LOVE the pic of you three! Amazing hair, too. My goal is to be important enough one day that I must not smile in a photo. Will be thinking of you as you marathon. Good luck!
Hey Jill, love the tapering metaphor. I think for me may mean tapering my job search (again, sigh!). I'm in a process now (4th in a row). I tend to get to the final round, only to not be chosen. So is my tech career over? What on earth would I pivot to - this is the work I know and love? Those are top of mind tapering thoughts for me, especially as I treasure these last few years that my boys are at home. I don't want to forsake that precious time.
This post today from David Brooks resonated with what else I've been thinking about a lot lately w.r.t. AI, our boys' future, tech in schools, etc. A small group of parents in our District are starting a grassroots effort to try to advocate for less tech in classrooms. Our district starts iPad use in Kingergarten and 1st grade for goodness sakes. So now we all have problems at home fighting our children about tech use because they learned it at school! I have seen many of these headlines where college students at elite universities struggle to finish a book so Profs give them passages! WTF? (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/opinion/education-smart-thinking-reading-tariffs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-04.WXJH.SrxpbPXp3GBe&smid=url-share
I could rant on and on but moving on to books! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Amor Towles so will be checking out that short story collection. My fave book of a long time now (had a bad run here for a year!) is North Woods. I just absolutely loved it and think you will too. And funny that Edie mentions Upton Sinclair. I literally just got that recommendation from our Friends of the Library folks the other day so will be investigating. Not sure I'm in the mood for meatpacking conditions right now as I was definitely traumatized by Fast Food Nation and this sounds similar. In any case, will add to my wishlist. I need a new good read - Have checked out James (finally), started reading The God of the Woods and am listening to Co-Intelligence.
Oh Natalie, my fingers are crossed that you will get an offer on one of these jobs, and that it’s a good place for you. Re: iPads, our kids’ school has changed course on those and on phones, just in the last year, so maybe yours will, too? There seems to be a movement afoot (read The Anxious Generation if you can handle it; v. depressing!). I have had North Woods on my TBR for a while and now I’m going to bump it up. Let me know how you like Table for Two!
Yes, there has been very slight progress on phones but still a long way to go on the tech in classrooms. Glad to hear VA is on it. RDU being a mini-tech hub is going to make it all harder. Lenovo (I believe) is based here. Yep, I listened to Anxious Generation and that lit my fire again. I've been partnering with The Winston Center here at UNC on a parent video that they're able to distribute to all Superintendents in the state for them to disseminate to families. I'll share it when it's done. A friend and I helped weigh in on the content. https://winstoncenter.unc.edu/. I'd love to work here but there really a research org and tiny so don't quite see a role for myself. Enjoy being an allied parent though. Check out their content and lmk if your school(s) might be interested in a talk. That's how I met Dr. Prinstein.
Great insights and suggestions. I might have to grab a couple of those books (never read either author, shame! shame!!) I've been bobbing along in old books for a year, now reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which somehow got by me until now.
An aside: I'm fascinated by the point at which first person/third close POV dominated over omniscient. When and how did it happen? It must have coincided with the post-war equilibrium, as best i can figure. I personally write most comfortably in first person (feels most natural) but it's tempting to experiment the flit from head to head.
Currently in tapering hell on our second album (all the mixing and mastering and videos and graphic design stuff beyond the music) and I'm ready to get this thing out. Best of luck on your marathon and your master's program! The woman is BUSY!
Ooh, can’t wait for your next album, congratulations on making a second one! And there is no shame in old books; I read little else for many years (and I have never read The Jungle— should I?) Re: the shift away from omniscient, I think it happened after WWI; James and Wharton, for instance, liked using omniscient, but then Woolf and Joyce were among those who shook things up. A modern take on omniscient that I loved (and that surprised me for how much I enjoyed it) is Lonesome Dove.
LOVE the pic of you three! Amazing hair, too. My goal is to be important enough one day that I must not smile in a photo. Will be thinking of you as you marathon. Good luck!
Yes! I love this goal. My goal is to be able to put your unsmiling photo in my newsletter and on my socials and say “that’s my friend!”
Hey Jill, love the tapering metaphor. I think for me may mean tapering my job search (again, sigh!). I'm in a process now (4th in a row). I tend to get to the final round, only to not be chosen. So is my tech career over? What on earth would I pivot to - this is the work I know and love? Those are top of mind tapering thoughts for me, especially as I treasure these last few years that my boys are at home. I don't want to forsake that precious time.
This post today from David Brooks resonated with what else I've been thinking about a lot lately w.r.t. AI, our boys' future, tech in schools, etc. A small group of parents in our District are starting a grassroots effort to try to advocate for less tech in classrooms. Our district starts iPad use in Kingergarten and 1st grade for goodness sakes. So now we all have problems at home fighting our children about tech use because they learned it at school! I have seen many of these headlines where college students at elite universities struggle to finish a book so Profs give them passages! WTF? (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/opinion/education-smart-thinking-reading-tariffs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-04.WXJH.SrxpbPXp3GBe&smid=url-share
I could rant on and on but moving on to books! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Amor Towles so will be checking out that short story collection. My fave book of a long time now (had a bad run here for a year!) is North Woods. I just absolutely loved it and think you will too. And funny that Edie mentions Upton Sinclair. I literally just got that recommendation from our Friends of the Library folks the other day so will be investigating. Not sure I'm in the mood for meatpacking conditions right now as I was definitely traumatized by Fast Food Nation and this sounds similar. In any case, will add to my wishlist. I need a new good read - Have checked out James (finally), started reading The God of the Woods and am listening to Co-Intelligence.
Oh Natalie, my fingers are crossed that you will get an offer on one of these jobs, and that it’s a good place for you. Re: iPads, our kids’ school has changed course on those and on phones, just in the last year, so maybe yours will, too? There seems to be a movement afoot (read The Anxious Generation if you can handle it; v. depressing!). I have had North Woods on my TBR for a while and now I’m going to bump it up. Let me know how you like Table for Two!
Yes, there has been very slight progress on phones but still a long way to go on the tech in classrooms. Glad to hear VA is on it. RDU being a mini-tech hub is going to make it all harder. Lenovo (I believe) is based here. Yep, I listened to Anxious Generation and that lit my fire again. I've been partnering with The Winston Center here at UNC on a parent video that they're able to distribute to all Superintendents in the state for them to disseminate to families. I'll share it when it's done. A friend and I helped weigh in on the content. https://winstoncenter.unc.edu/. I'd love to work here but there really a research org and tiny so don't quite see a role for myself. Enjoy being an allied parent though. Check out their content and lmk if your school(s) might be interested in a talk. That's how I met Dr. Prinstein.
Great insights and suggestions. I might have to grab a couple of those books (never read either author, shame! shame!!) I've been bobbing along in old books for a year, now reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which somehow got by me until now.
An aside: I'm fascinated by the point at which first person/third close POV dominated over omniscient. When and how did it happen? It must have coincided with the post-war equilibrium, as best i can figure. I personally write most comfortably in first person (feels most natural) but it's tempting to experiment the flit from head to head.
Currently in tapering hell on our second album (all the mixing and mastering and videos and graphic design stuff beyond the music) and I'm ready to get this thing out. Best of luck on your marathon and your master's program! The woman is BUSY!
Ooh, can’t wait for your next album, congratulations on making a second one! And there is no shame in old books; I read little else for many years (and I have never read The Jungle— should I?) Re: the shift away from omniscient, I think it happened after WWI; James and Wharton, for instance, liked using omniscient, but then Woolf and Joyce were among those who shook things up. A modern take on omniscient that I loved (and that surprised me for how much I enjoyed it) is Lonesome Dove.