These Are a Few of My Favorite Links: 01/18/22

Every other week, I send an email that solely features great links for you to peruse throughout the week and weekend. Enjoy!

“Book banning is back” — Most of us tend to think of book bans as a relic of America’s past. The last few years has seen a surge in bans, though, particularly at the behest of conservative parents and school boards. This article from Arkansas Times is especially good on the topic.

“Members of 50-year-old book club suggest titles for your reading list” — Great story about a fun and eclectic book club here in Colorado. The book club I’m part of, the Colorado Cocktail and Literary Society, has been meeting monthly for about 4.5 years. We’ll definitely hit 50, but we have a long way to go.

The activity keeping my 4-year-old busy for hours on end — Our middle child will be four in February and we’re always exploring new ways for her to play and entertain herself independently. These paint-by-stickers books have been perfect. She matches shapes rather than numbers and only occasionally needs help.

“After the Beanie Baby bubble burst” — This paragraph alone should pull you into reading this one:

Boeker, 54, can’t quite pinpoint why she’s dedicated more than 25 years of her life to Beanie Babies. The frenzy around them faded long ago, as these types of things tend to do. Maybe she has an addictive personality. Maybe it’s the thrill of the chase. Maybe it’s just that they’re cute. Whatever the case, she’s kept at it. She sold Beanie Babies to pay for an emergency appendectomy about 20 years ago and, more recently, to help pay for her son’s wedding. She’s also one of three women behind a Beanie Baby pricing guide and a Facebook group for collectors with tens of thousands of members. Combined, they have several decades of Beanie experience. Their names, naturally, are Karen, Karen, and Becky.

“We’re Going to Talk About ‘Bruno,’ Yes, Yes, Yes” — Like every family, our household has become slightly obsessed with Encanto, as well as its unbelievably catchy soundtrack. This is the story of how Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the movie’s hit track faster than you’d think is possible. What a gifted writer that man is.

“Podcasting Hasn’t Produced a New Hit in Years” — This is a fascinating article that gets into the current state of podcasting. The gist is that the vast majority of the top 50 podcasts are all “legacy” shows—those that have been around 5, 7, even 10+ years. With more and more shows popping up every day, it’s just harder and harder to listeners to find new things and they fall back on old favorites.

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Thanks for the support, everyone! I sure appreciate the time and inbox space.

-Jeremy