You Should Read - Sept 2
How I Judge My Job
Amongst the many Post-it Notes stuck to the bottom edge of my computer monitor I keep a checklist for evaluating my job situation. I reference it a lot in "watercooler" catchups with friends and colleagues. In no particular order:
- Boss. Do I have a manager who I respect and who respects me, who I can collaborate with and gives me autonomy?
- Day-to-day: Is my day-to-day work satisfying or stressful? Are goals realistic or disconnected from available resources and time?
- Mission/Vision: Is the overarching mission of the company in line with my values?
- Growth: Am I treading water with routine tasks, or am I continuing to learn?
- Pride in product: Am I happy with my output and my team's output? Is it creatively genuine? Does it express something meaningful? Or, is it just checking boxes?
- Relationships. I just added this one the other day, but it should have been on the list long ago. Are my interactions with colleagues relationship-based? Or, is it primarily transactional - give me what I need and move on?
The F Word
George Orwell What is Fascism? (1944)
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, in the midst of World War II, Orwell took the position that fascism is what we call things we don't like. Which I've heard more than once from MAGA-types. I disagree. But knowing Orwell aimed for precision in language (a quixotic aim, I'd argue), I understand why he'd blanche at "fascism".
The Atlantic Fear of Fascism
I’ve long resisted using the word fascism to describe Donald Trump and his Republican followers, but we have to overcome our reluctance to use strong language and admit that America is now beset by a dangerous antidemocratic movement masquerading as a party.
Umberto Eco Ur-Fascism The definitive definition.
The Climate Emergency
Scientific American This Hot Summer Is One of the Coolest of the Rest of Our Lives
The Guardian The Age of the ‘Car Is King’ Is Over. The Sooner We Accept That, the Better
Green Queen Is Burger King Austria’s New Campaign the Future of Fast Food?
The Guardian Mike Davis, California’s ‘Prophet of Doom’, on Activism in a Dying World: ‘Despair Is Useless’
Collected Ephemera
In These Times Slavoj Zizek: What Rumsfeld Doesn't Know (from 2004)
...the Abu Ghraib scandal shows that the main dangers lie in the "unknown knowns" - the disavowed beliefs, suppositions, and obscene practices we pretend not to know about, even though they form the background of our public values.
Muse by Clio To Design for All, We Must Design From the Margins: True inclusivity means centering marginalized communities in the design process from inception to production
Vanity Fair Nobody Ever Found the Next Hunger Games—But Boy, Did They Try: Ten years after the first film’s release, it’s clear that its legacy couldn’t be matched by the Y.A. franchises that followed.
David Cohen Reconciling Vision and Focus
Some non-dualistic thinking from one of my employer's founders.
UX Mag A Philosophy of Systems Change
War on the Rocks The Accelerating Threat of the Political Assassination