Category: links (page 1 of 1)

January 9, 2022 / 0 Comments

How to Read and other links for my last day of PTO

The love of my life shared this piece by Kate Harding yesterday and as she tweeted: [this is good]

“Today’s reader will simply not accept the baton being passed. If something is unclear, the author must expand; if something offends, the author must account and atone.”

I was drawn to fashion articles this week, including this WSJ story about ‘kid core.’ I love the hero image of a man at Paris fashion week looking like every member of the Cosby Kids at once. Dressing like a tween is not for me at this big age, but some of the sneakers I’ve been purchasing and eyeing have a distinct hint of playfulness. Also, black people look great in bold colors!

Also, The decades-old aesthetic that imagines the cultural and technological wealth of a Black future is thriving yet again.

“The biscuit, too, deserves a celebration.”

Still She Rises by Jasmin Pittman Morrell

Chinese names are incredibly purposeful. […] First up is the family name, known as the last name in many Western cultures and similarly taken from the father’s side. This is followed by a name that is shared with your generation, often paternal cousins. Finally, there is the person’s individual name. These names literally show not only our ties to family and history, but how we put them first.

Marian Chia-Ming Liu

“For the past two years, the public company, called Magazine Luiza, or Magalu, has limited its executive trainee program for recent college graduates — a pipeline to well-paying, senior roles — to Black applicants.”

Also, from the NYT, Siddhartha Miller writes about an artist and New Orleans, a place I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. 

Last, but not least, I kinda miss the bloghouse days. Maybe some Justice and Spank Rock will end up in my scrobbles this week. 

January 2, 2022 / 0 Comments

A Digital Reset and other links for the new year

Anil does a personal digital reset each year. I took this as a motivator to improve my relationship with Twitter. However, I didn’t do a complete unfollow as he does. Instead, I used Tokimeki’s unfollow tool. I dropped about 200 accounts. I also got rid of some lists. I found myself particularly interested in decreasing the news & politics accounts I follow (unless they were about Los Angeles), removing weak or no longer relevant work ties and people I might personally enjoy but not in tweet form.

What’s left?

  • people I know and like

  • good tweeters

  • basketball

  • Los Angeles

  • General Company Town and Streaming work follows

I really want to spend 30 minutes or less on Twitter most days (basketball and televised live events excluded), and I don’t want to be depressed after I’ve done so. Let’s see how it goes.

“The world is not generous with downtime. There’s always more to be done or things that could be done a little better. So to harvest the benefits of rest, you need to nurture it and protect it.” – Alex Soojung-Kim Pang in How to Rest Well

I’m in the middle of a two-week break from work but spent the first two business days of it working (even though everyone in our division was, in theory, also on holiday). Taking rest seriously seems like a worthy resolution.

“No 8 a.m. Meetings in 2022 ”

— Roxane Gay

‘Nuff said.

Do you spend your best hours checking emails, catching up on work, or doing tasks for your family? Try giving that time to yourself instead. Use it to focus on your priorities rather than someone else’s. You can use that hour or two for anything you want — it might be for a hobby, a project that you feel passionate about, time with your children, or even to volunteer and help others. Setting aside your best hours to focus on personal goals and values is the ultimate form of self-care. – Tara Parker-Pope in NYT’s Well Newsletter

Too many NYT links in this list, but let’s do one more.

Let’s leave the last word to Dawn Staley:

“I’ve never felt more Black than right now.”

December 5, 2021 / 0 Comments

A Good Liar and the other best links of the week

“Here I am lying again on some level, which I promised I wouldn’t do—and I’m lying in some ways to the person I love most.”

– Stephen Glass in Bill Adair’s incredible essay on who the disgraced journalist became in the two decades since being outed as a fabulist. It’s worth giving up your email address to read.

Kim Mulkey is not among my favorite college basketball coaches. Michelle Voepel’s illuminating profile, however, gives a lot more insight into the whole person she is and showcases why her players tend to ride so hard for her. Baylor should’ve put her name on the court.

“I became aware that inside of their performance, inside of their music, there was a performance that had to do with identity. They were playing with gender; they were upending expectations. It’s the idea that, in a perfect world, we should be allowed to create, with real freedom and with flexibility, who we want to be.”

– Tessa Thompson in Wesley Lowery’s Ebony Magazine Cover story

“It is true the traditional financial system has not provided access, and frankly exploited Black people,” said Darrick Hamilton, professor of economics and urban policy at the New School. “But the remedy isn’t to turn to another vulnerable system, however well-intended it may or may not be. The remedy is a public sector that ensures they have access in an equitable way.”

Despite the valid concerns, I love the Spotify algorithm. It is, by far, my most used digital service.

Speaking of music, spoiler that the Live at the BBC compilation of Amy Winehouse performances will be among my top albums of the year. I hope this exhibit gets to travel to the US.

Let your leisure time be leisure time, y’all.