…or good be the enemy of done.
My co-worker would occasionally warn me “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” when I was getting too caught up on the details of my projects. An unbelievable ~3 months have gone by since my last post. I’ve been thinking about all these big things I want to write about but couldn’t carve out the time or the ability to do so—at least with the thoughtfulness I fantasized about. It felt like, if I am going to take anyone’s time away from thinking about the political garbage fire that’s happening right now, it should be for something worthwhile. So I built up all these topics I wanted to write about in my head until they became more daunting than necessary. (But seriously, is it even ok to talk about normal things in a world so not normal?)
Here are some things I’ve been meaning to tell you.
Listen to The Poverty Tour by On the Media. This 5 part series was such an incredible story about America’s relationship with the poor that I wish everyone could hear it. The poor are one of those classes of people that our society still deems acceptable openly look down on and it’s really unfortunate. As a whole, we have this idea that poverty is preventable. That with enough hard work, you can bring yourself out of it. That poor people are lazy, sneaky, or just going to spend their money on drugs. It’s so cruel to think so little of people who are in the most need of help. This series does such a good job breaking down the different aspects of both being poor, a history of welfare in America, and how our relationship to the poor has become warped.
I can’t do the piece justice by citing the bits of stats I remember, but I do wanted to share this one lesson that this welfare advocate wishes everyone would know: Poor people love their children just as much as anyone else. Using some of their money to give their child a present for their birthday isn’t being incompetent with their money, it’s love.
It drives me crazy that we can demonize the poor so much that we don’t think that you can be poor and have a smart phone — or a refrigerator!
Forget iPhones, this is the level of animosity Fox News has towards poor people pic.twitter.com/OIVhTu14vk
— Dan Hopper (@DanHopp) March 7, 2017
- #2: Who deserves to be Poor?
- #3: Rags to Riches
- #4: When the Safety Net Doesn’t Catch You
- #5: Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook: Poverty in America Edition
I really liked this book: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. John recommended this book to me while I was in New York last and it is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a while. It’s about the history of autism and where our understanding of autism is today. Even if I wasn’t interested in designing for accessibility, I would find this book amazing because of the detailed history of it (both the famous people who were likely autistic and its diagnosis). It reminded me again how it’s the wonderfully different people who make the world so great. Not that there isn’t a lot of struggle too with raising autistic children, but you never know what encouragement will make the difference between the neglected and a future genius.
As part of my goals revelation I started taking voice lessons every week and going on dates.
I saw Hamilton after winning lottery tickets. It was incredible. I signed up for a membership to the theater’s next season because I want to support the arts.
I went to the cutest wedding yesterday and got to catch up with a couple of friends from Pittsburgh. It was one of those intimate weddings where you got to meet other people and, because the bride and groom are so fabulous, everyone you met was the nicest most interesting person. How do such lovely people want to be around me? I feel like I have imposter syndrome for my own life.
My mom, two aunts, and an uncle have visited. I’ve gone to the Monterey Bay area for the weekend twice. I camped in Van Damme National Park, ~3 hours north of San Francisco. It was very relaxing. I have a permit to hike Half Dome in September and I’m excited but also too unathletic.
Here’s a picture of me standing next to a baby redwood surrounded by redwoods:
I went to Google I/O. I saw The Mountain Goats. I threw a Memorial Day picnic in labor day park that I brought chili and cast iron cornbread too!
Now you know everything you missed.