The Links You Liked The Most in 2023 [#130]

A look back at some of the topics you were most curious about this year.

Something I loved from Haley Nahman. This is also how I do most of my work.

Hello from Hong Kong!

Hope you are having a restful holiday week(s) and that your family hasn’t broken out into all out brawls like mine did at Thanksgiving 2018, the one we all collectively recall as “The Reason My Sister-in-Law And I Can Never Have Thanksgiving Together Again.”

Before we close out the year, I went back to find the Hu’s Letter links y’all clicked on the most. Here’s the list, in case you missed any of these…

• Millennials have hit middle age, so now what?

• A third of Americans are getting a “sleep divorce.”

• The three things every couple fights about.

• NPR’s veteran women foreign correspondents shared wisdom from the road.

• How Trump’s getting worse and not enough people care.

• My Korean sunscreen recommendations.

• The exploitation of Korean women by US soldiers.

• Sci-fi writer Ted Chiang on ChatGPT.

• The one book I recommend to everyone.

My $99 water bottle somehow got a lot of clicks, probably because you were incredulous as I was about the pricetag. And rather surprisingly, a lot of you clicked on Rob’s LinkedIn page, where he shares wisdom from the TV writers room.

Ideas I Return To

In 2024, I want to pay closer attention to the ideas I encounter that change my thinking or stay with me in a way that affects everything. A few from recent years that I come back to:

“Parenting is a hostage situtation…” from philosopher Agnes Callard.

Dan Gilbert’s TED Talk

Another is a classic that’s arguably become more relevant these days: The fear we will come to love our oppression. This is from the forward of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.

What do YOU often return to? I’d love to learn from you. And thank you for being in connection and correspondence with me this year. For longtime readers, thank you for all the other years. I’m grateful we have this channel to stay in touch.

Merry merry,

Elise