Hobbyist Academia #18
A friend recently announced her new business via Instagram. She’s in the health and wellness industry and just secured office space to launch her own practice after working for a larger company for her entire career.
Society does an excellent job of celebrating certain life events for women: getting engaged, getting married, having children. There are all sorts of rituals for bridal showers and baby showers, and until fairly recently most of these traditions have been to the exclusion of men entirely. I can’t help but notice how these milestones revolve around a woman’s existence as it relates to the domestic sphere. Society does a less excellent job of celebrating women for things like starting a business, earning a graduate degree, or publishing a book.
I’m not saying we should stop celebrating our friends’ marriages- though I do think it should be less of a gendered matter. But I, for one, would like to live in and be part of a community and a society that celebrates a woman’s business launch just as much as getting engaged. It’s a big deal! So I sent my friend a hand written congratulations card, purchased from an indie bookstore and mailed via snail mail. To my delight, it was her first piece of official mail at her new place of business!
She absolutely loved it, and it made me feel great to send it. It was one of those moments where I really felt like I was living my values. Learning the news from social media reinforced that there are redeeming qualities to the scrolling, I spent my money in support of a local small business, and I created a moment of connection with a friend that made her feel valued and celebrated in a way I hope to see and embody more of within my circles.
Engage and Interact
“Every January, Make Two Lists” from Raptitude is a worthwhile exercise as an alternative to New Year’s resolutions. I fully embrace the beautiful chaos of doing new year’s reflecting several weeks into the year.
The Long Time Project is an interdisciplinary project that spans the topics of focus at Hobbyist Academia and beyond. It’s holistic, collaborative, and worthwhile. [HT: Beauty Shot from 1/5/23 by the House of Beautiful Business]
Seasons of Work is a co-working space for creatives turned digital magazine exploring seasonal living, how we work, and making space for rest.
Emergency Confetti is a purveyor of self-described “spontaneous celebration kits.” Need I say more?
Read
Ingrid Fetell Lee explores and defines the concept of cozy, something I am definitely leaning into as winter fully takes hold in the Northern Hemisphere. In her characteristically well-researched piece, we learn why coziness is multidimensional and entails more than just comfort. Much like cultivating joy is a practice, “to coze” is also a verb.
The first Beauty Shot edition of the year, “23 is the magic number,” had so many good nuggets. I turn to the House for inspiration and hope for the future.
Julia Angwin interviewed Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, for The Markup. It’s a really interesting read that touches on digital communications and privacy technology.
Sari Azout started off the year with a Startupy newsletter sharing the things that inspired her in 2022. My favorite tidbit: “That’s the promise: you will live more curiously if you write.” It was part of an excerpt from “More people should write” by James Somers. Start getting the Startupy newsletter here.
Save This For Later
Even when I think I haven’t added that many books to the To Read list, it turns out I have yet again.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow
The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas about Living Ethically by Peter Singer
Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna
Leader as Healer: A New Paradigm for 21st-Century Leadership by Nicholas Janni
The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
Gender and Our Brains: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Minds by Gina Rippon
Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler
For more, see The Collection on my website, where I curate media at the intersection of digital sociology, design, business, and personal development.