When I was reconstituting my blog after a year of maternity leave, a friend asked me, "Would you keep writing if no one was reading?"

She is one of my sounding boards and I bounce a lot of ideas off of her. This comment came out of me asking about the focus of my blog. And my answer was an immediate "Yes."

Even if the only people reading were her, my husband, and my mom, I would still feel called to write. 

I read a lot about influencer culture. I find it interesting. I have no desire to be one myself. (The Indicator recently did a whole series on how it's a hard gig.) I have no desire to track followers or engagement rates. I don't want to deal with companies or sponsored deals.

But, I do like sharing.

Substack shows me there are almost 700 people subscribed to this newsletter. That's cool. I like that others have some bit of interest in what I write. I love engaging with all the amazing things people create and find. I don't like keeping those interesting things to myself. ​I share because curiosity is a joy.  While I would happily write for myself, it's fun to have companions on the journey.

Many weeks, I end this intro with a question. More often than not, I don't get a response.

That's okay. I keep asking because I want to provide space for sharing what we find interesting.

What do you think is worth sharing?

Leave a comment

My library hold for Majesty by Katharine McGee came in so I am tabling Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds by Greg Milner for now.

Majesty is the second book in the American Royals series. The overall premise is - what if George Washington became king instead of president. Now, we’re following his modern day ancestors. It’s a soapy YA delight. Our lead is Queen of America and has to deal with all the usual YA romance tropes.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• Graffiti as conversation. [Bored Panda]

• The nutritional pros and cons of Guinness. [CNN]

• We can rarely get to the ideal, so let's go for second best. [ParentData]

• This is just charming. [WaPo - gift link]

• Gorgeous 3D art made from books. [Colossal]

• Something new I learned about this week: the press camera. [PetaPixel]

• I co-sign all these food packaging rules. [WaPo - gift link]

• The anti-abortion movement is deliberately skewing the data. [Abortion Every Day]

• An interesting reframing of how we should look a our careers and life. [Over the Influence]

• The importance we attach to things. [Hidden Brain]

• You should quit. [Hidden Brain]

• How do you solve a problem of senators who won't retire? [The Daily]

• Body doubling could help with WFH productivity. [How to Be Fine]

• Beaver bubbles are safe zones for wildlife during fires. [Science Vs]

• I don't do horror but The Menu is the kind of horror I can handle. This is probably more of a thriller than a horror - but there were elements of horror to the narrative and filmmaking. Speaking of the filmmaking, I adored the structure of this movie. Great transitions as the narrative progresses with color, lighting, and music changes. I also enjoyed how they integrated common aspects of cooking shows into the style of the cuts and storyboarding. Great cast as well. [HBO Max]

• Black Crab is a Swedish film. Normally, I prefer to watch films in their native language with subtitles. This time around, we watched the English dubbed version. The dubs were so well done that, in some scenes, it was hard to tell there was dubbing. I have some issues with the plot but I liked the overall concept of the film. Soldiers need to skate a device from one base to another. Beautiful cinematography in this one. [Netflix]

• This quick bit brought me great joy. [@thedumbdads]

• A few weeks back, the husband put "loaded baked potatoes" on our short list of ideas for dinner. We got around to it this week. I haven't had one of these babies in a long time. We roasted the potatoes and then topped them with sour cream, cheese, bacon, and green onions. My potato was a little dry. Next time, I will smush the interior of the potato with some butter before I top it. [Delish]

• I follow the recipe for pot sticker salad with snap peas very loosely. Essentially, I toss everything in one pan with some oil and water, cover, and let steam. At the end, I toss in the bean sprouts, green onions, and sauce. Easy and quick for a weeknight. This week, we used a chicken pot sticker and found it to be better than the pork we usually purchase. [My Evernote via Real Simple]

Who knew the inside of an acoustic guitar could look so architecturally beautiful. [Colossal]

Ever wonder if you can freeze that? FoodSafety.gov’s cold food storage chart can let you know.

Spirit week at our kiddo’s daycare. I love it when we get to see all the kids in costumes and matching outfits.