Stop killing the magic of books with required summer reading – In this wonderful Washington Post essay, Elisabeth Egan has inadvertently provided a parenting manifesto: “lazy with a side of you-never-know.” I could not agree more with Egan’s point, and have had similar experiences, of prodding Grace and Whit to plod through assigned reading while also watching them fly through books that they chose. I’d rather they chose, and loved, lighter books than find heavier classics a chore. And I’m happy to report that both Grace and Whit’s schools provided a summer reading list (long lists) and asked students to choose a group to read. I like this approach a lot.
Reunions Make Me Cry – I have long loved this essay and huge thanks to my friend Allison for reminding me of it this week. Reunions make me cry, too, and so does this essay. When she evokes the campus full of orange costume-clad alums, my eyes fill with tears. And then the truth of what she says next: “perhaps most absurdly, it didn’t look absurd.” I’m crying at my desk right now, having just re-read these familiar words, knowing precisely of what she speaks when she describes her husband being subsumed into something bigger than he is. And of what she speaks when she describes the older alums marching, and the Old Guard. Yes, yes, and yes. “…it was simply a right and good thing to honor something you loved very much as loudly and wholeheartedly as you could, and the devil take sophistication, civilization, undue examination, or whatever else threatened to get between you and it.” May we all love something as purely and as openly as do the marching alums at the P-Rade.
Abby Wambach’s commencement speech at Barnard – Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. I shared this with Grace and she loved it too. My friends have been forwarding these words around, urging us to watch and read, to share with our sons and daughters. I love Wambach’s points about solidarity, about demanding the “ball,” about how life’s not a zero sum game, about learning through both losses and wins. AMEN.
The Immortalists
Bombas – Instagram advertising works! At least it did with me. And I am so glad. Both Grace and I are wearing our new Bombas and we. love. them. My favorite socks for running, hands down. I also got the no-show ones for regular wear (since I wear sneakers almost every day now), and I love them.
What are you reading, thinking about, and loving lately?
I write these Things I Love posts approximately monthly. You can find them all here.
I love The Immortalists!! And those socks. I’m also loving Headspace. So so good
I love it when you write these posts! I always find so many great things to read. This article on summer reading is the BEST!!! I’d be super curious to hear what Grace and Whit’s reading lists look like? Any chance you could share? I’m always super curious to know how different schools handle summer reading.