Six(ish) things I’ve found interesting this week
What If We Got Adoption All Wrong? I don’t know a lot about adoption, but realized I’d unquestioningly swallowed the cultural narratives about it being an unmitigated good. This essay from Design Mom‘s newsletter added nuance to how I view adoption and was a sobering reminder of how often adoption narratives center the adoptive parents rather than the adopted children.
Passive-Aggressive Work Emails With My Toddler About Dinner I’ve been sharing this hilarious piece from Bess Kalb’s newsletter The Grudge Report, which I found on Cup of Jo, with all the toddler parents I know.
Elite Universities Are Out of Touch. Blame the Campus. A NYT opinion piece on college campuses as geographic bubbles (mine certainly was). I don’t agree with every argument, and I find it lacking in concrete examples, but it is a helpful reminder that even the physical layout of a college or university can inhibit access, perpetuate exclusion, and be counterproductive to social justice.
Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving I just finished this audiobook from Celeste Headlee. It’s imperfect, but did a lot to challenge the idea that we’re truly as busy as we think we are.
Blue Marriage and The Terror of Divorce Another fascinating one from Anne Helen Petersen’s newsletter, Culture Study. What stood out to me was the conservatism entrenched in so-called “blue” (liberal, educated, bourgeois) marriages.
From “Self-Starter” To “High-Paced Environment”: The Real Meaning Behind These Job Descriptions An amusing takedown from The Financial Diet of jargony job ad language and the dark sides of companies that it can reveal. Bonus points for including tips on how to handle interviews at companies that pump out this nonsense.
LEAH ANDERSON 