It’s funny how rapidly one’s reading habits can swing from one extreme to another. A couple of years ago I suddenly lost all desire to read YA and cheesy chick lit, and delved deep into literary fiction.
And then I finally got around to reading John Green. And I couldn’t get enough of him. Now I’m back on the YA trail with a vengeance (and since I may soon be getting into mentoring a high school kid, it’s probably good timing). Alas, I think Gus has been miscast in The Fault in Our Stars; he looks nothing like what I expected, and now I’m not so sure I want to see the film.
This week brought some record low temperatures to Auckland; it almost makes me nostalgic for the punishing heat and dust of Cambodia - if it weren’t for the fact that country broke my heart and I could frankly never bear to return.
Onto the links…
A prime example of the madness that is our housing market (I’m only hard on you because I know you can do better, Auckland!)
I must confess I never knew much about Maya Angelou and I have no time for poetry, but this is a beautiful piece of writing
Trust me, this post about coping in dying industries is not what you expect. (Think … mugging, instead.) Just click the damn link!
An unusually contemplative post over at Get Rich Slowly ponders the different ways that we dream
It’s doubtful I will ever get to this level of investing savvy, but here’s a cautionary read on the risks of investing in different currencies than your own (obviously relevant to us here in NZ)
A poignant take on the drudgery that makes up adult life and living the hell out of it
Lastly, the deadliness of misogyny is hot right now. Here are three of my favourite takes on the topic:
Shamed to death for saying yes to sex, murdered for saying no
If you have sex, you won’t be respected, but if you don’t have sex, you still won’t be respected. It’s an impossible paradox. This week, that paradox became deadly. This week women have died for saying yes to sex. And women have died for saying no.
Your princess is in another castle
Men are taught that women are things to “earn,” to “win.” That if we try hard enough and persist long enough, we’ll get the girl in the end.
Our sexual assault problem is … not easily solved by a hashtag
We want men to be sensitive, but when they are, we make fun of them for being soft and “crying like a girl.” When a man chases us down the street and we’re attracted to him, it’s sweet. When a man chases us down the street and we’re not attracted to him, it’s harassment….
Mothers and fathers put much less of a box around girls. They are encouraged to use their imagination — if they want Legos, their parents are not worried about what it means; they simply give her Legos. God forbid, a little boy wants to play with a Barbie — most parents are not evolved enough to see that just because their boy wants to play with a Barbie does not mean he’s anything except curious and imaginative, as children are wont to be. However, this suppression of natural urges is struck down very early on, from how they should play to how they should act to how they should talk to how they are supposed to present themselves to the world.
(I have a few mixed feelings on this one but overall found it thought provoking.)
