Here & There, #3!
I read less news and more of my favorite newsletters this week, and I think my head felt clearer for it. Here are a few of my favorites from here & there around the internet lately…
I love Anne Helen Peterson’s newsletter, and her recent piece about vaccine appointments was particularly good. “What’s the secret to getting an appointment? It’s the same secret to navigating any American system: have a tech-savvy English-speaking person in your life with ample times on their hands.”
I generally think the whole “cities are dead” narrative is a bit dramatic, but this Atlantic article is the first place I’ve heard the term “Zillow tourism” and I’m glad to have a name for the strange pandemic hobby I’ve picked up.
Sarah Bessey is a good soul, and I loved her newsletter this week about the goodness of making things.
“We could have given restaurants tax breaks or rent relief. We could have paid restaurants to pay their workers to stay home. We could have socialized healthcare. There are so many things we, as the richest nation on earth, could have done besides telling people it’s their fault if their favorite taco shop goes under.” I’m sad for restaurants and restaurants workers right now, and furious that our government isn’t doing more to help them.
Let’s end this week’s links on a high note. Do you remember that Bernie Sanders meme from Inauguration Day? Slate interviewed the teacher who knit those mittens he's wearing in that photo, and now I want to be friends with her. When they asked her about the offers she’s getting to to sell those mittens, she said, “I can see that if I wanted to drop everything and pursue that path, I could do it, but who knows how long that would last? The path that I’m already on brings me a tremendous amount of joy and I think that’s the greatest symbol of success, right? This little blip of fame is sweet, and it’ll pass, and then my regular life will just be what it already is, which is kind of nice.” Isn’t that lovely? Read the whole interview here.