I used to love interacting with political topics, ideas, problems, and thinking about solutions to political problems (e.g. being genuinely surprised by the fact that civilization is a thing and wanting to understand how such governance of human affairs works & how to improve upon that ordering). Indeed, I studied Political Science and earned my Bachelor degree in it because I couldn’t get enough of studying politics. I dropped that group of interests quite firmly and shunned everything to do with politics for the last several years, really going numb to all such matters in 2017 or 2018 with that numbness staying consistent or increasing even (despite the wonders of the world and human existence, there is so much horror and awfulness, perhaps those things got to me...)
The numbness is still there, this is a difficult post to write. Now though, instead of ignoring or suppressing my interest in political matters, I’m slowly going to reprise them. Why? I can’t tell you concretely why other than it feels important to do, like I’m excavating some part of myself I had shut off and buried, and I feel a desire to do that excavation.
My first step is subscribing to the New Yorker. Reading through their anthologies of The 40s and The 50s over the last year is the furthest I voluntarily delved into political matters (for the most part) in quite some time. Why that publication? They are weekly, not daily, which is important for reasons to do with quality & taking a slightly longer view than most publications. Speaking of quality...well they are quite good, and while they may not get everything right (I don’t think it’s a cop out to say that no publication does...because no publication or individual gets everything right), even when wrong the writers there typically issue forth structured ideas & support them with some amount of evidence. Furthermore, I’m not looking to read news, I’m looking to read about historical trends, analyses of important matters, genuine investigative journalism and deep dives into various topics; the New Yorker provides those things while mostly escaping being a mere news publication. Also I like that there’s literature, comics, poetry, and other fun things mixed in.
Tomorrow is Friday, and I only have to work about nine hours because I worked about eleven hours today. Yay for a shorter workday and then two days of freedom from work to pursue some things that are enjoyable but difficult to do during the work week. I don’t mean to say that I dislike what I do, au contraire I enjoy my job. Breaks and resting and hanging out with friends and hobbies are good things too!
I am excited for the Meetup Organizers Retreat later this month! Much to prepare for, but I think I’m going to learn a lot, become a better organizer, teach whatever I can offer, and have great fun :)
Shortform #69 Reprising Interests: Politics edition
I used to love interacting with political topics, ideas, problems, and thinking about solutions to political problems (e.g. being genuinely surprised by the fact that civilization is a thing and wanting to understand how such governance of human affairs works & how to improve upon that ordering). Indeed, I studied Political Science and earned my Bachelor degree in it because I couldn’t get enough of studying politics. I dropped that group of interests quite firmly and shunned everything to do with politics for the last several years, really going numb to all such matters in 2017 or 2018 with that numbness staying consistent or increasing even (despite the wonders of the world and human existence, there is so much horror and awfulness, perhaps those things got to me...)
The numbness is still there, this is a difficult post to write. Now though, instead of ignoring or suppressing my interest in political matters, I’m slowly going to reprise them. Why? I can’t tell you concretely why other than it feels important to do, like I’m excavating some part of myself I had shut off and buried, and I feel a desire to do that excavation.
My first step is subscribing to the New Yorker. Reading through their anthologies of The 40s and The 50s over the last year is the furthest I voluntarily delved into political matters (for the most part) in quite some time. Why that publication? They are weekly, not daily, which is important for reasons to do with quality & taking a slightly longer view than most publications. Speaking of quality...well they are quite good, and while they may not get everything right (I don’t think it’s a cop out to say that no publication does...because no publication or individual gets everything right), even when wrong the writers there typically issue forth structured ideas & support them with some amount of evidence. Furthermore, I’m not looking to read news, I’m looking to read about historical trends, analyses of important matters, genuine investigative journalism and deep dives into various topics; the New Yorker provides those things while mostly escaping being a mere news publication. Also I like that there’s literature, comics, poetry, and other fun things mixed in.
Tomorrow is Friday, and I only have to work about nine hours because I worked about eleven hours today. Yay for a shorter workday and then two days of freedom from work to pursue some things that are enjoyable but difficult to do during the work week. I don’t mean to say that I dislike what I do, au contraire I enjoy my job. Breaks and resting and hanging out with friends and hobbies are good things too!
I am excited for the Meetup Organizers Retreat later this month! Much to prepare for, but I think I’m going to learn a lot, become a better organizer, teach whatever I can offer, and have great fun :)
Be well!
Cheers,
Willa
PS: HAH! Nice.