The Workday Reading: May 24, 2017
May 24, 2017
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1) How to respond when you see sexism in the workplace. (Fortune)
2) This Merona belted satchel is nothing but clean lines and ladylike style.
3) Five tiny tweaks that will transform your skin. (Vogue)
4) Net-a-Porter Sale Must Haves: A Lapis Lazuli cuff, a red DvF dress, and a Vince blouse.
5) The Skimm Is The Ivanka Trump of Newsletters. (Slate)
6) Etsy Finds: a dainty letter ring, a rose quartz pyramid pendant, and Lapis drops.
7) Finally, a fashion editorial picks on men’s attire.(NYTimes)
8) This eyelet Vera dress is made of dreams, but this JOA is affordable and similar.
9) How to push employees without stressing them out. (Harvard Business Review)
10) Want to try Drunk Elephant’s products (or buy travel sizes)? You need this kit.
11) Monica Lewinsky eulogizes Roger Ailes and the culture he promulgated. (Marie Claire)
12) Pink is really in for spring/summer, and this short-sleeve Trina Turk blouse is fab.
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What I’m Watching. Dame Helen Mirren’s bawdy, funny graduation speech.
What I Found Interesting. Bill Gates talking about your most important commodity, time.
What Moved Me. Mother for Hire.
What I Bought. This Polaroid Zip photo printer that fits in your pocket.
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I could not agree more about The Skimm. I unsubscribed ages ago and do not miss that nonsense. Thank you for sharing such great articles.
I agree; I tried it when it was first introduced and just hated it. There was some backlash against the Slate article on Twitter, which I think had some valid points about policing women’s language/tone. Which, fine. That still doesn’t mean the Skimm is a good read, though.
I think this article was the push I finally needed to unsubscribe from The Skim….so thank you. It’s been grating on me for a while and has felt increasingly condescending. It doesn’t help that it usually lands in my inbox around the same time as the dauly Pnut email, which provides a similar news recap, but is actually meant for grownups. Reading them both back to back just makes me roll my eyes even harder at the vapidness of The Skim. If you’re looking for an alternate, subscribable news service, I recommend the daily Pnut or NextDraft.
I’ve kept my Skimm subscription, but I keep cycling in and out of reading/liking it. I’ll check out Pnut and NextDraft. (I tried the 202 but it was WAY too long.)
I like NExtDraft as well.
I like the NY Times Morning Briefing for a quick overview of the news of the day. You can click to read certain parts of stories in more detail, or just do a short read over in a few minutes.
It’s just the news stories without the condescension! (I also love their Cooking emails.)
I would also recommend the Quartz Daily Brief!
Hey Belle –
Probably too ‘political’ for your usual “What I’m Reading” but this is too fascinating not to share.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/magazine/jared-kushners-other-real-estate-empire.html?_r=0
Your quote of the day really struck a cord with me. Today has been a day accepting the fact that I need to learn more to be a better blogger. Thanks for sharing!
Whew that article on the Skimm….I think what struck me the most is that the article presupposes that everyone has an intrinsic responsibility to be informed on the nuances of politics and policy…and I dunno…I just don’t believe that is the case. I want to be informed enough but do I need to understand the nuances of policy? Not really. Just like a heart surgeon doesn’t need to understand the nuances of the erie doctrine. I think that author assumes just because it’s her job to KNOW certain things, it should be everyone’s.
If you vote (and you should) you have an obligation to have some understanding of policy. I think this refusal to understand nuance is partly to blame for the increased polarization in politics.
I read an interesting article pushing back against Slate’s take on The Skimm. It mentions a lot of what you do, CeeCee. https://mashable.com/2017/05/18/please-shut-up-about-the-skimm/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#rITo81e5a5q3
I agree with all of the counter-arguments the Mashable article identifies. I didn’t subscribe to the Skimm to get incredibly nuanced takes on world affairs. I subscribed because some days I do not have time to sit down and read from any news source, and if I only have 5 minutes, might as well look at something that gives me the quick facts in a cheeky way. And yeah, sometimes that are too irreverent, but they’re also consistently accurate and unbiased. I get that journalists might be frustrated with yet another sign that traditional media is dying, but it’s also true that on the days when I do have time, I read several articles linked in the Skimm that I wouldn’t otherwise.
I totally agree. I love The Skimm. Most of my friends read it. We’re not millennials. Not one of us is a Trump supporter. I was really impressed that they got all of those people registered to vote. What other news source did?
I completely agree with your comment, CeeCee. I work in government/PR, so I’m expected to now what’s going on in the world–just like this reporter is. theSkimm is the first thing I read every morning, and I use it as a jumping-off point to start the rest of my reading for the day. It’s by no means the only way I get my news. But I think it’s a great resource for those working in industries where you can’t be glued to a computer and phone screen all day. The Mashable article posted by Pressley below makes great points.
If anyone reading the comments wants to decide for themselves, you can subscribe here: https://www.theskimm.com/?r=61b5043d (Sorry if not allowed, Abra!)
Isn’t it the purpose of The Skimm to just provide a surface-level overview of the day’s events, hence the name?
After hearing about the Slate article I finally read it. And WHOA is it condescending. I started reading the skimm years ago, in those early years after graduating from college when I was trying to get out of my bubble and stay current on the news. In the many years since as I’ve become an informed citizen, I’ve honed my news sources and don’t read it anymore. But I credit it with sparking an interest that made me dig deeper, and I think it can serve as that for many other people. The reality is people don’t buy newspapers or sit down for the nightly news. Apathy is surprisingly widespread and if you don’t seek out news, it’s easy to stay ignorant. Instead of harping on its word choice and shallow coverage, I think we should celebrate those one million people choosing to engage. Better than not at all, fake news or incredibly biased coverage.
Any Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale picks?
Do you use a special camera for your pics on here and on IG? They’re really beautiful
Some of them are taken with a real camera by a real photographer. I’m the worst photo-taker, ever.
I unsubscribed from the Skimm for some incredibly flippant way they framed a very serious and tragic news event. But thinking about it later, I realized that they didn’t even do what they promised. First, their summaries were so bad that they weren’t even informative—the only cocktail chatter you’d be able to generate after reading would be to say “So, did you hear about X?” (…and hope no one replies “No, what happened?”) Second, they actually *wasted* space with all their forced sass. You can be pithy and smart, as my Twitter feed proves every day, so why waste time reading all those terrible jokes?