Things I Like
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I don’t think consumerism is that satisfying for most people. We’re taught that we need to keep up with these trends and buy all this stuff, but it doesn’t really make us happy. Happiness levels are declining. People have fewer close friends. It’s not like the current status quo is awesome and we should be fighting to hold on to it. We just have a bunch of junk. Instead of being surrounded by beautiful, durable, repairable things that we love, we’ve got a bunch of single-use plastic garbage.
I really liked a lot of this interview, but I think the idea that we're living in such a great situation and time that change is an awful idea is the biggest falsehood being pushed. It isn't great, people aren't happy and maybe making serious changes will lead to better thing, at least I believe it definitely can.
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I wish that people would do things of beauty and benevolence. When I was teaching at the workshop, we would get a good variety of students, a lot of whom came from difficult backgrounds. And in order to make it through all the hurdles to graduate school, they were probably assisted by individuals or by mechanisms at various points, and then they come and they’re brilliant. I hate to use economic language, but in a sense, we’re creating value for the culture in other human beings — in the degree that we’re generous toward them, in the degree that we are made hopeful by their gifts, to the extent that we step out of these stupid competitive models that we set for ourselves and realize that our well being is something that is achieved collectively by encouraging other people to do beautiful things. Not putting them in situations of grinding lack and resentment that then becomes the argument against the social order and against democracy.
First I have to say the title of this piece is terrible, which is unfortunate, because it's a bit click baity. I clicked because I love Robinson and read for that reason and it's worth the read and I'm saving it, so I guess I'm getting past that title.
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Business books are good for business but is the business mindset good for books? Too many entrepreneurs come into the book space and don’t realize that the majority of readers love to get lost in books and to ponder them and process them and to argue with our friends about them.
I'm a reader but I never count what I read or try too hard to sum it up, even in the posts where I record what I've read. And my lists are more for me than anyone else, I just happen to share them here as a good storage spot so that I can come back and look again at what I said, especially when I rearead something.
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McPherson writes that the limiting virtues are grounded in the dispositional substrate of an “accepting-appreciating” stance toward the world, as opposed to the “choosing-controlling” stance that is the naturalized, invisible, and totalizing definition of 21st century technocratic freedom. No one wants life without choices, of course. But McPherson writes that the limiting virtue of loyalty — especially “loyalty to the given world” — is one way to cultivate this accepting-appreciating posture and to enjoy the freedom that it brings.
I really enjoy Sarah Hendron's newsletter, when it shows up it's always worth a read and I love the way she talks about spaces and how we design them as well as use them. This edition is no exception.
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These transitory items and people might say more about our time than cathedrals or statues; they are what’s particular to our era and thus reflective of its ailments and ethos. On that commute, for example, there was a point where the train hurtled aboveground and people craned their necks to take in the skyscrapers. Impressive, I admit, but I was more interested in the text that a fellow passenger repeatedly typed out and deleted, fascinated that a person could carefully compose a message to send to someone and then take it back, the only record of it being my observation.
I don't do a written journal, but often I do a sketch journal of my day and it's the very small things that've happened around me or to me that I notice and draw about.As I leave my phone behind or in my bag more and more and just be while having to wait, I notice more and find more that is funny, interesting, or strange about what's right around me.
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Instead, I see a technique like this for what it is: another tool in the cupboard. It’s all any technique could ever be! And yet we seem desperate for some system that could save us – for the productivity trick or morning routine or life philosophy that would make everything run smoothly at last, so long as we kept following it.
I don't worry a lot about productivity these days, but I do really like the way Burkeman talks about different tools you can use for getting things done. I'm a person who likes lists and I usually let a lot of things pile up and then spend a morning or afternoon going through and tackling as many as I can (today was one of those days). But I fully realize that there are other ways to get things done too and at different times during my life I've hopped around from what works for that time.
