Delayed Reading List: Yes, I Consider Bingewatching Otter TikToks Self Care And You Cannot Convince Me Otherwise.
Darlings! This is a delayed Missive today, but since it’s a long weekend, I wanted to make sure that you got your reading recommendations in you inbox, in the off chance you need something to do this weekend.
Also: a reminder that visiting friends, even if socially-distanced and outside, are absolutely crucial in maintaining mental health during this insane time. Just had a nice catch-up with Friend of the Missive (and family lawyer extraordinaire, look, some are saying the divorce rate is up due to the pandemic, I’m saying get someone awesome in your court if you need it ) Liat and it helped drive the darkness back at least a couple of weeks!
But in all seriousness, are you watching out for your own mental health? The past two months have been especially trying, and I myself know that the melancholy can creep up on you and then suddenly sit on top of your laptop, staring into your soul. Are you checking in with yourself to see if you are burned out / panicking / stressed / sad / manic / what have you? Despite this pandemic and the isolation that accompanies it becoming normal and expected, that doesn’t lessen its impact on your own wellbeing. If you can, take time off when you need it. Ask for help. Connect with a friend. Find a therapist. Go for a walk. Do some yoga. Scream for half an hour into a pillow. Take up gopher taxidermy. Bake yourself a cake. Bake your dog a cake. Listen to music. Write a sonnet. Go to bed early. Let yourself sleep in. Howl at the moon. Bingewatch the second season of Fleabag (NSFW, obvi). Write a loved one a letter, and mail it. Take pictures of strangers’ dogs (with consent, obvi). Be kind to yourself, because you’ve got this.
TO THE LONGREADS!
Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel - OK, this is cheating a bit since I just finished it yesterday, but this book by the author of the spookily prescient Station Eleven about the players and victims of a Ponzi scheme is SO much more compelling than that description makes it seem. Read it!
Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ (The Atlantic) - Look, I’m as sick of reading about Our Terrible President as much as you and the next person is. But reading this piece, wherein it is reported that POTUS called soldiers who died in war “losers”, couldn’t tell who the “good guys” were in WWI, and “can’t fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself” is especially vomit-inducing. What a small and petty man.
David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Joshua Partlow, Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump’s company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000 (The Washington Post) - Meanwhile, the Trump organization is making mad bank with taxpayers funds… coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool… Also, can we just give David Fahrenthold and his team alllllll of the awards, please? Kthxbai.
Lily Janiak, Quentin Kopp writes angry letters to journalists, so naturally I wanted to meet him (San Francisco Chronicle) - There’s a former judge/state senator in San Francisco who likes to send nastygrams to local politicians - so the Chronicle’s theater critic decided to get an interview with him. The result is gold. (H/t Friend of the Missive and yoga buddy Owen Thomas for posting this on Twitter.)
Steve LeVine, Remote Work Is Killing the Hidden Trillion-Dollar Office Economy (Marker by Medium) - Yesterday on a work call, we were discussing all of the services near our offices that we no longer use since we’ve been at home. Local services like cobblers, dry cleaners, coffee shops, print shops, bakeries, all of which are now… what? What happened to them? This piece takes a look at what has happened to the “hidden economy” built up around office work.
Laura Santhanam, How Canada got universal health care and what the U.S. could learn (PBS) - Just gonna put this out here for all of us to consider…
Well, remember that I really really really really really really like you. Be kind to yourself, have a great long weekend, and I will see you on Tuesday.
xoxo Amy