analog Reading:

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell.  It's not exactly what it sounds like.  It's more of an ode to giving your mind the time and space to rest and wander just for the intrinsic value of contemplation.  It's not a prescription to 'do nothing for a little bit so you can be more productive later.'  I promise I'll get around to finishing this one, but there's so much something I have to do in the meantime right now.

Perfect Little Worlds by Kevin Wilson.  Another perfect little absurdity from someone who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Rick Steves' new book, For the Love of Europe:  My favorite places, people, and stories.  I'm all about Rick Steves, and this is as close as I'll get to a vacation for the foreseeable future.