43. Rest

Election and outages and Olympics, oh my! I started the month with a week off that I then ended up using to write blog posts (more on that in a bit) and then just felt very very tired.

Serendipitously someone introduced me to the book Rest is Resistance and it’s been interesting to read while feeling worn out. While I wish the beginning had spoken a bit more to privilege (giving up everything and moving to ones’ parents isn’t a guaranteed option for all) after this it includes a lot of practical considerations about practically incorporating rest into one’s life.

Which is a good segue for: I’ve handed in my notice at my current job as it’s time for a change (and probably a bit of a rest), possibly away from perm work for a bit. I am at my current job until early October, I am exploring public sector contracts but do talk to me if there is anything interesting that needs interaction design expertise and is doable from Newcastle (after a lot of long commutes in the last few years I need a break from that!)

This month in digital government and design

Miscellany

  • Ian Ames writes about going contracting.
  • I went to a book club reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. I had this on audiobook and have to admit that I had to start skipping sections as the harrowing material was relentless in my ears, even at 2x speed. (I had a similar issue getting through Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women). Wilkerson has come across something original and useful in using the framing of castes—a system based on a particular (potentially arbitrary) set of beliefs that deny social mobility or even social mixing based on particular traits, which manifested in India, the USA and also Nazi Germany (who she shows modelled their systems on the USA). While the book doesn’t quite decide if it’s about really about her experiences trying on this theory, really showing the Black American experience through this lens, using that thesis as a global idea, it’s certainly a valuable contribution to race and general equity and inclusion discourse.
  • I finished the book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, about what it means to love the great work of a terrible person. I was thrilled to see it vindicate both Lolita (actually about the titular character in her absence) and Woody Allen's Annie Hall (while rightly saying that Manhattan however is not forgivable).
  • On a completely different type of book: Julia Fox's Down the Drain is wild, in a very particular 90s under-supervised New York kid kinda way. I did have to temporarily stop when she was being near held at house arrest by her gangster boyfriend (when she was only 15!) but it's a compelling listen, and validated my sense that she really understands art and performance in a way that she isn't always given credit for.
  • What is Brat Green? (also I loved that Elaine from Seinfield was there way before anyone else though back then it was called 'toxic waste green')
  • Finally - Stephen Nedoroscik ('Mr Pomel Horse' of the US Olympics team) is just Clark Kent goals really