What in the world is going on with us? Do we live in a world gone mad? Have we always lived in a mad world, and now Twitter is shoveling in our brains at a faster rate? It’s been sad and tragic, confusing and scary couple of weeks… and we have to keep doing laundry and keep emptying the dishwasher, and keep filling our gas tanks with gas. It’s bizarre and hard.
These are the best words I’ve found for the week. From Anne Lamott:
“There is no healing in pretending this bizarre violent stuff is not going on, and that there is some cute bumper sticker silver lining. (It is fine if you believe this, but for the love of God, PLEASE keep it to yourself. it will just tense us all up.) What is true is that the world has always been this way, people have always been this way, grace always bats last, it just does–and finally, when all is said and done, and the dust settles, which it does, Love is sovereign here.”
Be well today. Take it easy, because sometimes so much is so hard.
• President Obama delivers remarks at an interfaith memorial service in Dallas. These words are strong to matter our politics.
• The way in which and the immediacy with which we consume the news is changing in a disturbing way. Where is the truth? It certainly can’t be on Twitter. How Technology Swallowed the Truth.
• Literally everything money can buy: a look inside Amazon’s massive warehouse. Man we got so weird so fast, didn’t we? Do you remember life before the instant reward of Amazon?
• The Neurotic Eaters Grocery List: Cows are global-warming fart machines, egg farms are hell, ice cream is poison somehow, lobster are screaming, organic barely means organic, and don’t even get me started on hot dogs. So wait… what can we eat? Donuts? I KNEW IT!
• We are very connected, constantly. We are very disconnected, constantly. Headphone culture: Life in little bubbles of curated music and podcasts (that no one seems to be actually paying for anymore). “These days, people seem to be perpetually gearing themselves up for the epic battle of merely existing. At the end of the day, jogging up to our front doors, we are all Rocky, reaching the summit, conquering that last step: “Just a man / and his will / to survive!” We rip our headphones off, triumphantly. We did it! Another day closer to death!” Oh boy…
• I just signed up for Novella-T. It’s an email subscription service that delivers serialized long-form fiction. That means part of a novella makes its way to your inbox every week. It’s creative publishing that I’m excited to enjoy and support.
• A little bit more news that indicated that we are fickle ridiculous creatures: Did Father John Misty Steal Moon Juice’s Crystal?
• Related and definitely not UN-related: Inside the World’s Chicest Cult. Where the cool ladies go to keep their cool. Did you see my eyeroll? It was strong.
• Firm proof that we are not a hopeless species… that we’re actually ok. Thank you, Ernie Johnson.
• I’ve made some very fine summer recipes in years past. Here are a few of my favorites: Charred Corn with Pistachio Cilantro Lime Rub (YES!), Tomato Cobbler with Blue Cheese Biscuits (like yesterday’s Tomato Pie with more biscuits and blue cheese), Peanut Butter Banana Bonbons (the best way to eat frozen bananas), and Peach and Cardamom Lemonade (just add bourbon).
• This week in delicious caffeination: Kings Row Coffee Bonbon Blend.
• What do we think about this knife and tiny cutting board all in one?
• My financial planner friend Jessi recommended this book. Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. I believe her because I have a retirement savings now so she definitely knows her stuff.
• I love and adore the writing of Marian Bull so please read this, ok thank you. Nobody has ever written about eating alone before so I figured I should. “I am so well versed in being on my own and so tripped up by the intricacies of it all the time, still. This isn’t meant to be sad! This is just what it’s like to be a person.” AMEN, it’s truth.
• This week in Treat-Yourself, You’re Doing Great: get yourself a robe.
The picture above is from an afternoon spent making a paper flower with my friend Suzonne Stirling who is good-hearted and patient and funny and acutely good at making gorgeous flower out of paper.
Let’s enjoy this day!
xo Joy
Linda powers
I love your flowers.????
mrsmichellegoldsmith
How Technology Swallowed the Truth. Really? [Irony directed at article, not Joy ;-]
The article contradicts itself quite ironically when it compares how the Hillsboro Disaster lies that were published by a newspaper in the day would not have withstood 53000 mobile phones recording the incident live (and presumably, being published all over the social media vilified by the article). The truth is that we have greater responsibility now for checking our own sources rather than leaving it up to a few publishing companies.
Technology is neither good nor bad, it is how it is used that matters. It has been used to expose tyrants in all parts of the world, to reconstruct evidence in court cases, and connects us with others in a way that could not be done otherwise. Technology didn’t swallow the truth, our own laziness and ignorance swallows it, and always has done. It is up to us to know what goes on in our own neighbourhoods, for us to decide who we actually trust (hint: it isn’t Facebook or Google, anymore than it is The Times or The Guardian!). That’s us being adults.
Emily Bullough (@leap4emily)
Well, reading the article about news and social media finally inspired me to pay for subscriptions for online access to my local newspaper and New York Times. I’m a fairly heavy news reader but have never actually paid for that service, which is insane if you really think about it.
Addie
More information on your financial planner and how you work with her and what good advice she shares, please!
joythebaker
Good call good call good call!
georgia
that cutting board knife combo is so scary!! I would not want that in my house!!
mrsmichellegoldsmith
Clever Cutter looks like a not-so-safe take on an anvil secateur — a gardening tool!
Katrina Wood
Yes! Anne Lamott’s words helped me this week too, as did this beautiful story: http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/the-white-man-in-that-photo/
Rhonda T
Thank you for sharing that, Katrina.
Susan
Your site has so many ads I cannot get through a paragraph, much less a sentence. So disappointing!
joythebaker
Is that really your experience? I’d like to fix that. My site really doesn’t have that many ads. Are you reading my site on your phone?
Renee Pasman
Joy, I didn’t leave the comment above, but I do read your site on my phone and the adds (both in the article and the banner at the bottom) do seem large, and there are a lot of them. It hasn’t stopped me reading, but it is a little distracting. It also makes scrolling difficult because the add are so wide…
joythebaker
I really appreciate the feedback and I’m going to address it with my ad network next week. Thank you!
stephanie
Not that it matters, but this doesn’t happen to me (on phone or computer).
Stacy
I have the same issue. If I flip my phone horizontally, which is more comfortable, some ads take up to 2/3s of the screen so I can only get 2-3 lines of text at a time. Others are less intrusive, so its not ALL the ads.
Stacy
I took a screenshot of a larger one (though not the biggest I have today).
georgia
reading your site on a phone has way too many ads!
Suzonne
If algorithms curate our newsfeeds to ensure we only see content that reinforces our existing beliefs and headphones allow us to create a private world and Amazon means we don’t ever have to leave our sofas (except maybe to purchase a Filet of Fish from McDonald’s, because that apparently is one of the few things we can eat and not feel bad about, save the deep frying) and what’s reported as truth may be anything but…how exactly are we supposed to come together and create unity?!
Much to digest, as always. Thank you for the kind words. I think the same of you – and you certainly know how to rock a pie!
Matt Armendariz
Spirit weavers. I literally can’t.
jzgarnett
I think I would feel trapped and/or like I was intruding on something I did not, and could not, understand.
Amy
I’m so appreciative that even though your Sunday posts are often light and fun, you also aren’t afraid of scaring readers away by acknowledging the hard and tragic things that happen in our country and around the world. How can we dismantle fear unless we talk about it? Some blogs (looking at you, Cup of Jo) keep so quiet about topics like racism, gun violence, and terrorism that it makes me want to scream. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for creating a space on the internet that is fun and delicious AND brave at the same time.
Julie F
I just read the article from Neurotic Eater. Can we eat anything?
Anna
I always look forward to these posts on a Sunday morning Joy! So many good things to read, after such an intense week. Marian Bull is AMAZING. Her newsletter is one of the best things on the internet.
francetaste
Freakonomics had an interesting podcast about the Internet and Facebook vs. Twitter on news.
Somebody from Somewhere
Thank you for the words you shared, Joy! The world seems to have gone mad. Stay safe and have a lovely Sunday!
http://somebodyfromsomewhere.me/
Sandee Hoffman
Thank you Joy for your words and references… it has been a trying, sad, stressful few weeks…and then I turn the TV off and get off the internet news and sit outside in the quiet of birds singing and squirrels chattering and I feel more centered…