Links, links, links

Just a couple of links for you to enjoy as you head into the weekend. No real thoughts of mine here, only the thoughts of others, one of which is timely enough that I’d like to share it sooner rather than later.

(I’m still deep in county budget season. My brain is oatmeal-like¹ and unable to form sentences. Carry on without me.)

Pick your group. I’m Modern.

• The Articles of Interest pod took on a subject near and dear to my textile heart: how we dye. Color is more complicated than you’d imagine, especially before the invention of mauve in the late 1800s. Trufelman gives a great overview of how complicated color can be — and why we need to think about how we make it.

• If you are in the Oneonta/Cooperstown/Delhi area, you should subscribe to Townie. Cassandra Miller is doing us all a mitzvah.

• The scam story you didn’t know you needed.

• What on earth is happening at Wawa? This is just so … wrong.²

• Balls. Get it? Danielle Kurtzleben dives into presidential penis politics.

  That is, inside the notion, “What should I write in these difficult times?” is the sub-notion that we get to choose – that we write to demonstrate how we feel about the times.  But, as O’Connor suggests, maybe we write to find out how we feel about the times. And that might (and I’d say even should) come as a surprise to us.

• George Saunders (quoted above) answers a reader’s question in a way that resonates with anyone who pursues something creative during difficult times.

And with that, I’m going back to staring off into the middle distance and murmuring about fund balances.

1. and not, like, the good steel-cut kind. It’s instant oatmeal. Just add hot water.

2. As a Yinzer, I’m #TeamSheetz but Wawa is sacred, even if it’s not my faith.