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One morning last week, she looked up at me as she held my hand and asked quizzically: “Papa, can people be tree-planters when they grow up?”

I smiled as I told her that yes, people can be tree-planters when they grow up, and that in fact all kinds of people of all kinds of ages could plant trees, even if it wasn’t their job. Curious, I asked her why she was thinking about tree planting.

Her answer was simple: “when someone cuts down a tree, somebody else has to plant a new one.”

There was no question in her mind that the act of cutting down a tree was accompanied by a reciprocal act of planting one in its stead. She knew we got paper products from trees, so it only made sense to her that we’d plant more trees to keep the cycle intact.

What she reminded me was that in each act of destruction, we need restoration. Simply: when we cut something down, we need to grow something in its place.

We are, to put it lightly, in a world of tumult. I don’t often link to stories and articles about the current political landscape because I know you’re all getting a deluge of them in other ways — I anticipate more than 50% of my reading these days is about the dismantling of our democratic institutions — but I do think it’s important to remember that this tumult, too, shall end. Other tumults will take its place, but this one, through the hard work and tenacity of all of us working against the maleficent actors, will come to a close.

And when things finally change, what will be left for us to do is restore. We need to take the time and effort to see what has been dismantled and destroyed, and come up with ways to grow them back, better than they even were before.

This means we need to take stock of what we have lost, but instead of dwelling on the loss, think about how we can rebuild, what we can recreate from the ashes of what once was.

When this tree has been cut down, we need to plant a new one.

This is what is keeping me afloat as we cope with a political and social environment that is so bent on destruction of what we hold dear: that one day, we will have the chance to restore, and to build again, and build better. And it’s that thought, that aspiration to create things that will help people and build community and make lives better, that I carry with me through all the tumult we have now.

There are other ways to carry ourselves through these times. I loved this take by Anand Giridharadas:

Having, and nurturing, in your life a sphere for joy and connection and community and love and food and music and human difference and living and letting live is everything they are not and is everything they are trying to take away.

Be what scares them. Live lives in colors their eyes can’t even see. Cook food they want to deport. Test the fire code with your parties. Form a scene that meets every Wednesday. Call someone you haven’t in a while. Fight with a smile. Fail and come back. Be weird. Be welcoming. Kiss converts. Refuse despair. Be disobedient. Laugh loudly. Hide someone. Call out. Root down.

They are waging a war on living. The more fully you live, the harder their job will be.

And this rumination on walking as protest by Craig Mod:

A solitary walk, disconnected from the network, is by definition ascetic. And asceticism is most certainly a “protest against the exorbitancies of the passions.”

And this call by Dan Sinker to do one thing:

We are living through a period of protracted awfulness, and the end is not coming anytime soon. Those in power would like nothing more than to keep you exhausted and impotent, incapable of getting anything done (especially the things that will undermine their power). So do one thing.

It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be something. And when that one’s over, move on to the next thing. Some days this will be easier than others (I’ll be honest, today I have been shit at this, in fact this post is my one thing), but do what you can. Do one thing.

And of course, this incredible post by Mandy Brown on keeping moving, and doing things — like organizing, gathering strength, kinwork, experimentation, and making art — that keeps that motion going. I was especially taken by the idea of kinwork as motion:

Now is also the time to kinwork–to reach out to people you know, people whose company you enjoy, whether you’re old friends or new, whether you met on the street or at work or at your local coffee house. As I’ve said before, this isn’t about making a series of transactions, or amassing favors; it’s about making connections, about building and sustaining relationships which grow more strength and agency for you both.

It’s especially important in times of crisis to do the work of making kin: isolation breeds its own kind of discouragement, the sense that nothing can be done. To contemplate lifting a huge boulder on your own is overwhelming; but do it with a dozen other people and the task becomes easy, even joyful. We need that ease and joy, now as ever.

And if all else fails, dream of restoration, of planting new trees. We’ll need creators more than ever when it is time to rebuild.

A poem

The Thing Is
Ellen Bass

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Some links

The Hubble Telescope, on February 23 in 2013, took this photo of galaxies in the GOODS-North Field.

This image captures about 15,000 galaxies stretching back through 11 billion years of cosmic history. Hubble examined this part of the sky, located near the Big Dipper and called the GOODS-North field, as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS).

You can find out what photo Hubble took on your birthday here.

Researcher Thomas Vilgis, as well as researchers from Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and the University of Southern Denmark, have created a process to replicate foie gras without force-feeding, using the bird’s own lipases.

Young gay men are often taken to Hooters by their straight fathers and grandfathers, and the amazing waitresses there are often the people who make those young men feel the most safe and secure to just be who they are.

Jaya Saxena did the hard work to investigate why Smartfood — one of my favorite snacks and one that is loved by almost everyone I know — just doesn’t taste as good as it used to anymore.

The idea that congestion pricing makes cities better is one that we’ve known for a long time, but it’s amazing to see all the numbers broken down in this post by Sam Deutsch. Congestion pricing is really a policy miracle, and I’m sad more cities here in Canada haven’t embraced it by now.

Tressie McMillan Cottom on the hyping of “mid” technology: “A.I.’s most revolutionary potential is helping experts apply their expertise better and faster. But for that to work, there has to be experts.“

We’ve all known this, but now there’s well-studied causal evidence: blocking mobile internet on smartphones improves sustained attention, mental health, and subjective well-being.

