Friday, February 13, 2015

Weekend Reading: The Wow, February is Short Edition

Another week has sped by... When I lived in cold places, I thought February was the longest damn month. Out here, where winter is mild to non-existent, it tends to speed past. I have a sort of work-related trip coming up at the beginning of March and I had a little panic session this week in which I realized that it is past time to be booking my tickets and that I really need to start working on my talk now.

Anyway, on to the links. I don't have that many (see above about panicking), but I do have some.

This interview with the friend of one of the young Muslim students killed in North Carolina is heartbreaking. I hear there is also a StoryCorps recording with one of them, but I have not been able to listen to it. I always struggle with finding the balance between self-care and what we owe victims in situations like this. In some ways, I think we need to look at the tragedy until it hurts us, so that we will be moved to do what we need to do as a society to stop these things from happening. But I also have to protect my own sanity. I will say that I get very angry when I see this crime explained as "a dispute over a parking space," as if that is a reason that should make any sense and as if that makes it not a crime motivated by hate. There are so many things we as a society need to work on. Perhaps we need to let our hearts break a little more than is comfortable so that we'll find a way to actually work on them. I don't know.

This summary of a speech by FBI director James Comey is somewhat encouraging. Not encouraging enough that we can stop affirming that Black lives matter and demanding that law enforcement do a better job protecting them. But somewhat encouraging, nonetheless.

A female CEO writes about how her male cofounder is treated differently than her.

Roxane Gay has a piece in Fortune about how workplaces need to support people with varying personalities. ("Not just a**holes," says my inner snark.)

I like this idea for a kid's clothing company. I haven't had a chance to go check out their Kickstarter and see if I want to contribute (probably not unless it is running for several more months- we're cutting back on most non-essentials as we try to figure out if we can afford the house renovations we want to do), but I agree that little girls shouldn't have to choose between dinosaurs and dresses.

Despite spending four years in Chicago, I was unaware of the existence of ice volcanoes on Lake Michigan. @SarcastiCarrie sorted me out.

Speaking of SarcastiCarrie- check out her latest submission to Crappy Things I Made to Stop the Whining. It is a pretty awesome snow plow.

And while you're there, check out my latest post, which is a shirt I designed that my daughter loves so much she talked me into getting a matching one for her best friend. Bonus- the model in the picture is my daughter!

If you click through from that post, you'll discover that I'm now selling my t-shirts on Etsy. One of the reasons I made the switch was because the manufacturer I'm using has the slimmer "girl's cut" t-shirts that my daughter prefers. So, if you want to get one of the NOT a Princess or Not JUST a Princess t-shirts I designed to support Petunia, the Girl who was NOT A Princess for an elementary school age girl, now you can get it in the shirt style that girls that age tend to prefer. I'll be designing more shirts soon. Once I stop panicking about the upcoming trip, that is.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:03 PM

    I couldn't listen to the storycore on Friday either. I also found the FBI speech encouraging. I mean, I know that nothing he said was new or news (except to people who don't believe it), but the fact that he was willing to say it and they want to *do* something about it is encouraging.

    It finally got warm enough for the Not Just a Princess t-shirt. The daycare ladies LOVED it. (I was going to send a pic, but I forgot to take one until it was too late... but in the future!)

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    1. Awww... that's great to hear. I can't wait to see a picture!

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  2. The "parking dispute" thing is so infuriating and dismissive.

    But I love the Princess Awesome dresses, and have just backed them for $10 so I can get Baguette their coloring book. I often wind up buying her boys' shirts, because that's where most manufacturers put the animals, and she loves animals. For the life of me, I can't figure out why it's so hard to find non-Hello Kitty animals on girls' clothes once they stop being toddlers.

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    1. Yes! My kids love Hello Kitty, but I want more variety in options for girls' t-shirts!

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  3. I am SO with you on the February thing. When I lived in the midwest, February took forever. Now that I life in San Francisco, it doesn't even register!

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