Friday’s online finds: Cozy up and dig in.

• …I think the real problem is that life is still exhausting because the pandemic was and remains exhausting in so many invisible ways — and we still haven’t given ourselves space to even begin to recover. Instead, we’re just softly boiling over, emptying and evaporating whatever stores of energy and patience and grace remain. (Culture Study)
• What Are “The Young People” Into? It’s Called “Aesthetic” and “Avant Basic” I Had No Idea, And Now I Do (Emily Henderson)
• Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of 911 – the story about Roselle the guide dog is one of my favourite THIS IS LOVE episodes.
• 23 Charts To Help You Visualize Just How Different Foods Are Around The World – wait, are Garlic Fingers a Nova Scotia thing? (BuzzFeed)
• Asking employees if they want to “return to the office” is asking the wrong question. Instead, managers should ask: What did you long for when we couldn’t physically meet? What did you not miss and are ready to discard? What forms of meeting did you invent during the pandemic out of necessity that, surprisingly, worked? What might we experiment with now? – How Should We Meet? And Who Decides? (NYT)
• My least favourite candy (Eater)
• Don’t be mad, but I didn’t love “The Chair.”.. turns out, it didn’t work for others, too. (Salon)
• Julia Turshen on Celebrating Food and Canceling Diet Culture (Lit Hub)
• I love EVERYTHING about this (Stella Blackmon)

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Friday’s online finds: Cozy up and dig in.

• When I first started training for marathons a little over ten years ago, my coach told me something I’ve never forgotten: that I would need to learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I didn’t know it at the time, but that skill, cultivated through running, would help me as much, if not more, off the road as it would on it. – How Exercise Shapes You, Far Beyond the Gym (The Cut via Lee)
• What are you listening to? I’m really enjoying Beastie Boys Book on my trusty Shuffle and have Nine Perfect Strangers on deck. Here are some more picks: Small Fry
• Speaking of good listens, check out The Great Protein Fiasco episode of the Maintenance Phase podcast. It’s all about the reason why I boycotted/avoided Nestlé products for many years. It’s also very triggering to my experience of breast feeding and the pressure I felt for the first year of David’s life. Spoiler alert, I could not successfully nurse David and yet he’s physically thriving.
• Answers to Questions About the Texas Abortion Law (NYT)
• Alie Ward, of the Ologies podcast, talked to C. Andrew Hall about the DRAWdown Design Project – with a donation, you can get a beautiful screen print by a curated selection of artists inspired by climate change solutions. Art meets science! Problems meet solutions! Climate change meets … hope?
• Work Is a False Idol – It’s not just Chinese millennials who are figuring out that work is a false idol… A recent tweet that proclaimed “i do not want to have a career” racked up over 400,000 likes. Instead, proclaimed the tweeter, @hollabekgrl, “i want to sit on the porch.” (NYT)
• Season 2, episodes 1 and 8 of Modern Love had me 😭😭😭😭 and here’s an update to the end of episode 8
• Perhaps this study should be printed and posted on bathroom stalls in bars, universities and gyms: COVID-19 may cause erectile dysfunction, small study finds (Business Insider)
• Design Mom’s family always nailing the family photo shoots – a Virgin Suicides vibe

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Monday’s online finds: Cozy up and dig in.

• Nora effing Ephron’s 3 RULES FOR MIDDLE-AGE HAPPINESS: Gather friends and feed them, laugh in the face of calamity, and cut out all the things––people, jobs, body parts––that no longer serve you. (The Atlantic)
• Major team jean skirt gal (A Cup Of Jo)
• Is it a fashion potluck or “stealth-leisure” – A reader asks for clarity on what seems to be a smorgasbord of casual trends. (NYT)
• I think I’ll make this, I doubt my family will eat it (Shutterbean)
• The Alpinist Trailer
• Why Older Athletes Lose Explosive Power – Scientists have been debating whether muscles contract more slowly as you age, but new data suggests the real problem is a loss of strength (Outside via Lee)
• What to do with all those crocheted blankets in the basement – problem solved!
• My COVID Parenting Has Reached Peak Inconsistency. Honestly, I have no idea what I’m OK letting my kids do anymore. (Slate)

“This is parenting these days, for us and too many people we know. Peak inconsistency. Complete incoherence. Just decision after decision based on a little bit of science, a little bit of outdated guidance, and a little bit of how much time or energy we have to think it through.” –Me: this is why I’m dreading Phase 5

• Sports Science Is Changing How Female Olympians Train. It Could Help You, Too (NPR via Jennifer)
• Banksy Comes Back With 9 New Wall Arts In England And People Are Loving Them (Bored Panda)
• I can tell you the right age for a phone. It’s twelve. Happy Parenting! (Motherwell)

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Saturday’s online finds: Cozy up and dig in.

• Against my better judgement, and at the risk of losing any semblance of journalistic objectivity, I start my conversation with Joshua Jackson by effusively telling him what a dream come true it is to be talking to him. (Refinery29)
• The Invisible Bond – The special bond between an athlete with a visual impairment and their guide as they strive for Paralympic success (Facebook via Kristin)
• So you want to build a wood-fired oven? Start here
• The UN report is scaring people. But what if fear isn’t enough? “If you’re trying to get people to act on climate change, then fear is not going to do it.” (Salon)
• After the horrors that health-care workers have endured during the pandemic, many are struggling to sympathize with people who won’t protect themselves. (The Atlantic via Erin)
• A Michigan Mom on How Teaching Her Son to Cook Brought Them Closer Together (Kitchn)

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Friday’s online finds: Cozy up and dig in.

• Not, not true. (The Onion)
• We were all in various intersecting food ruts, and that made the burden of deciding what’s for dinner even more paralyzing – The Tyranny and Misogyny of Meal Planning (Burnt Toast)
• Advice for my daughter: Do talk to your professors outside of class. Do notice the way the sky changes color. Don’t get too drunk. (The Atlantic)
• I was in love and happy, but doubts simmered. I still occasionally fantasized about a man who would sip coffee with me and read novels in bed on our frequent trips to India. When I shared this with my therapist, she told me to “have a funeral for the death of romantic illusion.” (NYT Modern Love)
• With God as my witness I will not pick the restaurant (McSweeney’s)
• AMERICAN SHOPPERS ARE A NIGHTMARE—Customers were this awful long before the pandemic. (The Atlantic)
• Don’t Be Afraid to Quit. It Could Help You Win. (Lindsay Crouse—NYT)
• David is doing the 3km BrigaSwim Challenge again—raising money for Brigadoon kids. Please check out his personal page and donate if you can. He’s inching closer to $1,300—which is how much it costs to send ONE kid to this awesome camp!

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