Xuebing Du
Mike Driver
Cosimo Galluzzi
pixel skylines
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
@theartofmadeline
shark vs the universe
JBB: An Artblog!
JVL
ellievsbear
Cosmic Funnies
Peter Solarz
art blog(derogatory)
Show & Tell
Sade Olutola
Acquired Stardust
roma★
Keni
Misplaced Lens Cap
Kiana Khansmith
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Belgium
seen from United States
@shecomesincolor
You Just Want // King Creosote
Thank you for this one, Robin Hilton. I listened to this on repeat for my entire 40-minute walk home from work one day last week. I also managed to hit all the crosswalk lights such that I never had to stop, which made me feel like God. I didn’t even know that was possible at rush hour in DC.
Recommended Reading: 9/18
What Do Singles Need More Than a Mate? Community. // WaPo In the kinds of personal communities that singles are likely to have, different people can serve different roles. Ideally, no one feels overly burdened or obligated to fulfill roles that don’t suit them. This extends to emotional support as well. Those who have different people in their lives to cheer them up when they are sad, calm them when they are anxious, and share the joy of their successes, for example, feel better about their lives than those who look to just one person to meet all their emotional needs. The Secret to a Good Date: Have Sex First // NYMag You, too, can be part of one of those glowing couples at brunch who clearly just had sex, except you can also be them at dinner. These Are the Ages You Peak at Everything // Curiosity Peak vocabulary occurs at age 69, peak happiness with your body at 74, and last on the timeline is peak psychological wellbeing, which is reportedly reached at age 82. Raising Kids in a Warming World // ParentMap “As parents, we do our best to set our children up for a successful life,” says Rodgers, the mother of a 5- and an 8-year-old. “I think leaving them a planet where they won’t have global climate catastrophes is not an unreasonable request.” What Should You Choose: Time or Money? // NYT But our research does show that the value individuals place on these resources relative to each other is predictive of happiness. Why? The people in our studies who chose time over money thought about the resources differently and had different intentions for how they would spend the time or money gained. When I Said All Trump Supporters Were White Supremacists, I Meant It // The Establishment And no, none of this can be excused away as “a product of the times”—humans are not like wine grapes; we do not have a few “bad years” that we can blame on the soil. If you recognize that these horrific systems of abuse, oppression, and even genocide were upheld by everyday people, then you have to acknowledge that everyday people are capable of some pretty heinous shit. How to Raise a Genius // Nature “The kids who test in the top 1% tend to become our eminent scientists and academics, our Fortune 500 CEOs and federal judges, senators and billionaires,” he says. Such results contradict long-established ideas suggesting that expert performance is built mainly through practice — that anyone can get to the top with enough focused effort of the right kind.
Recommended Reading: 9/11/16
You Know How That Disorients Me // Carve Magazine My boss Henderson thinks he is an Eskimo. In the winter, he wears a bright red parka with fur along every one of its edges. He also has strange furry shoes in the warmer months. I noticed them this morning. They look like tiny dirty polar bears and they make it hard to take him seriously while he condescends to me about playing spider solitaire when the VIP guests arrive to wait for their meetings with the VIP bosses. He says I should consider taking a course in public relations or at least learning a few chitchatty questions to ask the VIPs. Yesterday he said I’m the face of the company and I should start acting like it. Radical Flâneuserie // The Paris Review The flâneuses I found, the ones I wrote my book about, go walking in cities, but often with a purpose: to throw off the weight of their families, their husbands, their social roles, to explore who or what they can be, traveling around the world feeding off the chemical reaction, the flinting spark, provoked by the encounter with the foreign city. Flâneuserie—to coin a term—is about women moving from being looked at to looking. Through movement, we assert our subjectivity. How Big is a Fart? // FiveThirtyEight ...it’s impossible to say exactly how much space a generic fart takes up in the body. I can, however, tell you about the range of specific farts, as captured in scientific experiments. For instance, a 1997 study of 16 Americans found a volume-per-fart range of 17 milliliters to 375 milliliters.1 Imagine a bottle of nail polish — that’s a rough analogy for the volume of the daintiest of poots. Now imagine a can of soda. That’s the volume of a really big stinker. Your body is a wonderland. The Story of How Lean Became Hip-Hop's Heroin // Fusion If a rapper’s holding a Styrofoam cup—like in the videos for Future’s “Codeine Crazy” or Young Thug’s “Again”—there’s a good chance it contains lean. In the early ‘90s, lean was nothing more than a local Houston cocktail. It’s since become a drug du jour, first influencing Southern hip-hop, and later inspiring many of the world’s biggest hip-hop stars. Today it’s nearly everywhere: Migos and Gucci Mane have name checked it in songs; Lil’ Wayne and Chief Keef have sipped on it in photos; Mac Miller and Kirko Bangz have hoisted it in videos. Dropout by Dartmouth Raises Questions on Health Law Cost-Savings Effort // NYT Re: CMMI: Democrats defend the innovation center, saying the nation desperately needs to find ways of delivering better care at lower cost. To shut down the center or block its work would amount to “killing the baby in the nursery before it ever grows up,” said Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington.
