~This week’s list of things worth reading, watching, listening to, contemplating, and sharing.

1. The Social Media Sea Change on Culture Study from Anne Helen Petersen. “What happens when the thing that structured so much of our lives loses its utility?”

2. Joy Comes From Within, But External Factors Significantly Impact How We Feel on The Gurdeep Magazine. “The practice of intentional disconnection serves as a form of emotional medicine, a therapeutic approach that can benefit everyone in our increasingly connected world.”

3. How to Make America Great: A Visionary Manifesto from the Woman Who Ran for President in 1872 on The Marginalian from Maria Popova. 

4. The ‘convoy of incredible people’ saving animals from California’s infernal fires. “As fires licked the Los Angeles landscape, a network of volunteers plunged into action to rescue pets and livestock.”

5. What’s the secret to Denmark’s happy work-life balance?

6. The devastating impact of 15 months of war on Gaza. “The Israeli response to Hamas’s attacks on 7 October 2023 has killed tens of thousands, left most schools and hospitals in ruins, and caused long-term damage to agricultural land in the territory.”

7. How we survive, “People who have lived through our greatest fears,” a series on The Guardian.

8. Dr Rangan Chatterjee: Seven low-effort ways to feel happier in 2025. “Ignore the experts, be honest about jealousy, and turn your phone off for half a day – the doctor, who has spent years studying happiness, gives his ultimate guide.” 

9. 48 Books By Women of Color to Read in 2025.

10. The Shock of Loss, “And being seen in the mess” on Peace of Mind by Meg Josephson.

11. Poetry: The One Great Story and Steadfast from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and Confession by Julie Barton and Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo.

12. How to Sit Down, “Two or Three Things I Know About Writing” from Lucy Sante.

13. 100 quotes that helped me write from Austin Kleon.

14. How to live a Quiet Life, in 2025, “It’s not about the right New Year’s resolution. It’s about where you direct your attention” on The Quiet Life with Susan Cain.

15. We Grew Up Hating Cottage Cheese. Now We’re All Eating It. “Americans are hungry for protein—and loading up on a food they haven’t bought since the 1970s.” In related news, How corn syrup took over America.

16. Chinese TikTok alternative RedNote tops app charts ahead of potential TikTok ban. “On Monday, Chinese users of RedNote, known as Xiaohongshu in China, welcomed ‘TikTok refugees’ to the platform.” 

17. There Is No Safe Word. “How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.” In related news, One longtime Gaiman fan on where we go from here and Gaiman’s own response to the allegations on his blog, Breaking the Silence.

18. The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #40: Elissa Altman. “As someone who teaches memoir, it’s probably the biggest issue that I see: writers, almost always women, who don’t believe that they have the right to create because of secrets and shame.”

19. It Must Suck to Be Such a Whiny Little Bitch. “One of the richest men in the world went on Joe Rogan’s podcast to complain that companies don’t have enough ‘masculine energy’ anymore, whatever that means.” 

20. Years ago, writer Pico Iyer lost everything in a wildfire. This is what he learned.

21. Red Dress. “It took 380 artists from 51 countries 14 years to complete the Red Dress exhibit that opened Wednesday at the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum.”

22. NPR asked readers “What would you wish for to improve life on Earth in 2025?” and this is what they said.

23. Here’s What I Think You Do Today, January 20th, 2025 from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

24. Some Run-On Sentences Instead of Watching the Inauguration from Jena Schwartz.

25. We Have Always Been Connected from Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book.

26. Biden commutes life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, 80. 

27. And finally, some things I saved to my phone this week.