after all, the woodpecker never said he was a hummingbird.
Hi!
It’s mid-December but — let’s be honest — nobody ever said that dates would matter in the apocalypse. At least that’s what I tell myself every day I do not check off “Send Holiday Card” from my to-do list. In other news, life remains just as linguistically exhausting as ever around Chez Diaz-Ortiz.
Scene:
We were in the yard on Friday when I spotted a hummingbird in the lavender bush.
Me: Lucia, look, a Hummingbird!
Lucia: A what?
Me: A colibri! (Spanish)
Lucia: Oh! A woodpecker!
End Scene.
The big news of late was that I finally did get my amazing office-pod built and installed in our backyard, which now looks drool-worthy, especially during a crazy no-filter sunset. (Cue clarification that I have done nothing to contribute to this home or this yard except to have the incredible good fortune to marry an architect.)
Stuff:
If you’re in the USA, use this calculator to see where you are in line for the vaccine. Unfortunately, although I now feel that I have information, I actually do not. Neither will you.
The rise of the Super-App, by Nicole Quinn, got me thinking about wanting to delete the ten apps I have that all try to do overlapping things and focus more on the extra features Calm has that I’m not using. (I love Calm, and am a PRO user, but only use the meditation features for the most part. Suggestions welcome.)
This week was on FUEGO when it came to female founder content in Silicon Valley. Specifically on the theme of Female Founder take-downs and what the press doesn’t cover. Ali Kriegsman was triggered to write her article by watching how badly Diana was treated in The Crown. (This season was brutal, and my own father couldn’t finish it for the same reason.)
I see what Diana went through – desperately seeking guidance from stakeholders that gave none, confronting relentless, ravenous journalists who couldn’t decide if they wanted her to win or fail, trusting an experienced inner circle that had its own motives - and I couldn’t help but think of the venture-backed female founders who were taken to task this year, and what may have been going on behind the scenes. It’s an odd parallel, I know. But now I can’t unsee it.
Another piece by Maria Aspan in Fortune about female founders brought up similar themes.
Aspan’s piece quotes extensively from my friend Sara, who started Winnie. For those of you who don’t follow Sara on Twitter, she’s a must when it comes to no-holds-barred-working-mom-tweets-in-a pandemic. (And when does it not come to that, reader?)
All about reclaiming our privacy on the internet.
In conclusion, my BFF is moving with her four kids to New Zealand for a year to go do some doctoring (peace out pandemmy!), so I’ve been living vicariously through
best of booklists about that far-off island. To be clear, though, it’s not actually that far-off from me in Buenos Aires, but there are no direct flights.
(Cue the time I once flew from Melbourne to Buenos Aires through Sydney, LA and NYC. True, insane, story.)
You did good work to read all these words. Time for a nap?
That’s all I got,
Claire