Wow // Beck
Other Parts of Norway // Sept 3-9, 2016
Where I went: Myrdal, Flam, Balestrand, Bergen, Stavanger
Where I stayed: Balestrand Hotel (10/10), Montana Youth and Family Hostel (5/10), Sparta Apartments (7/10), Anker Apartments (3/10)
What I ate: herring galore, bread and cheese, fruit, croissants, halibut with brandade (look it up!) and cherry tomatoes and broccoli, pizza
What I saw/did: went on several spectacular but very challenging hikes, took the cable car down from an afternoon of intense hiking in Bergen; drank in the majestic scenery from trains and boats galore, including the most unreal, complete rainbow I’ve ever seen; had dinner at the Kviknes Hotel and did a lot of reading in the sun while sitting along the shore; did hours of strolling and looking at adorable houses and quaint streets all over the place, made friends with 2 couples from Minnesota who I kept running into and who called me Florida; checked out the abundance of street art in Stavanger; visited the fish market in Bergen
What I watched: all of Marcella
What was noteworthy/surprising: Norwegians seemed much more inclined to smile and chat than Swedes and were more likely to look away if you caught them staring; the nature across the country is absolutely insane
Oslo, Norway // September 1-3, 2016
Where I stayed: Oslo Hostel Central (10/10)
What I ate: herring, good bread, too much cheese. Too many pastries. Bananas and apples. Pad Thai. Falafel pita with fries (the best ever), random candies from a candy shop, and an awesome shrimp and hard boiled egg sandwich. And no, I did not enjoy the brown cheese.
What I saw: City Hall (the artwork absolutely blew my mind), Frogner Park and all of the Vigeland sculptures, National Gallery (with a great temporary exhibit on the influence of Japanese culture on Norwegian art), Grunerlokka and Akers River and waterfalls, Vars Frelsers cemetery, Gamle Aker Church, parliament building, opera house, Stottsgarden, Decorative Arts Museum, public library, and lots of random side streets and shops
What I watched: the rest of Stranger Things
What was noteworthy/surprising: Oslo seemed to have more American tourists than anywhere else I went in Scandinavia. In fact, I chatted with many in my hostel and overheard them on every street corner. You will feel like you are in an episode of Lillehammer as you walk around. Men are more likely than women to be pushing strollers
What I learned: Helly Hansen is the Northface or Jack Wolfskin of Norway; it is expensive AF there; there is an extra tax for eating food in a restaurant as opposed to doing carry out, despite the fact that no humans are doing anything different for you in each scenario
Sweden // August 29-Sept 1, 2016
Where I went: Stockholm
Where I Stayed: Basel's condo in Solna
What I ate: muesli and strawberry yogurt, cinnamon pastries, stir fry made by Melker and Lovisa, lox toast, shrimp toast, pasta with salmon, grilled cheese (introduced Basel to it!), and lots of regular toast with butter and cheese for breakfast
What I saw/did: Walked around Gamla Stan in the rain and fell in love, had dinner and beers at Lovisa and Melker’s place with Basel and won a game of Uno, explored Skansen for at least 3 hours and saw reindeer and an awesome range of old Swedish buildings, toured city hall where the Nobel Prize dinner is hosted, took Basel out to dinner at Salt, went to the Moderna Museet and crashed a private art party, walked the entire periment of Djurgarden, saw the Royal Palace, did some awesome walks through Norrmalm, Sodermalm, and Kungsholmen; shopped in some cool design stores, checked out the awesome exhibits at the Fotografiska, went to a concert (Den Svenska Bjornstammen) with my Siemens crew + their friends at Mosebacketerrassen, swooned at the sight of the public library
What I watched: First 5 episodes of Stranger Things
What was noteworthy/surprising: there were so many real blondes! People like America! TGI Friday's is considered a nicer place to go out! 7-Eleven is on every corner and is more luxury than in the US! Chains are alive and well: Burger King, McDonald's, Subway!
