Breaking Up Is Hard to Do...At First
plus: outer space needs a clean up crew, IRS face scan drama & other reading recs
I was sitting on my bed in the middle of March 2020 when I got a call from my crying supervisor telling me that I was being laid off.
It was early into the pandemic and I was writing an article about a slew of events that were being canceled left and right. Working from home was new to me, and spending more time than usual with my roommate made me uncomfortable: I didn’t like him overhearing my phone calls, and the midday breaks he took to play Fortnite in the living room were fairly distracting. Hence, I was alone in my bedroom, hunched over writing this events article when I learned that that would be my last day.
I was shocked at the time, but in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been. No one expected a pandemic to jeopardize the company’s various sources of income. Decisions had to be made, and one of those decisions was to get rid of lowly editorial fellows like me. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting; it was my first gig after college and I would’ve given anything to succeed there at the time. But it wasn’t like either of us signed a contract binding me to the full five months I was promised. The company’s decision wasn’t personal; it was business.
The timing was awkward, though. There was no severance package or anything, and I still had at least two more months of D.C. rent to pay. Plus, since I was scared my parents would succumb to the coronavirus, I mentally prepared myself to step up financially if either of them ended up in a hospital. While my editors wrangled up donations from the community to help us out, the other fellows and I hunted for freelance gigs and learned how to file for unemployment for the first time.
It’s an isolating experience to say the least. It made me realize that when it comes to your job, at the end of the day, you’re on on your own. Just as those in charge will do what’s best for the company, you have to do what’s best for you.
Just two years after that, I found myself on the flip side of that coin. In case you haven’t heard, I have a new job! I’ll be working with The Wall Street Journal’s personal technology team, and I couldn’t be more excited. (That said, it’s important to note that the views I post in this newsletter are my own and not that of my employer.)
I never would’ve envisioned myself to be a tech person a year ago, and yet here we are. While self-discovery may not hit as hard as a pandemic, it can still be unexpected at times. That’s what makes life exciting, no? The timing of this could not have been more perfect for me. I can’t say the same for my previous employer.
The initial sting of a breakup is sharp and confusing at first. Looking back, I know how that feels, and perhaps that’s why I spent a few hours feeling bad before happily shrugging it off. After all — and this applies to both the dumper and the dumpee — life goes on and time heals if you let it. Once everything’s said and done, you may find that the new opportunity at hand may be even better than the last. The least you can do is make the most of it while you can.
Writing update 📝
Pages Written: 5 (Sort of.)
Happy Friday y’all! You know how some people hit the ground running with that whole “New Year, New Me” mindset? I like to think I’m just now getting there.
This year, I’d like to be the kind of gal that dominates the tech world during the day and stays unplugged at night. That way, I can make more time for other hobbies, like climbing, letter writing, reading and of course, writing this damn novel. Cooking, exploring NYC’s restaurant scene and spending quality time with friends are also on my to-do list.
I say I sort of have five pages written because it’s mostly a lot of unfinished paragraphs and notes at this point. I usually jot down my ideas so I don’t forget them, but if I’m not inspired to write out an actual scene in any given moment, I just write “MORE DETAILS TK” and get back to it later. I find that sometimes that’s more helpful than pouring out ideas from an empty cup.
As I mentioned last week, I reached out to my former professor Stephanie Grant and was surprised at how quickly she responded. It turned out the point she made about self-reckoning had more to do with works of nonfiction. She explained that if you’re worried about how friends and family will perceive themselves in your work, it’s best you have that moment of self-reckoning after you get something on paper. Otherwise, you might never get started. While that applies less to my novel, which is a work of fiction, I think it’s a good point to consider when writing this newsletter. Perhaps I’ll dig into that at a later time.
Another point she made was one about urgency. Since novels can take years to write, she said that what might be topical today might not be topical tomorrow, and frankly, the thought of missing my window scares the crap out of me. By the time I write enough and (hopefully) find an agent who’s willing to work with me through the rest of the publishing process, the whole market could have changed. Then what?
Professor Grant’s advice: It's essential for YOU to feel urgent about what you have to say, what you are writing about. If you lose interest, so will the reader.
Stories that inspired me this week 🔗
IRS plan to scan your face prompts anger in Congress, confusion among taxpayers — by Drew Harwell for The Washington Post.
By this summer, those wanting to access their IRS tax records could be required to record a video of their face and send it to a private contractor, ID.me, to confirm their identity. Since there’s no federal law regulating how the data can be used or shared, some researchers are worried this is a bad dystopian novel waiting to happen.
German gamer, 31, breaks his NECK because of his 'repetitive' and 'intense' movements using a VR headset — John Ely for Daily Mail.
Ouch. We’ve all seen those videos of gamers running into objects while immersed in the virtual reality world, but this is a new one. Doctors say the guy had a stress fracture in his neck after playing VR games for up to four hours every day. He had to wear a neck brace for a while, but fully recovered after 12 weeks.
NFTs offer new method to control personal health information — by Molly Chiu for Baylor College of Medicine.
Non-fungible tokens aren’t just about art, okay? Apparently researchers for Science think NFTs could transform how personal health information is exchanged.
Still looking for a ‘Black mecca,’ the new Great Migration — by Emmanuel Felton, John D. Harden and Kevin Schaul for The Washington Post.
Ayo, it turns out the percentage of Blacks living in the South has grown exponentially in recent decades. Black populations are headed to cities like Atlanta, Houston and Charlotte in droves, while populations in cities to the North and West like New York, Chicago and Detroit are on the decline. This story details some of the reasons why.
Facebook Promised Poor Countries Free Internet. People Got Charged Anyway. — by Justin Scheck, Tom McGinty and Newley Purnell for The Wall Street Journal.
People around the world using apps in free mode are receiving unexpected charges by local carriers thanks to software problems at Facebook. Facebook is still in the process of tightening this data “leakage,” a spokesperson of its parent company, Meta, said.
Honorable mentions:
Jobs of the future include…space garbage collectors?
This library in Richmond, Virginia, is all work and some play.
The 2022 Winter Olympics are about to begin! Host country China is letting down its “Great Firewall” but the FBI is skeptical about privacy concerns.
That’s it for this week y’all! Have a wonderful weekend.