A flying drop in of links for your reading delectation, my ducklings. I’m still semi absent, but I’m also still finding you things to help us all distract ourselves from the general…er…everything…
Never not interested in antique jewels!
Also never not into the women who make other powerful people (especially women), well, powerful.
Reupping this story from last week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex continued to be candid and vulnerable in powerful ways. I’m more convinced than ever that she (and likely he) did not understand the ugliness she was going to face and I think this interview speaks to that. “I never thought it would be easy,” she said of tabloid newspaper coverage, “but I thought it would be fair.”
2020 is going to be so ugly I can’t think about it without feeling panicky.
What a week for journalism! Not only did McKay Coppins drop another brilliant profile this week, Ashley Feinberg did her usual investigative brilliance and discovered Senator Romney’s secret Twitter feed within hours of learning of its existence! “C’est moi!”
We need to talk more about menstrual cups.
People are going to have to move. Millions of them. And anyone who doesn’t like that fact now is in for a world of hurt and anger in the foreseeable human future.
Messaging matters. It’s why I have a career, and you don’t always notice it until you notice its absence.
Long live Bilbo the cat.
This feels like it should be a much bigger story in the wider conversations we’re having about money, citizenship, capitalism, and culture. We already pay a literal cost to participate in society, it’s called taxes. To be in a position to have to pay in ORDER to pay for taxes is mad.
On the one hand, he’s right. On the other hand, I was personally awash in thirst in most of the films in some way or another.
I’m not proud of the fact that I follow at least two astrology meme social media accounts. I don’t believe in it…and yet…
I spend a lot of time thinking about collective anger. Everyone is angry right now–*I’m* angry. And a lot of interested parties (irrespective of faction) have spent years whipping up anger to suit their own ends. I think a lot of those interested parties have badly misjudged how much control they will have over that anger in the long term.
Such malicious enjoyment I felt reading this!
Why it’s wrong to dismiss the power and draw of online communities and the very real value they give.
Why journalism failed the Brexit debate (and elsewhere).
Just when you’re convinced 2019 could not get any dumber: butt dialling.
Something I think a lot about and I suspect Small Dog Nation does too.
An excellent piece on how our collective perceptions of time and experience have changed in the last decade. It’s flattened. Our experiences have become performative. Privacy is mostly a delusion. We’re going to have to do some real psychological work as a culture to figure out what to do and where to go next as a result.
Because it’s witch season, let’s indulge in a bit of history on the subject, shall we?
…this story…I just…the poodles?!
God: you’re an otter.
Otter: yay!
God: you’re my cutest creation.
Otter: double yay!
God: the humans are gonna need you.
Otter: why?
God: when they feel sad you’ll remind them life isn’t all bad.
Otter: [determined whisper] i’ll do my best to make the world a better place.
— Oops!…I Dad It Again (@NewDadNotes) October 22, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Small Dog Syndrome 
I get a bit panicky when I think about 2020 too. I’m so tired of the endless uncertainty (Brexit…), fear and conflict that’s going on all over the world. But we have to keep on keeping on in the hope that things will get better.
I watched a devastating documentary (For Sama) on channel 4 last night. It was filmed by a 26-year-old Syrian journalist during the siege of Aleppo. Deeply personal and heartwrenching.
Re: the Guardian Mooncup article – menstrual cups are amazing! One thing I would say, though, is that Mooncup tends to be synonymous with menstrual cup in the UK (in the US, it’s the Divacup, I think). And they’re all a bit different, so it’s worth researching different brands before you buy. I decided on a Lunette and wouldn’t go back to using anything else.
Honestly, I feel like every year since 2015 (personally and globally) has just gotten harder and harder to work through and deal with. I just think of 2020 and I feel a whole body wince.
I actually am test driving a menstrual cup atm, after doing a tonne of research to find a model that I thought was worth trying. I’m sold on the concept but still getting the hang of its use!
They definitely take a while to get used to!