Huh. Looks like Patreon decided to not implement the incredibly unpopular fee changes. Good.

This will be last links post of the year–I’m going to go hide for a while and try to grow back a bit (this essay by Austin Kleon really hit home). I also have a lot going on–a work trip at the beginning of next week (pray for me, I’m connecting through ORD), much-anticipated company coming for Christmas, and then I’m heading out of town for a few days.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this year and how hard it’s been for so many people, including myself. And then I read my friend Marissa’s annual St. Lucia Day post and I’m reminded of why we’re here. Marissa says it better than I can, so I’m just going to quote her here:

Well, here we are, then. Again or for the first time: this is how the year turns, this is what we do: we make the bread, we light the candles, we sing the songs. We kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight. This is the work of the world, and we do it together. And when we find someone else who’s willing to do it next to us, we don’t let go.

I’m not letting go. See you next year.

• Doggerland – The Europe That Was
• Due Process Is Needed For Sexual Harassment Accusations — But For Whom? Someone tried to play this game with me at work this week. Nope.
• When We Body-Shame Sexual Abusers Can we not? Seriously. I’ll note that the opposite is true as well: I have heard people say that victims of harassment were making it up because, quote, “Just look at her.”
• Where is the biopic about Ada Blackjack? I would like this movie to happen.
• Reimagining Female Identity in a Ukrainian Orphanage Really interesting and incredibly sad: when these women hit the age of 35, they are sent to a geriatric home to live. Presumably for the rest of their lives.
• “Because the problem it identified isn’t really about technology at all. It’s about the difficulty in ensuring the benefits of economic growth are shared throughout society.“
• How the Index Card Cataloged the World: “The index card was a product of the Enlightenment, conceived by one of its towering figures: Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, physician, and the father of modern taxonomy. But like all information systems, the index card had unexpected political implications, too: It helped set the stage for categorizing people, and for the prejudice and violence that comes along with such classification.”
• Thoroughly fantastic essay from Brandon O’Brien: “Fun” Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum — Why Context Always Matters
• The Problem with Muzak I hadn’t quite thought of Spotify in exactly this way and I am ashamed to say that my current favorite writing playlist is mentioned in the article. I can’t listen to music with words when I’m writing, so the “chill” playlists are totally where it’s at for me. Or white noise. Same difference.
• Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens died earlier this week. Several years ago I had the great privilege of seeing The Smithereens play at World Cafe Live around this time of year–they played all the songs I’d loved when I was in college and it was great and then they played my favorite–“Blood and Roses”–and the end and it was just extraordinary. Once of the best concert experiences of my life.
• How We Got There from Here
• Road to Recovery A family goes on a road trip after the loss of a child.

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