Obama’s new book is out. He got a $65 million advance for it, together with Michelle’s Becoming. Obama needs those millions just as consolation for the typeface. Why would you lay out a memoir by the most modern, and one of the youngest, American presidents in an antique typeface riddled…

It’s the second week of protests after the killing of George Floyd. Huge strides have been made in awareness about systemic racism, and the lens has been turned to brands and their hiring practices. Nike was the first company to publish an ad in favor of the protests: “Just Don’t…

Learning from those who hold wisdom This coronavirus quarantine has been a deeply strange and traumatic experience. We weren’t made for this. We love our families, but being locked down is testing us to the edge of sanity. We love our children, but we can’t raise them alone. We like…

Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind was worth years of therapy for me. The moral philosopher explains how people make moral, including political, choices based not on reason but based on subconscious thoughts. Then, when asked, we layer on a rational-sounding explanation for our choice. So, someone might say (and…

Had something like the awkward sexual experience with Aziz Ansari happened to me, I would NOT publish it. Even the most successful people can be clumsy and awful in private. This should only be a matter of national interest if they were in a professional relationship, in which case it…

I’m shocked that in America rallies like this are allowed. That the KKK hasn’t been sued out of existence. That none of these men face jail time. That free speech covers organized, active hatred like this. Free speech implies higher-brain thinking. Nazism is a reptilian-brain other-hatred that, in times of uncertainty, spreads like wildfire. The images alone will activate those full of fear into active, organized hatred. We in Europe remember, and we’ve outlawed it.

I’ve long tried to like Mika Brzezinki, and I’ve always failed. I can pronounce her name perfectly, and am fond of her Eastern-European-ness. I heard her father’s name many times growing up in Bulgaria. There’s a certain superficiality & self-consciousness I see in her, that are probably internalized appearance pressure. I don’t like watching her for that reason. I read her book on women and work, and I found it incredibly shallow. You know the type, full of inspirational quotes, likely ghost-written by the first person who volunteered. Doing nothing to help women.

In a year where hourly we’re shocked with unfathomable news from Washington, we have news fatigue and often digest just one soundbite from a story. The takeaway from the NYT piece about harassment in tech is that Sacca, McClure, Caldbeck, and Canter routinely used power to harass women. Harassment is…