Watch out for that first step, it's a doozy [#86]
Happy Birthday Week, America.*
My arm came out of its socket (officially a dislocated shoulder) while on the edge of eastern Ireland, gazing out at the Atlantic. I then got a vacation package I never planned: Experiencing the steady hands and fast work of the Irish National Ambulance Service and trauma physicians at Kerry General Hospital! After moments of terror and blinding pain, they popped my shoulder back into place. You might see here in this photo the covered arm is just dangling, since the bone was swimming around in tissue without a joint to call home...
Now I have no use of my right arm for awhile, so, some unexpected spare time for newsletter writing!
Reading
You don’t know yourself as well as you think you do. Sign your kids up for fewer activities, say psychologists. The women lawmakers running for president, on running for president, with photos by Annie Leibowitz. Septuagenarian Democrats. Women are getting photoshopped in instead of hired at tech companies. Rebecca Traister on the importance of speaking out. Men should speak out as much as women on abortion. The breathtaking frivolity of this honeymoon ruined by Instagram. Lost faith in Google. Tech regulation should tilt the scales toward more competition. Problems with “wellness” culture. How to talk to a friend with depression. Number of pushups you need to be able to do to live longer. Prison life videos are the latest YouTube craze. Place where you’re most likely to get ghosted? Austin, TX. Brisket’s gotten pricey. Everything you didn’t think you wanted to know about 7-11.
Werk/Musings
Zapping your motor cortex to improve performance probably works — I tried it for the latest Future You. A few limericks about Ireland, because Ireland.
Watching/Listening
Brene Brown with Marc Maron
Silicon Valley, catching up since the last season starts filming this month
State of the Union, a Sundance Channel series written by Nick Hornby, starring Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd and the episodes are only 10 minutes each, which is great for this era of fragmented attention.
I'll try to return to twice-monthly dispatches if I can avoid surgery!
Left-arm side hugs,
Elise
*Hope this isn't the last season despite all those cancelation rumors