It’s been a heavy week. I keep waking up in the morning with this icky feeling that I’ve realized is grief. I’ve had to limit time on social media and news websites because it’s just too much. I’m holding out some hope that the United States can make some changes, while also contemplating moving to a country with more restrictions on guns (and less on books and women’s bodies). All that said, let’s get into the usual roundup.
Quote of the week:
“When I feel burnt out by the damaged cares of the world, I try to remind myself to get closer to the damage, the intimate ash of one’s dearest life where a thin layer of oxygen yet remains, to breathe that air, and look around.” –Dan Beachy-Quick
What I’m reading:
It’s been hard to focus this week, but I am slowly making my way through Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids by Lara Bazelon.
What I’m listening to:
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. It’s an interesting one, hits close to home in this pandemic world.
What I’m watching:
I finished the new season of Workin’ Moms. Thankful for the much-needed levity.
Writing news:
My first novel, People Who Knew Me, turned 6 this week! The publication of that book really changed my life and helped me see myself as a “real author.” I’d written numerous novels before that one and had started to wonder if I’d ever get published. The story may be making its way to the screen too–stay tuned!
What I’m talking about:
- The Uvalde shootings. Truly horrifying. I don’t know how many of these events have to happen before there is some legislation put into place
- Abortion rights. Oklahoma just banned abortion from the moment of fertilization, so things are looking prettttty bleak on this front
- That precarious balance between staying informed and protecting mental health
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Of all the children aged 0 to 14 killed by guns in developed countries, 87% are US children
- Since 2017, mass shootings in the US have nearly doubled year over year. Already, there have been 212 mass shooting incidents in 2022–a 50% increase from 141 shootings in May 2017
- Americans make up 4.4% of the global population but own 42% of the world’s guns
- The most expensive book ever sold was $30.8M. It was Codex Leicester by da Vinci and Bill Gates bought it
- Scientists discovered an ancient forest inside a giant sinkhole in China (read here)
- One-third of households are headed by single women
- According to a poll, 74% of Americans think things are going badly
- New York removed its last standing public pay phone this week
- 95% of New Zealanders are vaccinated, and only 1,000 people (in a population of 5 million) have died of Covid there (that would equate to 65,000 people dying here instead of 1 million)
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Quaker beliefs on women’s rights.” I was talking to a friend about how I have some Quaker ancestors and it got me reinterested in exploring that. I was happy to see that Quakers are rooted in a strong sense of spiritual egalitarianism, including a belief in the spiritual equality of the sexes. From the beginning, men and women were granted equal authority to speak in meetings. Interesting!
What I’m grateful for:
- My daughter. I’ve hugged her extra tight this week
- Another busy week of work. I’m a freelance writer and the “feast or famine” thing is real. It’s been a fun feast lately
- A trip out of town this weekend! Been looking forward to this for a while
A few snapshots from this week:
