Links

Yes, I Have Cancer. I Still Want to Hear Your Complaints.

nytimes.com

Throughout the pandemic, and now as we watch the horrors of the war in Ukraine, it’s easy to feel that unless our circumstances are the worst, we’re undeserving of any compassion at all.

This is just wrong. For one, it makes us less likely to ask for the help we need, and two, it creates a power dynamic in which the person who is struggling is somehow beholden to the listener, rather than acknowledging that we all move through tough times and the person bringing my family a casserole while I’m at chemo today, may someday in a few months, or a few years, need a meal, or child care, or a ride while she grieves the loss of a parent or grapples with a chronic illness.

Kids Explaining Computers in 1984

mentalfloss.com

So what is a computer? According to kids on Sesame Street in 1984, “You press some buttons and then you can make a design.” Yeah, that is pretty much what a computer is (and certainly what they were to me in 1984). Also: “It’s something like a TV, and you can make pictures with it, and it helps you to read.”

Announcement: I’m Going to Miss You, But I Am Taking a Sabbatical

kottke.org

Here’s the way I’ve been thinking about it: there’s a passenger ferry that goes from Cape Cod to Nantucket and there’s a stretch of time in the middle of the journey where you can’t see the mainland behind you and can’t yet see the island ahead — you’re just out in the open water. That’s what I need, to be in that middle part — to forget about what I’ve been doing here for so many years without having to think about where I’m going in the future. I need open water and 5-6 months feels like the right amount of time to find it.

I don’t follow Jason closely, but I’m really glad he’s doing this. Sometimes it’s really needed.