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Raphael takes her reasoning a step further and argues that wellness has become a new form of faith. As organized religion has retreated from everyday life, she argues, wellness has rushed in to fill the void. “It’s providing belonging, identity, meaning, community. These are all the things that people used to find in their neighborhood church or synagogue. Wellness offers some sort of salvation on the horizon.” It also offers the illusion of control and empowerment. “If you work hard enough and you buy the right things, you’ll be saved from disease and ageing and anything bad happening to you,” Raphael says.
I've been reading a bit lately on the wellness industry and on self care in general and how much we put on the individual in the US. Everything is up to the individual doing the right thing, but is it possible for the individual to really do it all? Where do community and safety nets come into play? I'm not saying everyone should go back to a religious institution but I am wondering what types of insititution or community and care can rise up to fill the gap. The wellness industry isn't the answer.
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A really great podcast that tags on to the Guardian article I also linked. I enjoyed this conversation so much, especially the realism brought to the table by the guest host. The idea of faux self-care versus real self-care is really helpful when looking at the way in which many social media websites push self-care in their ads to make money.
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In the moment, it seems much easier to stay home with our pets, screens, books, projects, or glass of wine. In the long run? You’ve heard the statistics. Our lack of community is literally killing us.
I so enjoy Murphy-Kangas' writing and this is no exception. I'm by no means saying that people shouldn't do therapy, but I do think community is a huge part of the answer to the problems we're facing. My biggest question is how does one do this, because I've been trying for the past several years and it's hard to find your people, people willing to be in community with you.
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Instead of a single app to click, I've got a little folder of apps on my phone now. At my desk, I've got three tabs clogging up my tiny social sidebar monitor (remind me to tell you about this great little thing one day). I end up dropping in and out of them pretty much at random throughout the day. I never look to any of them when news breaks, which is telling.
I'm one of the people who didn't go anywhere post Twitter and even the places I was before the melt down have slowed down considerably in how much is going on (these are private chat rooms). I've been offline more than on and it's been a really good thing for me. I've become convinced that the use of social media, overall, isn't very good for us in the long term.
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In the maw of the posting machine, nothing sticks. Code travels but no power shifts. It was terrifying to be suddenly aware of how much time and attention I’ve given over to this strange place where everything happens, but nothing happens, where empathy circles around but ultimately drains out. To see how these new behaviors and habits have co-opted my sense of what it means to be moved to action, convincing me I’m doing something when I’m doing nothing, risking nothing — or, worse, that there is nothing else I can actually do or risk, when of course there is. Of course there is.
Yes, this is an older piece, and yes, today's links have a bit of a theme going on, but I found this reminder really helpful in these times.
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There’s a lot of beauty in the world still within our grasp. We’re better when we’re poets, when we’re learners and listeners, when we’re builders and not breakers. When I read, I learn that there’s no new problems in the world we’re living in.
Such a great short meditation on how putting away the phone can make such a difference in our mental health and our lives. You don't have to be a reader, maybe you sketch, journal, garden, or do whatever fills you up.
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It’s important to remember this: businesses that rely on constant online or televisual engagement — social media platforms, TV news channels, news websites — make bank from our rage. They have every incentive, whether they are aware of it or not, to inflame our passions.
I may not want to subscribe to the same news as Jacobs, but I do agree with him that too much of the "breaking" news is a bad thing. I've been slowly weaning myself away from it, but I'll admit that it's hard to do once you're used to checking in a lot.
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Anyone can make a statement. The world needs us to make loving commitments and maybe even to live them out without broadcasting it.
I've really enjoyed this blog lately and I've been trying hard to live my life in doing things that are good in my local community rather than talking about them and this was a great reminder.
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I think that all labor is skilled labor. I think about the factories and the fields and the ways that demands for speed instead of cadence can hurt people. I think we should seek to understand and value our skills and see effort. But I don’t think we are going to fix anything about how software work is valued by refusing to let it belong to the rest of the world.
Via Mandy a really great piece pointing out that those who make software aren't special and that we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and have jobs that do that no matter what field they're in.