Watching: The series finale of Ted Lasso, laughing and bawling the whole time. If you haven’t seen it and are looking for a show that’s equal parts heartwarming and freaking hysterical, Ted Lasso should be next on your list.
Listening to: Your Own Backyard podcast, a show about the disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart in 1996. Besides being objectively interesting, the show is incredibly well reported. The part that most intrigues me is the journalistic aspect; when I went to school for journalism in the early 2000s, podcasts didn’t yet exist and blogs were just starting to emerge as a form of citizen journalism. (I remember having a very young professor in college who was mocked by the older members of the journalism faculty because he was convinced that blogs were going to be the next wave of journalism. Joke’s on them, I guess.) The fact that this particular journalist’s dogged reporting helped crack open a 25-year-old case and allow justice to be served is the most fascinating aspect, in my opinion.
Reading: The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker. I’m a born hostess by nature and this book has helped me lean even more into that side of myself. One of my favorite concepts is the idea of gathering for a purpose. Parker argues that dinner parties, birthdays, and even lunch meetings should have a clear, defined purpose. As she reminds us, “a gathering’s purpose doesn’t have to be formal, stiff, or self-important.” It simply means “knowing why you’re gathering and doing your participants the honor of being convened for a reason.” Parker asserts that the purpose should help define the guest list, the venue, and every other detail of the event, something that really helped me in planning my Homeschool Field Day event earlier this week. I have a feeling I’ll be consulting this book quite often in the years to come.
Loving:
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