Happy Friday! Mine started off with a 16-mile run in beautiful weather, during which I saw a big pod of dolphins—pretty idyllic if you ask me. Here’s to idyllic things for all of us this weekend.
Quote of the week:
“I am a great friend of chaos. It’s all we have. I mean, this whole concept of being able to manage life… life is risk, life is chance, life is being open to chance. The best things in my life, and probably in anybody’s life, come out of being open to being blown off course.” –Tilda Swinton
What I’m reading:
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan—this is such a great book with a really original, haunting concept.
I’m also still reading Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath. This will take me a while. It’s as long as it is good.
What I’m watching:
Space Force on Netflix. The second season just might be funnier than the first. Steve Carell is great, but my favorite character is the one played by Ben Schwartz.
Writing news:
I received another kind review for Ways the World Could End from author Melissa Scholes Young:
“Ways the World Could End by Kim Hooper is a love story about a family with broken hearts who help each other heal. Dave, a dad with Asperger’s, grieves his wife and turns to prepping as a way of coping with the challenges of parenting a teen in a threatening world he can’t control. In Kim Hooper’s capable hands, humor prevails in this touching tale of loss, isolation, and forgiveness.”
Thank you, Melissa!
I’m hard at work on a new novel and this quote from Kevin Larimer, editor of Poets & Writers magazine, really resonated with me this week: “I’ve reached the point where maybe I want to talk about it, but maybe not; it’s difficult to say. There must be a name for this period of cautious optimism when a project is still in its nascent stage, a kind of fragile embryonic form, and you’re afraid to talk about it for fear the whole thing will disappear if exposed to daylight.”
What I’m talking about:
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I’m heartbroken thinking of the young kids in Ukraine who are terrified about their future. It’s deeply unsettling to me that one deranged man can just claim another country as his own and launch the biggest attack on a European country since WWII. I’m glad other countries are opposing him and I hope order and peace are restored soon
- The passing of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, which bans certain discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in primary school. This, along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s stated intention to report parents of trans kids for abuse, has me really disheartened. Lots of sad and troubling things going on
- Teaching critical race theory in schools. I really do not understand the opposition to this. Also, slavery is not “Black history”; it’s white history
- The US women’s soccer team’s equal pay settlement. VICTORY! Finally some good news! (read here)
- Taking back personal time in this crazy-paced world by simply ceasing to be so available (read here). I left my last full-time job because of this. The demands on my availability were just too much
- The need for a 32-hour work week. Spain and Iceland are experimenting with this. Microsoft did a pilot program in Japan in 2019 and saw a 40% increase in productivity. There is currently a bill in Congress here to bring this here
Interesting things I learned this week:
- An avocado shortage is looming (read here)—guys, I eat like 10 avocados a week; this is a problem
- Sand is the second most exploited commodity besides water (it’s used in everything from iPhones to wine) and it’s running out (read here)
- Only 3% of species pair-bond (and that’s usually just for one season)
- About 52% of all essential workers throughout the pandemic have been women; one in three jobs held by women has been deemed essential
- The last 2-22-22 was in 1622
- Since 1978, the Diagram Prize has been given to the oddest book title of the year. In 2021, the winner was Roy Schwartz’s Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero. My favorite past winner: People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It
- When instant cake mixes were introduced in the 1950s, housewives initially rejected them for being too easy, so the manufacturers changed the recipe so you had to add an egg and then they became more popular (and we still have the “add an egg” thing today)
- A study looked at the happiness levels of people with and without kids in 22 countries and found that the extent to which kids make you happy is influenced by whether there are childcare policies in place (like paid parental leave). Not surprisingly, the country with the greatest happiness drop after kids is the US
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Doofus or dufus.” Apparently, “dufus” is the colloquial spelling and “doofus” is slang. I went with “doofus” for my purposes.
What I’m grateful for:
Antibiotics! I have been genetically blessed in many ways, but I did inherit terrible sinuses. Whenever I get a cold (however minor), I get a sinus infection. This fate struck again this past week and I’m now on 20 days of antibiotics. FUN! Every time this happens to me, I think about the fact that if this happened 100 years ago, I might… die? That’s insane.
I’m also grateful for beautiful weather, my adorable daughter, my dogs and cats, and text messaging (which often fills my social cup just enough and satisfies my little introvert heart).
A few snapshots from this week:
