April 7, 2020

Happy first Monday of April! I hope that everyone is starting to feel comfortable with their new temporary norms and have been able to settle in a bit. Can we all think about where we were that first week of quarantine and marvel for a minute at how quickly we have been able to adapt? We’re pretty resilient.

Something to look forward to: next Tuesday at 6pm EDT is our April BOSLady meeting! We will be discussing A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. If you don’t have a copy of it yet, you can do a free trial of Scribd (even if you’ve had an account before) and listen to the audiobook or read the e-book. I haven’t read much of the book yet but I’ve been doing ample liquid research, primarily with Sufferfest Beer Company (10/10 recommend). Since it will be on theme and no one will be driving, I propose that we each bring our favorite drink to the meeting to share. Zoom invites will be sent out by the end of the week. Cheers!

The Weekly Three

1. Something about art as relief: In her April Creative Fuel Newsletter, Anna Brones says this:

Her answer is to make art, to use art as relief. We must “refocus our attention on the process, because the process is where our healing takes place.” She first introduced this idea last month in Five Lessons on Art and Creativity from Women Artists, as inspired by Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals Women at Work. To encourage a daily creative ritual, Brones started the Creative Fuel Challenge that you can sign up for to receive prompts a few times a week (or you can just check out the archives here).

2. Something about the choice to quit or continue: This is a podcast called Going Through It and it is exactly what it sounds like. People discuss some of the shittiest, most pivotal points of their lives and do so in about 20 minutes per episode. I recommend starting with Ellen Pao walking us through 2012, during which she lost a gender discrimination lawsuit and resigned as interim CEO from Reddit. There was a lot of slow head shaking and quiet “damn”s on my part during this.

3. Something about making the most of whatever is in front of us: Will You Choose Alive Time Or Dead Time? by Ryan Holiday

And finally, let’s wrap this up with a book club relevant thank you to everyone out there working so that we can all stay home. Everyone stay safe and see you next week!