Dear Kids,
Last night Jack and I settled in to watch the debate, me on my plump windowseat perch, Jack in his size XL wing chair. After a short while I began to hear faint gentle snoring from the chair. Was I watching the debate alone? Hell no! Most enjoyably, I was watching the faux Town Hall with you! Texting you newlyweds on the west coast: Nick on the ground and Mary Beth careening cross-continent. (“The whole plane I’m on is erupting this is kind of amazing watching it in the air in a confined space with 200 ppl I don’t know lol.”) Also on the line: Mary, furious, understandably; hitting every irate emoji. Her sister has boycotted any more Trump on account of an inherited blood-pressure situation. Namaste, Louisa.
Now, in addition to this delightful nucleus of debate company, I also had at my fingertips, literally, my favorite fact-checking, wise-cracking newsfeeds and commentators. All in all, a very satisfying spectator event. So why did I wake up glum this morning. Alors, the debate had been so dispiriting. For one thing, who wanted to see the line-up of now-faded former Bill Clinton girlfriends. Ugh. And seating them next to the perfectly primped and buff Trump women strikes me as just another absurd cruelty. I honestly don’t think Jack missed very much.
Tomorrow I am going to join a panel called “Building Collaborative Networks.” So here are >140 characters on some networks I use—why and how:
- Twitter: Indispensable. Because I don’t want to miss anything on “my” issues. Curate often. Glom onto trending hashtags; #inventyourown.
- LinkedIn: Professional. Direct. Courteous. Politely suggest what your contacts can do for you; mention what you can do for them. Join Groups, but strategically.
- Instagram: Love it more and more.
- Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest: another time. Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube: ditto. (What’s that snoring sound I hear.) 💤💤💤
Why have a Word of the Day. Why on earth would you not? Why say “sleazy” when you really mean uncouth or pernicious? An interesting vocabulary is a sublime asset to develop, no matter what. But develop it you must. Like enviable sculpted deltoids, a stellar vocabulary doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. I recommend learning at least one word a day. (Where you can find them? Right here. I’m obsessed.)
Tip: You can always learn new words by reading good writing.
Good Writing. I subscribe to Rolling Stone, the bastion of music culture for my entire lifetime. But not only to keep up with popular music, or for the pleasure of monitoring Ron Wood stylishing camouflaging his bald spots!! Music is not why I must have Rolling Stone delivered every week. It’s the science! The climate science reportage is amazing. I first tuned in via Bill McKibben’s seminal piece Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math (July 19, 2012) (Read it this instant!) (I know I already told you about this!)
Persistence/Payoff Noted:
“For whatever reason, I kept working on this book for years. That was kind of the shocking thing to me, that I didn’t get bored with it. It was so bad for so long.” Brit Bennett, on her first novel The Mothers, which is “shaping up to be one of the fall’s biggest literary debuts,” according to the NYTimes.
That’s it for now.
Love, Mom