What I learned: old school Nikes in all black or all white are in and so is all-black everything; white, gray, or beige are the other main fashion color options; reindeer are the only deer where both males and females have antlers; wild reindeer are extinct and only domesticated reindeer still exist; Sami are the indigenous peoples of Norway and Sweden and are divided into 3 groups based on region; 20% of the Swedish population emigrated around 1897; there are 9 political parties in Sweden and 101 local parliament members (50 women currently); they officiate 60 weddings at city hall every Saturday (3 min ceremony is the “long” version); there are 18.6M gold tiles in the gold room of city hall; and the Swedes I polled at the bar said that what isn't so perfect about Sweden is that people generally avoid talking about uncomfortable topics and that decisions are slow because they're made by consensus
I’m currently figuring out how to move to Stockholm.
Finland // August 27-28, 2016
Where I went: Helsinki (plus the open waters between there and Stockholm)
How I got there: flew from Dulles via Frankfurt
Where I stayed: Eurohostel (7/10 stars) + Silja line cabin below deck
What I ate: not much for the first 35 hours! Snickers for dinner, a roll from airplane for breakfast after sleeping for 17 hours straight (didn’t sleep on the plane or my first day in town), banana, apple, a donut and other pastry, a Karelian rice pie, and the dinner and breakfast buffets on board the Silja line (the tuna salad with capers + all the sushi - mwah!)
What I saw: Temppeliaukio Church (”Church in the Rock”), Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral, Lutheran Cathedral, Senate Square, the Esplanade, Stockmann Department Store food hall, train station (by Eliel Saarinen), botanic gardens, flea markets, a cool free band across from Kapelli Cafe, lots of interesting statues, and the spectacle that is the Silja Line cruise. I scoped out the casino, duty free shop, acrobatic performance, deck, and buffets, and also sat with a Taiwanese marine biology professor at the dinner buffet who didn’t acknowledge anything I said but did tell me a ton about being a professor, taking sabbatical, and his research on copepods. He also expressed judgment about my lack of knowledge of copepods and my decision to travel alone, but i didn’t storm off because a) the buffet was not cheap b) it was assigned seating and c) it was still nice to have some level of human interaction with someone who spoke some English
What I read: issue of The Atlantic with Trump on the cover; The Girl on the Train
What was noteworthy/surprising: the architecture looks more Russian than anything else; their “cool” flea markets are worse than garage sales, and the vibe I picked up was not as warm as elsewhere
What I learned: it is worth it to gamble and not buy a ticket for the trams/trains. It’s en vogue to wear harem pants with Converse or other sneakers + tank tops + jacket (usually jean). It is probably worthwhile to splurge on a more expensive cabin on a cruise, because below deck you’ll be hanging with high schoolers and jumping every time a toilet flushes since it makes a sound like an explosion
I’ve been a bad blogger as of late, but the good news is, it’s because I’ve been out having adventures and being very happy. I just finished using all of my non-holiday vacation days on a week-long trip to Glacier and a 2-week trip to Norway, Sweden, and Finland. I’ve also been enjoying the DC summer, swamplike as it may be, as well as the arrival of many good friends in the DC metro area! July and August in bullet points:
Stayed with Jen for 5 days over 4th of July weekend in Weehawken, NJ. While there, I also saw Karl, John, and Grace at a rooftop party in Brooklyn; enjoyed rooftop cocktails with Jen, Sham, and Kara; and hung out with Kara, Jen, and some of Jen's apartment friends at the pool. Also grilled out, did some hiking along the AT in New York, played a lot of bags, watched some solid reality TV, and just relaxed
Found out I’ll be getting promoted this fall (wooo!) and got a new employee straight outta college (how are we getting so old?)
Had breakfast at Ted's Bulletin with Daron one morning before work, which was surprisingly fun because of the unexpected element
Went on a mural tour through IVY with Abby on one of the hottest days of summer
Went as Daron's plus-one to a performance of The Trump Card at Woolly Mammoth, which was terrifying but incredible
Hit up a Vandy send off party in McLean with Ashley, who, oh yeah! Moved to DC!
Enjoyed beer club at both Christine's place and Sean's place (wheats and goses, respectively)
Made sushi with Christine
Went to a SoFar Sounds show in Ivy City with Ashley that was magical, both because the bands rocked and it was in a rooftop on a surprisingly gorgeous day
Did a ton of capital bikesharing around town
Caught up with folks from other teams at a work HH at Bayou
Went on a date at the zoo where I sweated my butt off but the guy still wanted to see me again. Went on another date with a radio guy who also wanted to keep seeing me despite the fact that I was sweating my butt off indoors
Had a better date with someone at Bar Dupont that turned into that sweet man, N, (also a professor) driving 2 hours every week to see me and becoming the first boyfriend I’ve had in 5 years
Went on a weekend trip with N to Cape May, NJ and never got annoyed with him once, even with 11 hours spent in a car together
Had a blast hanging out with my top tier work gals at Cafe Deluxe and sharing business ideas
Went to an excellent session via the Emerging Women Leaders program on presence/communication style and then to a rooftop happy hour afterward
Went to Thai X-Ing for dinner with Jen, Ashley, Christine, Ryan, Max, and Tatiana, then had drinks on a rooftop nearby
Gave a presentation and sat on a panel at the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center for a bunch of pharma sales reps
Finally saw Chrissy’s new house in Chevy Chase, played with Olivia, and watched some Olympics
Glacier National Park
Circumstances often don’t seem to easily align such that I can travel or go on adventures with my favorite people; there's always a boyfriend, a dearth of vacation days, or a lack of interest in some element of the trip (like camping in bear country). Fortunately, my friend Natalie offhandedly began talking about and inviting various people on a trip to Glacier she'd been planning for a particular week in July. To her surprise, 5 of us took her up on the invite, thus forming our motley crew: a high school friend of Natalie's from CA living in Brooklyn, 2 former ABC employees who recently left to start med school, a girlfriend of one of those ABCers (also in med school), and me and Natalie.
Starting in February, we started having regular planning calls via ABC's conference lines and in early March, the 4 of us in DC met at my place on a Sunday to review trail maps, check estimated campsite capacity, and submit our official application to NPS. Fast forward to late MAY and we find out our itinerary and application have been approved, so we can finally book flights and a rental car.
In July, I made a trip to REI with Natalie, dug my camping gear out of storage, tested my water filter, and packed up for the trip a few days before leaving. The morning of the trip, Natalie and I cabbed to Baltimore together at 4 am and eventually met the rest of the crew in Great Falls where we grocery shopped (the only trying experience of the entire trip) and began redistributing our pack weight. Unfortunately, Lauren's backpack never made it onto the plane in Newark, so in what turned out to be a happy mistake, we had to stay at our rental house 2 nights and combine our first and second days of hiking into one long one so that the pack could be delivered to us. That allowed us to do a spectacular 10-miler without packs in addition to what we had planned, plus get another good night of sleep before setting out.
From there, it was a lot of walking, talking about dumb shit, then going through the usual campsite routines. Some of the more story-worthy elements include:
Seeing a bear 2 hours into our first day, prompting hours of karaoke + camp songs sung at the top of our lungs
Slogging through inches of thick mud and shoulder-high brush, walking across snow-capped mountains, cruising around lakes with pebbles under foot, eating lunch on mountaintop a that looked like scenes from The Sound of Music, and enduring a lot of rain, but having so much fun. Well, type 2 fun at least (fun in retrospect; like marathoning)
Begrudging having to carry a cucumber the entire trip and forcing people to eat it at the end of the trip to make the weight (sort of) worth the while
Establishing expert roles, which made me the best damn water supplier around
Listening and laughing at a 47-minute long tall tale about ranger Wes, whom we'd met earlier in the day. The saga featured a murder, identity swapping, and a venue called Bob's Beer and Bounce House, which helped us all get through the day when morale was at an all-time low
Trying not to laugh when we later ran into Ranger Wes again and couldn't remember what was real and what wasn't
Stripping down to our undies at the end of the last hike and jumping in 30 degree Waterton Lake, screaming the whole time. Then repeating
Laying out on the rocks in said undies drying off for a few hours
Taking a boat to Canada at the end of our hike and communicating with customs via walkie talkie, only sharing our names and birth dates. (This marks my 3rd time in Canada and 3rd time not getting a passport stamp)
Eating a stupid amount of pizza and enjoying a beer in Canada, while simultaneously realizing how bad we smelled from not showering or using deodorant for 5 days
Seeing a deer walking around town and eating off of trees while standing on its hindlegs and being the only people who found this amusing
Hitching a ride to the Canada-Montana border from a crazy hiking guide named Jon who played the harmonica, taught us to beat box, and sang the praises of the triangle as a valuable musical instrument
Befriending Ranger Wes and Driver Jon on social media for continued stalking to use as guidance for future tall tales
Going through customs on foot with cars in front and behind us
Enjoying the best 7-minute showers of our lives (Lauren’s orders) at a nice hotel in Great Falls before heading to dinner for Natalie's birthday
Jaywalking slowly in front of a truck (since we’d obviously forgotten about the existence of live traffic) whose owner then shouted "move faster or I'll get out and beat your asses"
Hitting up the Sip 'n' Dip, a bar with MERMAIDS swimming around in a tank and enjoying a communal fish bowl while we watched
So, clearly an awesome trip. Get your booties out to Glacier! And take these lessons with you: bring more trail mix and warm clothing than seems reasonable, make sure you have a good water bladder, and carry your hiking poles even when it seems dumb.
First Light // Django Django
Back with some recommended reading!
Why Men Want to Marry Melanias and Raise Ivankas // NYT More men said they wanted their wives to be attractive and sweet than said the same about their female children. For daughters, men ranked being independent, strong and principled as more important qualities than those same characteristics in wives. Two-thirds of men want an independent daughter, but only one in three wants an independent wife. Fourteen percent of men said they wanted a wife who was a homemaker; just 5 percent said the same about their daughters.
As Donald Incites Feuds, Other G.O.P. Candidates Flee His Shadow // NYT After a disastrous week of feuds and plummeting poll numbers, Republican leaders have concluded that Donald J. Trump is a threat to the party’s fortunes and have begun discussing how soon their endangered candidates should explicitly distance themselves from the presidential nominee.
Do Your Friends Actually Like You? // NYT So it’s worth identifying who among the many people you encounter in your life are truly friends. Who makes time for you? Whose company enlivens, enriches and maybe even humbles you? Whom would you miss? Who would miss you? While there is no easy or agreed upon definition, what friendships have in common is that they shape us and create other dimensions through which to see the world. This can be for better or worse depending on whom we choose as friends.
Peter Thiel is Not an Enemy of Journalism (He Just Wants to Destroy It) // The Nation Thiel has provided “a dangerous blueprint” that “could be used by any billionaire against any media organization. Sheldon Adelson, Donald Trump, the list goes on and on. Up until now, they’ve mostly been content suing news organizations as plaintiffs, over stories which name them. But Thiel has shown them how to go thermonuclear: bankroll other [people’s] lawsuits, as many as it takes, and bankrupt the news organization that way. Very few companies have the legal wherewithal to withstand such a barrage.”
Words With (I Wish We Were More Than) Friends // NYT Midsummer is when she was due to return to the States, but I don’t know if she ever did. July was also my one-year anniversary in Reno. Yet my happiest memories here have nothing to do with Nevada or the mountains or the university. They are of me sitting on my couch furiously tapping away on a three-inch screen to a woman on the other side of the world, a woman I know both intimately and not at all.
How Exhaustion Became a Status Symbol // New Republic Exhaustion, in popes as in less exalted subjects, is nothing new. But if exhaustion is eternal, our understanding of exhaustion is always changing. Schaffner, who is a lecturer in comparative literature at the University of Kent, shows how each era remakes the condition in its own image, reflecting its medical, technological and cultural developments, as well as its fears. Dangerous precisely because it keeps us from action, exhaustion has for centuries done double duty as a sign of weakness and a badge of honor.
Meet the Woman Who Wrote Michelle Obama's DNC Speech // Medium “She clearly said to me: ‘Okay, this is who I am. This is where I come from. This is my family. These are my values, and this is what I want to talk about at the convention,’ ” Hurwitz recalled. “I realized then that Michelle Obama knows who she is, and she always knows what she wants to say.”
You're Not Meant to Do What You Love. You're Meant to Do What You're Good At // Medium Premeditating what we think we’d love to do without actually being in the thick of it is the beginning of the problem, and having too much ego to scrap it and start over is the end. When we try to anticipate what we’d love, we’re running on a projection, an assumption. Almost everybody believes they have the talent to succeed at the thing they really love. Needless to say, not everybody is correct.
Illegal in Massachusetts: Asking Your Salary in a Job Interview // NYT In a groundbreaking effort to close the wage gap between men and women, Massachusetts has become the first state to bar employers from asking about applicants’ salaries before offering them a job. The new law will require hiring managers to state a compensation figure upfront — based on what an applicant’s worth is to the company, rather than on what he or she made in a previous position.
Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, and the Double Standard of the Side Hustle // WaPo The larger cruelty is that, by excluding certain communities from the formal economy, society has pushed people who might prefer legal work into underground alternatives. Poor education, criminal records, discrimination and legal obstacles for immigrants have turned the shadow economy into a key means for how marginalized communities support themselves, whether driving gypsy cabs, selling street food or working restaurants under the table.
This is What White People Can Do to Support #BlackLivesMatter // WaPo It is not up to Black Lives Matter, nor any movement led by and for communities of color, to make space for or articulate a vision for white people. The expectation that black leaders and movements should automatically do so is a subtle extension of the sort of white-centric entitlement that gives rise to the need for such movements in the first place.
The Last White Male Democratic President // NYMag It remains to be seen whether he can rally these communities to his wife. It may be harder than in 1992 — because of his wealth; because Trump is playing upon their baser instincts; because voters are wary of restoration. It will be harder because of the suffering, because of the anxiety and anger. Still, there was a striking consistency to what he said, a thread that ran from his first inaugural as governor of Arkansas to that day — from the empathy to the insistence on change. He would not, could not, turn back the clock.
Life Hacks of the Poor and Aimless // The Baffler The slow collapse of the social contract is the backdrop for a modern mania for clean eating, healthy living, personal productivity, and “radical self-love”—the insistence that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, we can achieve a meaningful existence by maintaining a positive outlook, following our bliss, and doing a few hamstring stretches as the planet burns. The more frightening the economic outlook and the more floodwaters rise, the more the public conversation is turning toward individual fulfillment as if in a desperate attempt to make us feel like we still have some control over our lives.
The Neurotic Eater's Grocery List // NYMag AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
You can’t get there from here, Lucas J. Besth
Recommended Reading: 7/1
Aziz Ansari: Why Trump Makes Me Scared For My Family // NYT There are approximately 3.3 million Muslim Americans. After the attack in Orlando, The Times reported that the F.B.I. is investigating 1,000 potential “homegrown violent extremists,” a majority of whom are most likely connected in some way to the Islamic State. If everyone on that list is Muslim American, that is 0.03 percent of the Muslim American population. If you round that number, it is 0 percent. The overwhelming number of Muslim Americans have as much in common with that monster in Orlando as any white person has with any of the white terrorists who shoot up movie theaters or schools or abortion clinics. Why Do So Few Women Edit Wikipedia // HBR And yet while Bear and Collier’s analysis showed that women reported less confidence in their expertise, greater discomfort with editing, and greater negative response to criticism, their analysis also found that it was the first two (less confidence and greater discomfort) and not the last (negative response to criticism) that was affecting their contributing behavior. New York City, No Filter: On Voyeurism, Social Media, and Life in the City // Brooklyn Voyeurism, in the city and on the internet, is also an exercise in greater compassion, an imperative to remember that people who are not oneself or one’s loved ones, who do not look like oneself, are still struggling in the same small ways, making the same small mistakes, and gaining the same small victories. The city is a reminder that everyone is a whole story of their own, and everyone is equally human. Who Got Rich Off the Student Debt Crisis // Reveal The Department of Education has little incentive to fix the core problem. The loan program that began with the principal goal of helping disadvantaged students pay for tuition has become a moneymaker for the federal government. Mother, Writer, Monster, Maid // VELA The older I get, the more I recognize the leveraging power of ineptitude. My husband can’t cook well; I do the cooking. My husband accidentally shrinks a few sweaters; I do the laundry. My husband can’t lactate; the baby comes to New York. In his inability to do things, he is excused from labor. In my rush to excel, to shine, to be a good wife and mother, I have done nothing but ensure my labor will be lengthy and unpaid. Refugees Encounter a Foreign Word: Welcome // NYT Across Canada, ordinary citizens, distressed by news reports of drowning children and the shunning of desperate migrants, are intervening in one of the world’s most pressing problems. Their country allows them a rare power and responsibility: They can band together in small groups and personally resettle — essentially adopt — a refugee family.