I love the idea of the street as a third place, and the idea of stoop-sitting as community-building. It’s one of the things I miss most about living in a more dense, walkable neighborhood.

Ian Bogost reminds us that the assault on universities will be devastating to academia and free thought, but also on a part of university life we often forget: “earning a degree and starting a career, yes, but also moving away from home, testing limits, joining new communities, becoming an adult.”

Microsoft celebrates its 50th birthday this week, so the Verge has made a list of their 50 best things Microsoft has made. (As someone who has to work in a primarily-Microsoft ecosystem, it’s hard to think of good things about the company and its products, but there are some interesting additions to the list. )

And to cleanse the palate after a long week, here is a collection of behind the scenes photos of early Sesame Street with the Muppets.

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James
What Everett’s James does, unlike Huck Finn, is give interiority to a character that has nuance, that has a family, that has aspirations, that knows how to navigate the world and isn’t just along for the ride. He is in control of his narrative, and is able to articulate his story to us without intermediary. (Read my full review here.)

Slow Horses, Season 2
The best thing about Slow Horses—aside from Gary Oldman, of course—is just how ridiculous every plot point is yet how plausible they make it seem. I’m totally bought into this world, no matter how ludicrous it all is, and can’t seem to extricate myself from the convoluted plot mechanics. All that to say: I love this show, and the second season was perhaps even better than the first? Plus, we’re going to spend some time in the Cotswolds this summer so it was nice to spend some time there in our tv series as well. It looks idyllic.

The Sex Lives of College Girls, Season 3
Renée Rapp’s absence from most of this season was felt deeply: Rapp was clearly the strongest of the actors on the show in the first two seasons, and her character’s storyline the most interesting. Without her, this season languished, and while it stayed entertaining enough to watch all the way through, it didn’t bring joy and laughs the way the first two seasons did. (The Kacey storyline was bad, but that girl sure can sing.)

The Order
Before we jump into the merits of this film, let’s get one thing out of the way: this movie hits close to home right now, with the rise of white nationalism and racist rhetoric pervasive in society, that it’s impossible to watch without getting extremely terrified that there are pockets of white nationalists out there right now plotting the same kind of destruction. And I guess that’s what makes The Order so compelling: it feels like it could be happening for real, not just on screen, and that it wasn’t based on past events but instead current ones. Jude Law is excellent as he always is, Nicholas Hoult is unnervingly good, and the photography is stunning. This is a good and unsettling film.

Yellowface
I’ve always been fascinated by the publishing industry so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to Yellowface. It’s an incisive text looking at identity, authorship, narrative-building, and creativity, but more than that, it’s a deep dive into the world of publishing and how it operates—as a business and as a cultural force—and eventually shapes the things we consume and talk about. The book is a quick read and quite propulsive despite much of it focused on the interiority of the main, unlikable, character. It will have you asking a question the next time you pick up a book: who had to do what in order for this to land in my hands?

Nickel Boys
The first-person point-of-view perspective of this film is jarring at first, but settles quickly, mostly because RaMell Ross deftly pairs it with gorgeous production design. He gives this film a brightness that didn’t come out as clearly in the novel, and between the sense of foreboding we have—it’s clear that things aren’t going to resolve themselves cleanly—we get moments of tenderness between the two principal characters that make the end even more devastating. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is predictably excellent, but the two lead actors hold their own as well. The scene between adult Chickie Pete and Elwood will stand out for me as one of the most wrenching scenes I’ve seen on film.

A few albums I’ve really been enjoying recently:

• Kelela, In the Blue Light: During Kelela’s set at the Blue Note Jazz Club, she tells a story that she first came to the Blue Note to see Amel Larrieux, and surreptitiously recorded the set on her minidisc player so she could listen to it on the long drive home. This is what Kelela is doing for us: recording a luscious set at the legendary club (what I would have given to be there) and presenting it to us as a gift for us to relish through our drives and quiet nights. The music is soulful, as you would expect, but has a vibrancy that only Kelela can project through her voice. You’ve heard all these songs before, but you’ve never heard them like this. Turn the lights low and experience them, reimagined beautifully.
• Khruangbin, A La Sala: I first heard Khruangbin some years ago and remember digging the vibe but then forgetting about them. It’s only now, after featuring prominently on The White Lotus soundtrack, have I rediscovered them again, and I’m glad I have. A La Sala is a groovy album, but also funky. It makes you want to get up and dance and then tells you that perhaps now is just a time to listen and not move. The music doesn’t ever fade to the background; it is meant to be heard, and heard well. Listen to this whole thing in the album’s order, as there is a story hidden in its whole.

I dithered on setting up the new system, mostly because I assumed it would take a long time and just couldn’t find time in my days where I could devote an hour or so to getting it done. The old system had a convoluted setup, so I assumed the new one would be similar.

I was wrong. It took about ten minutes to set up the whole network: in the time it took for me to boil a kettle of water and steep a cup of tea, the WiFi was back up and running—I kept the same network name and password as before, so everything just reconnected magically. The new interface for managing devices and profiles is super simple as well; I’m very pleased with how it all went and kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

All that to say: I can now sit in my favorite chair in the living room and write and post little snippets like this one. Every time I do, I remind myself that I shouldn’t put off tasks just because I think they’re going to be hard; sometimes you just have to jump in with abandon.