Understandably all eyes have been on Ukraine these last several days. It’s horrible to see what’s happening there. If you’re struggling to talk to your children about the war, this post from our favorite college professor, Emily Oster, might help. It’s a list of tips for how to talk about hard things with your children, which means it will be useful whether you want to talk about the war in Ukraine or a sick relative or any of the other tricky topics that come up every day. You can also check out this post, which Oster references, by Dr. Aliza W. Pressman, a psychologist and clinical professor in pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Pressman is perhaps best known for her podcast, Raising Good Humans. She focuses specifically on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has useful advice on how to approach conversations about current events with school-aged children.
Even if many of us are transfixed by the tragedy unfolding in Eastern Europe, there is also other news to report, including President Biden’s nomination of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. To learn more about his nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and her road from her home in Miami to Harvard University to the highest reaches of the American legal field, check out this profile in the Washington Post. Her list of accomplishments is long. She was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer—whose seat she will take when he resigns if she is confirmed, a former public defender, served four years on the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission, which shapes federal sentencing policy, and is now a federal judge. She is also the mother to two daughters and a big fan of Survivor and American Idol. You know, because we all need equal parts high-brow and low-brow in our lives, right??
Late last month, the legendary doctor and global health advocate for the world’s poorest people, Paul Farmer, passed away. The loss of the founder of Partners In Health, one of the most influential global healthcare nonprofits in the world, was a tremendous blow. Yet, his life, and his incredible achievements, were more than inspirational. This story from Vox digs into four key ways “his life offers lessons on how to help people in need and create the communities we want;” lessons, the author says, that “can serve as a roadmap back to hope.” If Paul Farmer’s name is a new one to you, you might also pick up Tracy Kidder’s masterful biography of the doctor called “Mountains Beyond Mountains.” It is a stunning page-turner of a book that will fill you with wonder, awe and, optimism. Perhaps just what we need during this rather dark moment…
