Things I read (mostly) this week: 11/3

I missed last week because I played hooky to celebrate halloween the little nieces, so this week you get extra content! Lucky for you. Themes in this dispatch: loss, women in tech and the arts, and elections.

+ This piece on kindness was widely shared this week, and for good reason. If you are struggling with a loss, or have a sick parent then this’ll lighten your aching heart some.

+ I loved this piece about what it’s like to be a black woman in tech. Anyone who’s ever been the token anything will relate to this story, but I also encourage men to read this to learn to recognize some of the signs and be more empathetic to the women facing them. Related, the pitfalls of being a male ally.

+ How being 41, pregnant, and single is the new normal.

+ This travel story on flying kites for Dia de los Muetos at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala came out of nowhere, crazy because I wasn’t looking for anything when I picked up this magazine and I happen to be going to this exact part of Guatemala in a couple weeks for a yoga + writing retreat. Even if you don’t have any trips coming up, it’s a well-written rumination on how different cultures celebrate death.

+ Listened to how women stopped coding in large numbers in the 1980’s.

+ Dads talking to their daughters about body parts and how to be supportive as girls grow up.

+ I’m going to nom on these delicata squash and black bean enchiladas, only with salsa verde pro favor

+ Curating art for characters is a lovely series. The art picked for Amelié is pitch perfect.

+ 10 Female Dataists you should know

+ A teen (girl!) comes up with the best algorithm for fighting cyberbullying I’ve seen so far. Research so far shows it is over 90% effective in reducing hate speech messages. Investors, where are you? Give this kid all the moneys.

Ugh, Elections amiright:

“It was demoralizing to watch some truly pro-woman candidates like Wendy Davis lose on Election Day as other candidates win by ignoring or outright disparaging the very feminist values that enabled them to become politicians in the first place. As I watched the Republican women deliver their victory speeches, I wondered: Has she never been on birth control? Has she never had a pregnancy scare? Has she never had a friend threatened by a man with a gun? Has her life experience really taught her that everyone ignores race and gender and judges each other on the merits?” – Why the Midterms were bad for Women

Interestingly, I finished Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale last week, which is a strange book to read around the time of an election. It’s about a futuristic dystopian, heavily militarized, and highly physically repressed American society where white women (there are no openly gay, trans, or people of color in the story, because according to the epilogue, they were “phased out”) are ENTIRELY subservient to men upon threat of extreme exile or death. This book taught me to imagine how it could be possible that slowly and steadily people could be stripped of choice until after a few generations, no one remembers what it was like to be able to do anything, much less vote. Written by Atwood in 1985, it’s still quite relevant as this week’s election presents no major gain for women and other marginalized groups. As much as a downer as this book was, I think it’s an important story in remembering why civic duty exists in the first place. And to bring this book’s message beyond women’s studies classes where it’s probably most often discussed, to continue to fight for equal rights for all. As I was mulling this over, I saw this excellent explainer on Facebook, which gives me a huge dose of hope that these election losses can be improved on in 2016. So, there’s at least a hopeful note to end on!

Until next time, friends!

Things I read/watched/learned this week of 10/20*


From the women of NPR this video: Talking While Female explores the ways in which women are written off simply by their voices and how we use them. Illustrations by one my favorite graphic designers, Kelli Anderson.

+ Are you using Slack chat app yet? If you’re already using it for multiple teams, then you’ll appreciate this new beta version of Slack Multiple. Get into it and see for yourself how this app is a real game changer. Some people even think it’s going to kill email.

+ A first person story of a woman’s abortion in 1959.

+ The Toast’s hilarious breakdown of current internet slang. I can’t even with this it’s everything my spirit animal…

+ Erin Loechner’s real bio is fantastic and embraces shades of gray not often seen on the internet.

