Adventures in Content Strategy
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin
Travel, reading, knitting, and writing outside of Mad*Pow and the UX and content strategy community. What Marli does in her spare time.
2018 has been a busy year, but a good year. I read 68 books, including 7 rereads. 9 books got 5 stars (including a new favorite, Davita’s Harp) and nothing got 1 star, though The Passage was close. Rating the Books I Read If you’re unfamiliar with the rating system, here’s how it works: *…
“The Talmud teaches that every person must say to himself “The world was created for me,” not as a statement of ultimate self-centeredness, rather out of a sense of unique responsibility for the world. This is my world and I’m its caretaker. If there’s a problem, I’ve got to do something about it.” –Rabbi Ken…
A friend of mine (male) works at a bar. He was recently asked to teach a new server how to use the corkscrew. After he explained to her what she needed to do, she told him he was mansplaining. He considered trying to explain himself, but he decided against it. After all, if he pushed…
Another year, another 61 books. Although 2017 was an absolutely terrible year, it’s been a good year for reading. 21 of the books I read were 4 stars (out of 5) or above, including a few fun trilogies: N.K Jemison’s Broken Earth trilogy, and Erika Johansen’s The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I discovered a…
Every woman and some of the men I know has been posting to Facebook with “me too”. It’s an acknowledgment of the sheer scale of harassment in our culture. What strikes me is the discussions that come out of the posts. The harassment that we consider “acceptable” vs “unacceptable”. Harassment that started friendly, and crossed…
I rely on book lists as well as personal recommendations, in part because I love hearing why people think I should read certain books. One of my favorites is 200 Books Recommended by TEDsters. Each speaker gave an explanation for what they liked about the books they were recommending, which helps me have context and decide…
On Saturday I marched at the Women’s March in downtown Boston. Several people have asked me what the point of it was, so I want to share. This is why I marched. I didn’t march to protest the inauguration, or the US Constitution, or democracy. I didn’t march to try to pass specific legislation or…
I did a lot of thinking this weekend about the countries I’ve lived in, and the countries I’ve visited. How do they compare to life in the United States? Particularly, how do they live in the America under Trump? It’s given me some perspective around the election and upcoming inauguration. Particularly, some perspective around the issues…
Every year I track the books I read. This year, the best books I read were Contagious, by Jonah Berger, A Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and Travels with Charlie, by John Steinbeck. My favorite by far was A Handmaid’s Tale. I’ve read Atwood’s The Blind Assassin (twice) and couldn’t stand it, but now I can’t wait to…
I’m not sure when I realized I wasn’t going to live past 21. I say “realized” because, at the time, it didn’t feel like a decision. I saw suicide as a possible solution, but I didn’t consider it something I was capable of. I had no suicidal plans; instead I dreamed of accidents. I figured…
