Anyone else getting sick of asking and answering “How are you doing?” And at the same time, I find myself constantly reassessing—how am
I doing? Today? This morning? In this minute? For me, the answer may change hourly, making finding little sources of joy or comfort critical. That most often means cake—eating it, baking it, looking at photos of it—
but sometimes a good book, article, show, or song will do the trick. Read on for more of the things getting us through.
For the most part, I’ve been indulging in pretty mindless TV for the past couple months. We’ve binged all the things we’re supposed to (Tiger King, Ozark) plus my two-year-old’s favorites (Moana, Zootopia). And we have come, late to the game, to Schitt’s Creek, which has been a blissful distraction from reality. But for a change of pace, I suggested my family watch Becoming, the Netflix documentary that follows Michelle Obama on her tour for the book by the same name. It was perfect. I was especially grateful to be watching it with my 11- and 14-year-old daughters as it offered a segue into conversations about white privilege, worthiness, and humility. Michelle provides a reminder of all the good there is in the world and that, even in dark times, there is always cause for hope.
Brittany:
Some Good News
Annie:
The Morning Newsletter from The New York Times
Emma:
The Wall Street Journal
Rachel
editor
Mimi
editor
Go to Mimi’s pick
Go to Rachel’s pick
Those of a certain age might remember Annie Lennox’s version of the
song “Every time we say goodbye” from the Red Hot + Blue album project.
Her rendition is so beautiful and powerful. It would be hard to find a song that better captures the pain many of us are feeling right now.
Favorite current news sources
Katie:
Jacobin
Allan
senior adviser
Go to Allan’s pick
Annie
editor
Go to Annie’s pick
Commencements—and commencement speeches—are exciting to me, even when the graduates are getting launched into a pandemic with no medical or economic resolution in sight.
I hoover up commencement speeches because the good ones, like
David Brooks’s from this year, give you some guidelines for how to live an interesting—and even a good—life. One way to test whether an experience passes the interesting-or-good test is to ask, “Is this something people will ask me about later on in life? Will this be good fodder for my eulogy?” Gather enough of those experiences, and you'll create a life that would make for a good eulogy (a whole other genre of speeches)—or an obituary that's interesting to strangers.
I read the book Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It last year, but I think I might revisit it, as the idea of “enough” (what it looks like, what it isn’t, and when do we know we’ve reached it) is especially pertinent now. While the deluge of articles, essays, tweets, and ’grams about achieving balance and finding meaning in everything can seem overwhelming and not just a little trite, Shauna Ahern’s voice stands out in this morass. She’s funny, a straight shooter, and introspective without leaning too hard on sentimentality.