Defense Mechanisms, Homeopathic BS, Awkward Work Memos
Morning folks, I’m home with a brutal chest cold, so I report to you today from bed. And before you send along your homeopathic cold remedies, I direct you to Study: Homeopathic treatments useful for none of 61 illnesses researched. Emergency room doctor, friend of the Missive, and hater of all things snake-oil Haley said this when sent that article: "This is a dose of the motherf*cking truth. Pun intended. Mic drop.” But if there’s a matzoh ball soup delivery app out there, I’ll gladly be a beta tester.
And today in messages from the Motherland, my Dad sends hopeful thoughts:
As we discussed yesterday, Jeb! Bush is now out of the Republican primary race. We all know it's easy to dismiss him and his campaign, tittering away at the missteps and awkwardness. Laughter is considered one of the “mature” human defense mechanisms, a signal "both to ourselves and others that we believe in our ability to endure” something horrible. But as Slate discusses, Jeb Bush Was Not a Joke. Seth Stevenson found humanity and vulnerability in Bush’s pathos and the way he spoke to everyone, not just the frothing angry masses. Stevenson respected Jeb's chutzpah to call out Trump for his "worst barbarities.” So while it’s so easy to film a Grease parody of the end of Jeb's campaign - and I’ll admit, I laughed - I’m trying to curb my enthusiasm, recognizing that, with Jeb out, the rhetoric we’re left with is something horrible, indeed.
Freelancing isn’t all long lunches and mid-day yoga classes - it’s a ton of uncertainty, taxes and feast-or-famine.
Al Jazeera America is going down swinging: "Vox has redefined the media company by curating the journalism right out of it. And so we who are about to die here at Al Jazeera America salute you, our enterprising Vox masters, with one last upward thrust of our expiring middle finger."
And finally, as the Zenefits saga continues to burn, the WSJ found out that a memo was distributed to the company telling folks to stop having sex in the stairwells. Can someone buy the Zenefits communications team a buffet of cookies or something?
Godspeed, poppets. Send healthy thoughts my way.