Weekend Reads v. 31.1.2025

You made it!

Credit: ma-no

The longest month has finally come to a close. Sheesh! Thankfully tomorrow starts the shortest month of the year.

I realize for some, this month will forever be stained by life-altering tragedy. For others, this month was a personal high point. And for others still, this collection of 31 days was marked by anxiety and fear.

It’s been interesting to see how others viewed this month based on their social media posts. You could gauge people’s political beliefs, geographic location, or chapter of life based upon how they describe their daily routines online. This seemed especially true for influencers who normally stick to clothing or interior design as they broke from normal programming to show shades of their opinions about world events this month.

I get it. It feels like the whole world has been tied to a treadmill for the past 8 or so years. And yet, somehow, adding to the noise hasn’t seemed to make me feel any better. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I can share an opinion backed by sources on most any topic of the day. But am I helping by sharing some heated sentiment and then blocking those who disagree with me? Afterwards, it sure doesn’t feel helpful.

For example, in the past week I’ve seen several friends share deeply flawed commentary on news events. These problematic filibusters were underscored in blistering emotion without any margin for additional viewpoints or facts. It’s easy to see how cancel culture continues to rage like a cancer in our society, when there is little space for productive dialogue.

I thought this essay entitled “Why philosophers should worry about cancel culture” made a profound point: to truly articulate a position on a topic, one must understand the many sides of that topic. This can’t happen on platforms built to entertain with quick videos and articles adorned with click-bait in lieu of headlines.

The essay was also a good reminder to me to take a step back and ask more questions in conversations, and to walk away when someone isn’t willing to do the same.

“Because of this, it is extremely common for philosophers to spend a fair bit of time offering ‘reconstructions’ of positions that they do not actually hold. Indeed, it is not unusual for the first half of a research talk or conference presentation to consist of such reconstruction. Many of us have developed some enthusiasm for the practice – since the type of positions worth engaging with are typically not unreasoned, once one catches the thread of the argument it is difficult not follow it along, which often makes one sound like one is endorsing it. It is possible to admire the inner coherence of a position and to communicate that to an audience without at the end of the day endorsing it. This generates certain risks, however, that with context collapse, along with the shortened attention spans of online audiences (or uncharitable video editing), one will to be taken to have endorsed a position that one does not actually hold. This is precisely what generated the deplatforming of Daniel Weinstock – a truncated segment of his remarks at a conference, in which he was merely describing a position in a broader debate, was used to ascribe to him a position that he did not actually hold. Surely this is something that could happen to anyone in the profession!” Source

I suppose I raise this observation as we embark on a blank page in our calendars to say, sometimes not saying anything at all is, well, golden. Chances are, someone already made your point in the comments.

For so long, I’ve tried to find a really good blog or influencer who gave me a truly safe place to escape from all the noise. But one after another, the writers and influencers I follow have given into major mission creep. While their opinions are valid and worthy of respect, it feels like a small betrayal to go to a source for home décor one day and find a scathing take down of an entire group of people. Like, please just stick to talking about what you’re good at – rugs. It really does feel much better to focus on your gifts and not give into the temptation to complain about how horrible someone is because they didn’t vote the way you did. I must confess to you that I say this to myself several times a day.

I realize this space may not be as cohesive as a Substack focused on news or cooking or shopping, but I hope it will remain for you a welcoming place to put your feet up and learn something new no matter your worldview.

And now for some lighthearted links to kick off the of The Longest Month!

Which hot drink are you?

Really love the pinks and greens in this Notting Hill apartment.

This bowl of salted chocolate pudding looks decadent and so yummy.

A new study says 70% of romantic relationships began as friendships. The study also found some interesting intel on blind dates and online dating.

“29 things I'm glad I did in my twenties...” If you made a list like this, what would you add to it?

Taking yet another opportunity to share one of my favorite gift ideas – a print of a hand-drawn portrait of restaurants in many cities. I love these so much, I have two! Café Cluny in NYC and Old Europe in DC.

Aah! My love of the décor in all Nancy Meyer films is documented. You can understand why I absolutely love the fact that LEGO has a recreation of The Holiday’s Rosehill Cottage.

True story: I have a black and white portrait of Paul Newman in my house. (Random! Taken by a family friend.) Anyway, this post about dressing like Paul Newman has me in full agreement.

The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated the same year Nintendo was founded.

The fall of the Holy Roman Empire and the founding of Texas are only 30 years apart.

He tried speaking “Old English” in the last town that still speaks it. And you might understand some of what they say!

On replacing your TV with candles.

The 10 best feel-good films of the last 10 years.

Take a deep breath and keep going; you’re going to do great!