Reading List: It's Taylor's World, And We're All Just Listening To The Ten Minute 'All Too Well' On Loop. For Hours.

DARLINGS. It’s Friday, I’m 1.5 iced coffees in (and yes, I basically only think about coffee for the first sixty minutes of waking life in the morning, don’t @ me), and my wee lil pupper went to her first large puppy social last night and is passed the hell out in her crate. While she’s no Noodle, I’m taking this Orca (Less) Bones day as a sign that we can all get through today. 

And not to get sappy (who am I kidding, I always get sappy, I’m the biggest softy any of you know), but let’s all take a moment today to thank the coworkers in our lives who let us show up as our full, emotional, complicated and vulnerable selves to work. They are a rarity and after the week that I’ve had, I could not be any more grateful for those colleagues with whom I am in the trenches, who have my back, and who get through extraordinarily stressful times with grace, kindness and humor. You all know who you are, as I know you read this silly daily screed, so THANK YOU.

TO THE LONGREADS

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) - Am I currently listening to the latest in Ms. Swift’s campaign to reclaim her own IP? Yes, yes I am. Do I plan to listen to it on loop this weekend? Yes, yes I do. And considering one of the most picture-perfect pandemic memories I have include me taking an edible, lying on the floor and listening to Folklore on repeat while the world around us burned, you know I’m going to go DEEP on this.

Pavithra Mohan, Inside the life of a tech activist: abuse, gaslighting, but ultimately optimism (Fast Company) - Since 2013, Tracy Chou has served as the conscience of the tech industry dragged kicking and screaming from its presentation as bubbly and idealistic meritocratic utopia into acknowledging and tackling (sometimes…) the deep and systemic rot of racism, misogyny and inequality - and as such, she’s endured things (both online and off) that no one should ever have to deal with. And out of the maelstrom of awfulness she’s fought against for years, she built a start-up that builds anti-harassment tools. Using her story, this intimate profile of Chou also tracks the overall progress (or lack thereof) that our industry is making on these issues.

Scott Barry Kaufman, What Collective Narcissism Does to Society (The Atlantic) - This piece starts by referencing Adorno and Fromm, and ends with “You can’t force everyone to see the value in your group, just as you can’t force everyone to see the value in you as an individual. But you can control how you see yourself, and the narrative you tell yourself about your group and the world.” So yea, important and relevant sentiments to absorb right now.

Various BuzzFeed Staff, The Chris Pratt Backlash Was Always Coming (BuzzFeedNews) - I hope you all know this here Missive is an Anna Faris stan account, so we are all collectively here for this discussion of the Worst Chris.

Matt Shuham, Trump’s Circle Is Full Of Men Accused Of Threatening Behavior, Harassment, Violence (Talking Points Memo) - The abuse? It’s a feature, not a bug.

You’re all lovely. I hope you have a restorative and refreshing weekend. Drink that water, get outside for even five minutes, and be kind to yourself, won’t you?

Xoxo Amy