The last time I posted one of these was February 2024. (That cheery “until next week!” really meant “until…well…now.”)
This and That used to be one of my favorite things to write here, then it was the only thing I published on the blog as I moved more inward, more unwilling to share long-form recaps of my life. But! I’m always reading, always saving things to come back to, always terrorizing my family and friends with interesting links that I come across on my adventures through the internet.
So why not start (lovingly) terrorizing you again, dear reader?
Let’s go.
Good Reads
- “AI-Generated ‘Workslop’ is Destroying Productivity“. (via HBR)
- Wimbledon’s approach to social media was a masterclass in posting. Read more about it (and why “posting is better than perfect”) here.
- “I’ve always thought that struggling with technology was an old person thing. I thought it would never happen to me, having the technological intuition of a former iPad kid. That was until elevators stopped having buttons.” On why our obsession with efficiency is costing us our humanity. (via Vogue)
- Life is a problem that can’t be solved.
Good Listens and Watches
- The disturbing reason that cartoon characters wear white gloves.
- There’s a bit of setup for this next one that is recommended but not required. 1 and 2 and, ok, now you can get into it: Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks with Ezra Klein on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines (Apple Podcasts | Spotify).
I don’t want to let an increasingly rare (from me) Instagram story rant go to waste and these don’t represent the totality of my thoughts on Klein and the last few weeks, but they’re a snippet of a snapshot of where I fall on the discourse about discourse.
The Best of the Rest
- Solange, the baby Bey, has launched the Saint Heron Community Library, dedicated to students, artists, creatives, and literature enthusiasts. The seasonally curated collection’s purpose is to “propel the advancement of education, knowledge production, creative inspiration and skill development through culturally relevant Black and Brown literary works.” Readers can borrow books for 45 days, free of cost.
- Stanford paid 35,000 people to quit social media. Here’s what happened. (So so so sorry, the link is to Instagram. I realize the irony.)
- Q4 is upon us…if you’d like some gentle ways to reframe and reset, here you go.