+ While co-working a couple weeks ago with a friend who recently had a little one (Hi Crystal! Hi June!) I thought about how a lot of the music I listen to isn’t always scalable to the youngest and oldest among us. So I responded with this playlist. It’s called Classy Tunes for Young Folks, but really there’s still plenty of stuff on here the aged will like as well as some songs that expressly remind me of my own parents. If I were still working with kids I’d play this during free play, when coloring, cleaning, or other busy work.

*As of 10:38am.

Things I Read / Watched / Learned Week of 10/20*


From the women of NPR this video: Talking While Female explores the ways in which women are written off simply by their voices and how we use them. Illustrations by one my favorite graphic designers, Kelli Anderson.

+ Are you using Slack chat app yet? If you’re already using it for multiple teams, then you’ll appreciate this new beta version of Slack Multiple. Get into it and see for yourself how this app is a real game changer. Some people even think it’s going to kill email.

+ A first person story of a woman’s abortion in 1959.

+ The Toast’s hilarious breakdown of current internet slang. I can’t even with this it’s everything my spirit animal…

+ Erin Loechner’s real bio is fantastic and embraces shades of gray not often seen on the internet.

+ While co-working a couple weeks ago with a friend who recently had a little one (Hi Crystal! Hi June!) I thought about how a lot of the music I listen to isn’t always scalable to the youngest and oldest among us. So I responded with this playlist. It’s called Classy Tunes for Young Folks, but really there’s still plenty of stuff on here the aged will like as well as some songs that expressly remind me of my own parents. If I were still working with kids I’d play this during free play, when coloring, cleaning, or other busy work.

*As of 10:38am.

Things I read this week 10/13*

Slightly lighter reading this week due to  focus on client work and family visiting for my partner’s solo show exhibition (hi Mom! I know I’m supposed to be getting ready instead of on the computer :-). But, here’s a few of the best.

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I could look at this moving drawing from artist Lilli Carré all. day. long.

+ The Price of Black Ambition, a new essay from one of my faves Roxanne Gay, put a lump in my throat.

+ What I saw as an NFL Ball Boy. As gritty as you might expect, but also optimistic about the future of the NFL.

+ Common things men in tech can do to be more inclusive. Actually, this should be for everyone because I’ve caught myself doing one or two of these things too.

+ Aminatou Sow pretty much wins the internet for the day with this:

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Yes, my friend. You nailed it.

Until next week friends! Off to see the work of prolific Chicago photographer, Vivian Maier. Hoping to find an instagram or two to file away for later.

*As of 11:45am

Things I Read, Week of 10/6*


Between Anita Sarkeesian’s XOXO talk about her online harrasment (above) and Kathy Seirra’s story on why she’s leaving twitter again, it’s been a doozy of a week for feminists online. So, I’ve decided to include only articles in support of non cis men in this week’s dispatch.

+ First how women – who are generally criticized more, and in more personal ways than men – can learn to expect, parse, and deflect the criticism that will come our way if we do our jobs well. Follow up with Ann Friedman’s Disapproval Matrix for dealing with haters.

+ On keeping the T in LGBT from being erased on television via the superb show, Transparent, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

+ Wonder Woman is largely based on Margaret Sanger, the woman who invented the idea of birth control in 1916 and founded America’s first women’s health clinics that evolved into today’s Planned Parenthood. Funny how the same fight for birth control was going on in 1916 and remains largely unchanged these days.

+ The Dawn of the Post-Clinic Abortion. This story would make an incredible film that I’d watch the heck out of.

+ The moms and eventual moms out there: there’s nothing wrong with the mommy track.

+ This charming series on surprising things about parenting outside of America. Prepare to experience some travel wanderlust.

+ There’s no such thing as “the cool girl”.

*As of 11:30am today. Also why am I writing this series now? It’s a means to get back to regular writing, and I don’t send my newsletters often enough that these stories are as timely there. And it’s a catalog that tracks how much and what I’m reading online, instead of mindlessly consuming content and getting feelings that I don’t do anything about. I basically keep a draft open all week and plug in the links I’ve read, and then publish on Friday. It’s a way to combat faux cultural literacy that we’ve probably all run into from time to time.