JUNE 28, 2016
IT’S FUCKING TUESDAY. DID YOU KNOW THE LARGEST AIR FORCE IN THE WORLD IS THE U.S. AIR FORCE AND THE SECOND LARGEST AIR FORCE IN THE WORLD IS THE U.S. NAVY?
WORDS OF WISDOM OF THE FUCKING DAY:
NOBODY EVER WROTE DOWN A PLAN TO BE FAT, BROKE, LAZY, AND STUPID. THOSE ARE THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A PLAN.
PERSON OF THE FUCKING DAY:
THE CZECH MOTHERFUCKING LOCOMOTIVE. more>>
EDUCATE YOUR IGNORANT ASS:
MAKE SOME MONEY SUPER FUCKING FAST. more>>
FUCKING MIND-BLOWING BOOK OF THE DAY:
HOW TO SURVIVE LIFE’S WORST FUCKING SITUATIONS. more>>
USEFUL SHIT OF THE GODDAMN DAY:
FIX THAT FUCKING THING. more>>
WEBSITE OF THE FUCKING DAY:
BOOK A CHEAP-ASS TRIP. more>>
AWESOME-AS-SHIT VIDEO OF THE DAY:
THE PLEASURE OF POETIC FUCKING PATTERN. more>>
SWEET-ASS PICTURE OF THE DAY:
ARCHES NATIONAL FUCKING PARK. more>>
NOBODY EVER WROTE DOWN A PLAN TO BE FAT, BROKE, LAZY, AND STUPID. THOSE ARE THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A PLAN.
Week in Review: June 20-26, 2016
Kicked off the week with some Suits, season five. Met Aaron at Whaley’s after work on Wednesday, then walked over to the VIDA Penthouse for an IVY-sponsored White Party. Met some crazy people and 2 nice people, had drinks, caught up, then enjoyed cheese fries at Bluejacket afterward. Had coffee with the rest of the leadership team at Aroma on Thursday morning since the boss-woman was in town from Austin. Got more compliments from a client in Philly on my 3-hour presentation from earlier in the month which really lifted my spirits. Squeezed in a difficult spin class on Thursday after work before rushing up to Abby’s by bike for our very first Thirsty Third Thursdays beer club – my pretentious, educational tasting club. We kicked off with Ambers and captured our notes in notebooks handmade by Abby. Had a great time sipping brews, enjoying paired cheeses, listening to Tiny Desk concerts, and playing with the kitten. Walked home with Sara and Sam. Worked from home Friday morning, then took the Megabus to Durham to visit Cam and Flo. Arrived late afternoon and walked to Cocoa Cinnamon (per Zarak’s recommendation) to post up and finish work while waiting for my friends to finish work. Enjoyed a lemon bar, finished some editing, and sweated my ass off in the summer sun, happy to be away from constant rain. Got picked up and enjoyed a delicious tapas spread at Mateo before returning to Raleigh to chat wedding planning with Cam. Had a leisurely German breakfast with my lovely hosts and made fun of the 10,000 pieces of equipment for caffeine preparation sitting on their counter (including a transformer). Went for a nice run around the NC State campus and downtown Raleigh, stopping to walk once my knee pain became too much to handle. Showered up and walked to Cameron Village to shop at some of my favorite antique shops. I ended up buying a giant picture book of woodprints, an iron Kokopelli wall hanging, and this funky silver necklace with a 4” soldier holding a 3D sword, which I plan to add to the gallery wall, a la Albert Barnes. Cam and Flo joined me after they finished looking at a wedding venue and we drove downtown to meet my friend Brittany from GHP for lunch at Virgil’s. Housed some amazing tacos then went to Deco, Artspace, and other shops and galleries before walking home to sit by the pool and read for a bit. Met one of 10 NC state troopers who fly the planes for work, then headed to a nail salon for mani/pedis – something I never do, but that I desperately needed if the process was any indication. Sat outside at Trophy Brewing and had pizza and Greek salad then cruised over to Neuse River Brewing for a b-day party and cake. (Carb loading to prepare for life!) Went for another Greenway trail run (my knees are not happy), did German breakfast, teil svei, then posted up at the pool all afternoon to read and people-watch. Finished my book, hit up The Pit for my beloved BBQ tofu medallions, then boarded the Megabus in Durham. Hot boss was in DC while I was in Raleigh, which meant no free boat rides, but also no disappointment on my part. I’d call it a mighty successful week.
Life Itself // Glass Animals
