Reading List: Pretty Sure The "Emotional Support Pint Of Ice Cream" Index Is Performing Above Market Right Now
Happiest of Fridays, my darlings - I hope you’re taking care of yourself and everyone around you. Please be patient today - as Friend of the Missive Katelyn pointed out to me late last night, it’s pretty weird that we’re all expected to work when there was a firefight—and subsequent actual fire—at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant last night. I’ve found it very difficult to write about everything that’s happening in Ukraine. This conflict is so potentially catastrophic that anything I put down comes off histrionic and cliched, and I keep wanting to bury my head in the sand and soothe my anxious brain. I’m encountering all of this superficially, choosing to disengage rather that attempt to comprehend the magnitude of what we’re staring down.
So instead of the emotional or thoughtful take I wish I could share, here’s a video of my dog’s new trick:
So keep doing your best, ok?
TO THE LONGREADS!
Franklin Foer, A Prayer for Volodymyr Zelensky (The Atlantic) - This is from last week, and I imagine most of you have already read it, but damn, this man is formidably meeting the moment we are in.
Emily VanDerWerff, Volodymyr Zelenskyy brings a performer’s skill to wartime politics (Vox) - And keeping on the theme, why is he—an immensely popular comedian who once purported to perform Hava Nagila with umm, well, hmm, not his hands—meeting the moment the way he is? As VanDerWerff points out, “The act of leadership is always bound up in performance, at least to some degree”.
Peter Aldhous and Christopher Miller, How Open-Source Intelligence Is Helping Clear The Fog Of War In Ukraine (BuzzFeed News) - When researchers in California can tell an invasion has started due to Google Map activity half a world away, you know we’re in a brave new world of war.
Walter Jaegerhaus, What’s the Matter with American Cities? (CommonEdge) - Did you know that the number of architect Missive readers is quite high, and skews the style AND the super badass cool builder-y-ness of our wee reading community much higher than the general population (humble brag)? Well, though all of you are likely hard at work on various building challenges and aren’t necessarily urban planners, but I’d be interested in your thoughts on this piece!
Aki Ito, 'My company is not my family': Fed up with long hours, many employees have quietly decided to take it easy at work rather than quit their jobs (Insider) - I would gamble that anyone who’s been working long hours at home for a corporate job over the last two years relates to the sentiment described here.
Be kind.
xoxo Amy