Self Check

A while back I saw someone say on Twitter they had a list of things that made them feel better and they tried to make sure they did a few of them each day.  It pinged for me, because much like wearing an activity tracker helped me notice I slept worse on days I moved less, leading to a potentially vicious cycle, data helps. 

So, I started thinking about it.  And for a while I kept a list.  But the other value, because, yeah I hear you it can start to sound like work, is just figuring out things.  

For me, here are some of the things that help: hanging with my cat, walking, reading, knitting, eating food I made in my kitchen, writing, listening to music, going outside, meeting up with friends. 

I have moments where I check myself because I know I'm being irritated by something going on in the world or the day job or with a friend and so I stop and check this mental list.  Am I hungry? Am I too hot or too cold?  (This seems very silly but when you are somewhere you don't have control of the big thermostat, sometimes realizing that you have been sitting with your shoulders at your ears because you are too cold and should go grab a coat or sweater is not obvious until you stop to think about it.)

Have I done a thing that makes me happy today? If not, where can I fit one in?

And would getting up and taking a quick walk, even if it's to refill my tea give me the three minutes I need to make better response choices?  

It's easy to consider self-care a goofy hashtag but it's also increasingly easy to have whole days where we forget to do tiny things that make us feel better because they don't make things cleaner, they don't pay bills, they don't seem necessary.  So whatever helps to remind you that spending some time doing things that are awesome for you really is just as valuable as getting more dishes done. 

Three Interesting Things

1. The google emoji blobs were weird but I kind of liked them.  Ah well. 

2. I am absolutely not adding more podcasts right now, not even if it's a fictionalized chance meeting story, argh! Oops, subscribed. 

3. I have never been to the Ripped Bodice, but I hope they have so much success that other indie books stores try to copy them.  Or they start a DC outpost.  Preferably also with a cute dog. So I enjoyed this piece on the owners. 

Gaithersburg Book Festival

The weather here has been weird of late.  Or typical for these transitional periods.  So, after three straight days of 90 degree weather, we had been promised that Saturday would emerge a little overcast, a little cooler, but really very nice.  And well, I expected that to mean a dress and a scarf weather, and discovered that the day was breezy and cool. I met a friend who was already there for lunch.  She headed home, I went to a panel with Brigid Kemmerer and Michelle Knudson talking about their YA books, and then the next panel slot was jam-packed but in the end I went with Jack Viertel in conversation with Jason Loewith of the Olney Theater Center about Viertel's book on American musicals. They discussed some of the main structure points of musicals, along with some notable exceptions.  

I confess, after this panel, despite my interest in the next two slots, I reached a point where I could no longer take the cold and hoped back on the shuttle to get back to metro.  Despite my briefer than usual visit, it was still great fun and for every panel I did get two, there were several I wished time or scheduling would have allowed for. And even though I'm whining about the weather a little, it rained all day last year, so this was much better. 

Three Interesting Things

1. It's AAPI month and of late, there's been more push around the apparent confusion some Americans have that Asian American Pacific Islanders are one group, rather than two that have some overlap.  This post takes a look at how that can lead to erasure. 

2. I confess, this was written by a friend, but you know a rant about the idea that romance writers or readers who are single because the books have ruined them warms the cockles of my heart. 

3. Book Riot summarized the news that crossed Twitter about Harlequin closing several lines. Kimani in particular caused concern because it was the most reliable place both both authors of color, and characters of color.  Sure, there are some characters of color in other lines.  Sure there were authors of color in other lines, although often writing about whiter folk.  The best outcome would be for all these authors to find places within the remaining lines. Certainly Kimani being organized primarily around the color of it's characters meant that readers who mostly like small town contemporary, or mostly liked billionaires had to work a little harder than readers of other lines to find what they wanted, which I'm sure impacted sales.  Lines have closed before.  Usually, there's some fallout, but if this results in the remaining lines staying as predominately white as they have been, it would be pretty bad business decision. 

An Evening with the "Serial" creators

Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, the team behind a little podcast called "Serial" you might have heard of were at Strathmore for a talk about the making of the podcast.  Given the case that the first season focused on took place in Maryland it was fun to watch them talk about how Maryland's information laws gave them access to files they might not otherwise have been able to access since ultimately the police officers involved decided not to speak to Koenig.  

Koenig and Snyder had worked together for many years at "This American Life" and felt the culture of hey, if you like this thing, try it, see where it goes really created the special blend that people have come to expect from "This American Life" and now several other shows, given the number of former "This American Life" folks across the radio and podcast landscape now.  They had once worked together on an episode of "This American Life" called "The Week" where they focused on stories from the week leading up to the show, from the splashy big news, to the small.  They had enjoyed that so much they pitched to the team the idea of making a show that was just that.  They said the reception to this idea was not great.  No one said no, but no one said super cool idea, go for it either.  They were not deterred and kept talking about it and kicking it around, and Ira Glass talked to Koenig and said hey, if this is the thing that speaks to you, then you guys should go for it, but do you have any other ideas?  And Koenig said, well, the opposite would be fun too, like a longform, multi-episode look at a single story.  And, well, since the show is called "Serial", I think the direction they ultimately chose is clear.  

They touched on the amazing momentum the first season had, and how they ended up having to try to manage (as much as one can) the internet and the news media.  They had made specific journalistic choices about things to include and exclude, had made certain deals with people that agreed to speak with them on condition of some form of anonymity, and to leave out certain things that they simply didn't have enough verification to include.  Not everyone on the internet played by the same rules. 

An audience member asked about the comparative lack of success for the second season which he had enjoyed.  Koenig and Snyder said they felt that the second season had been less buzzy.  It wasn't a murder mystery, and so people seemed to spend less time discussing it in between episodes in visible places (think pieces, podcasts, etc) but that the numbers did not support that it was less successful, and they also found that there were a lot of places they went where people were so glad they had done that story.  In fact another audience member stood up and said that he had been in Afghanistan for USAID and when the show started, people he couldn't get to talk to him about the case, all of the sudden began discussing it.  So he was grateful that it gave them that conversational starting point.

Ultimately, they felt certain that they would continue to follow the stories that spoke to them and seemed suited to this format, and work that way, rather than worrying about audience reaction. They did acknowledge that this was not a leeway all journalists worked with.  

It was a lot of fun to listen to them, and hang out in a theater full of podcast nerds.  (And that one dude who raised his hand when they asked if anyone hadn't listened to "Serial" yet.)