Get Versed: Big Topics in Small Bites
The listens, reads and shows that keep us on our toes.
Never have we been more awash in information and so lacking in true knowledge. We ourselves have been guilty of starting sentences with “I saw a headline” and then sheepishly admitting we had not read the article. We walk around with a collection of chirons, soundbites, tweets and lots of “they say”s because we can scarcely remember which source in our scrolling produced our assertion. This admission has helped us to see that even with our best intentions, we can travel through our days poorly informed. In an effort to make sure we walk around, over, under and through a topic, we’ve been putting ourselves on a diet of media that helps us to achieve a better understanding of the issues. Don’t worry--we’re sharing.
A splash of milk and a shot of knowledge.
We have a big old newsletter crush on The Morning Brew, a business and market news hybrid whose relevant stories from around the globe, and links to longer reads, we take in with our morning coffee. Sure, they have a fun and sassy voice (game recognizes game), but they pack in solid analysis—just the way we like it.
An insight a day.
With the absence of a long commute, we’ve been gravitating toward shorter listens. We love The Daily for picking the one important story of the day for a deep dive, all in about thirty minutes. If you have strong feelings about The New York Times of it, please know the episodes are just the facts, thanksverymuch. Sports stories more your jam? ESPN Daily does the same breaking down of narratives for that realm of the world.
Extra, extra.
The thing we miss with all of this online consumption? Serendipitously running across stories we might not otherwise read. If you, too, miss the page turning, we recommend subscribing to one weekend paper and reading it cover to cover. Our personal favorite is The Wall Street Journal weekend edition (we love the Off Duty section), but any paper will do.
Once again, with feeling.
Dear reader, you know it’s coming. This is the part of the newsletter where we ask your forbearance while suggesting, one more time, that you get on board with Explained. Season Three of the most-excellent Netflix series is on now, with lots of untapped ground to cover. We particularly enjoyed the episode on dance crazes (note we said get smarter; we didn’t say lighter fare was off-limits).
Beat the Oxford Blues.
By chance, we picked up one of these A Very Short Introduction books by Oxford Press on a trip and have been in love ever since. Small enough to slip in any bag, these books go wide (and deep enough) on any host of topics from photography to the American Revolution to film noir.
You can do whatever you feel.
A must-visit in the Big Apple for years, the 92nd Street Y offered us a smorgasbord of exciting speakers on any number of topics—so much so we’d lament living too far away to frequent the place. Well, another thanks, COVID moment is coming: Now, most of their programming is offered to attendees virtually.
