Not sure what happened to August, but hello to September. My favorite season starts this month. Bring on the crisper air, cooler temps, and Halloween decorations.
Quote of the week:
“It’s hard to remember that this day will never come again. That the time is now and the place is here and that there are no second chances at a single moment.” — Jeanette Winterson
What I’m reading:
I am just about to finish We Are Too Many, Hannah Pittard’s sort-of memoir about her husband’s affair with her best friend. I really like it. Very unique structure and compulsively readable.
What I’m listening to:
One Hundred Names for Love by Diane Ackerman. It’s about her husband’s stroke and their life together as he recovers. Beautiful writing.
What I’m watching:
I’m on episode 7 of The Last of Us and it is so good. Like most parties, I am late to this one, but glad I came.
Writing news:
Got an idea for a new novel this week, so that’s fun. Letting my mind work on it before I take any next steps. Also tinkering with more poetry.
Interesting things I learned this week:
- In France, Netflix reports their viewership to writers monthly and pays writers based on that viewership—it’s the law there. Meanwhile, the writer’s strike continues here…
- Autarky is an economic system of self-sufficiency and limited trade. Saw this word this week and legit thought it was a typo. Nope
- 46 Ohio schools have chosen to arm teachers and staff. Ugh
- The people of Ecuador have voted to halt all current and future oil drilling in the Amazon. Yay!
- Only 23% of workers globally are engaged in their jobs. That number rises to 33% in the U.S. but falls to 13% in Europe, according to Gallup
- Working moms spend 80 minutes longer than dads every day taking care of kids and households, while dads spend almost 50 minutes more than moms watching TV or doing other enjoyable activities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“origin xoxo.” This was an interesting little rabbit hole to go down. From Dictionary.com:
“The use of X as a symbol is believed to date back to the Middle Ages, when most people were not literate. They would use the letter X—or a cross—to sign documents as a display of faith and indication of their sincerity. They’d also kiss the cross as another symbol of trustworthiness: a literal ‘seal with a kiss.’ In these instances, the X represented the sign of the cross and Christ because of its connection to the Chi-Rho, a Christian symbol. The first two letters of Christ in Greek (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ) are chi and rho, and chi looks like X. It’s possible that the X also became connected with kissing because it looks like two puckered lips. No matter its history, the letter X was used in letters to symbolize a kiss back in the 1700s.
The origins of how O came to represent a hug are even more uncertain, though some connect its use to illiterate Jewish immigrants who came to the US who may have signed documents with an O. They did this in contrast to the Christian X. Eventually the letter came to represent a hug. Another possibility is that the O is used to represent hugs because it simply looks like someone encircling their arms in a hugging gesture. It’s also possible that the O came to mean “hug” because of its prior association with X from the game tic-tac-toe.”
What I’m grateful for:
- Surviving this week’s 18-mile long run. The struggle was real. Just about 5 weeks until the Chicago Marathon
- My daughter is loving kindergarten, which makes my heart so happy. We already had our first playdate with a new school friend
- My daughter’s dad made it through a harrowing week of hiking in the Sierras. He came back 15 pounds lighter and is still in the process of finding the words to describe what happened out there
- Fall is in the air!
Snapshots:
