Hey APW,
At the end of the first full week with President Biden (it still feels so exciting when I say it), things feel almost unnervingly calm. David keeps complaining that he feels slightly unmoored, not having to check the news every two seconds to see what deranged shit our President just said. At night time we turn on the news, and then realize it’s too boring to watch. So we’ve tried to get back into our old routine of watching great TV, that got paused for four very stressful years.
As I said two weeks ago, I have gotten really interested in learning about Fascism. I’d love to pretend that the risks our country was facing are magically gone now, but they’re not. All of that means I’ve been exploring the World War II war movie genre (and David finally gets to show off his great sound system). We recently watched the German mini-series Generation War, and I highly recommend it. It’s a nuanced take on how people become slowly corrupted by small acts of collaboration, and how that slow slide is what props up evil systems.
Yesterday we celebrate Tu Bi’Shvat, which is the Jewish New Year for the trees—think of it as Israel’s Arbor Day. This calm week seemed like the perfect time to celebrate it. In our newly formed homeschool (let’s hear it for distance learning really not working) we planted seeds, studied the parts of a plant, made a good deed (mitzvot) tree, and dressed up in floral print outfits to celebrate. It was low key and fun, and just what we all needed
At work I’m slowly plugging away at my up and coming podcast for Practical Business School (FINALLY). The rest of the team is quietly working on e-books, and other content to help folks getting married in the middle of this crisis.
Other than that, I’m working out on the Peloton app, and cheering the folks in our lives getting vaccines all from the safety of our quarantine. I hope y’all are enjoying the relative calm in the news cycle, and staying safe. And with that, here is your open thread!
XO
Meg
Photo: David and I watching relaxing not news TV in the before times… back in 2014.
