Is the world really ending?
Photo by Iva Rajović on Unsplash
I met my friend Josh for lunch and he said, “How are you doing?”
I said, “Good, except I guess the world is ending.”
He said, “I don’t think so. I’ve been reading a lot about WWI and I think it’s been about this bad or worse for 50 years.”
It was weirdly reassuring. And not representative of how a lot of my other friends seem to be feeling, which is like the world really is on the brink of war. Many have earthquake kits and iodine pills in their purses and plans for how they would get to the nearest apocalypse-ready neighbor.
Is the proximity of apocalypse all in the eye of the beholder? I suppose. In which case, I think I’m trying to live somewhere in between my friends—sober and informed, but cognizant of history’s long sweep and human resilience. Here’s what I’m reading and listening to as I try to hang out here:
1) Vox’s podcast, The Impact, is an entertaining listen that makes you way smarter about policy. Jillian Weinberger, the delightful host, is spending this season looking at historic precedence for many of the policies being proposed by various presidential candidates. Now that, as opposed to one more hot take, is refreshing.
2) Love her or love/hate her, Elizabeth Wurtzel was a powerful voice. She was writing deeply revealing and strongly felt memoirs right as I was fumbling my own way into being a writer. She died this week, and her last essay ever was posted here. It’s worth a read. I particularly loved this line, which I think sums up so much of what made her important: “My rage is my conscience. I insist on my right to feel.”
3) I just finished The Yellow House by Sarah M. Bloom and it’s gorgeous. I found it to be a truly engrossing memoir. Bloom managed to use one little house, one big family, as the metaphor for an entire country’s myths, tragedies, dreams, and intimacies. I thought it should have been edited down a bit, but highly recommend it.
Til next week…maybe…
Courtney
P.S. My interview with Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes is now live. Take a listen. Or a read (transcript is included, too). Pair it with Chris Colin’s incredible piece in Wired on Marc Benioff’s “gospel of philanthropy.”