Weekend List!

Jill's (Short)(Sick) List:

Hello, friends.  I've been sicker than ever before this week with the stupidest maladies usually reserved for childhood, including pink eye among other things. What gives?  Mama Youyou said Congo was just making sure I still respected it's power over me...

Awhile ago, some friends of ours Skyped us and said they were subtly reducing their circle of friends in order to be better friends with the people they really liked.  I kind of thought this was a great idea (mostly because we made the cut) for people in their 30s with small, time-sucking children.  Turns out, Pamela Druckerman has the same philosophy for folks in their 40s.

 But you find your tribe. Jerry Seinfeld said in an interview last year that his favorite part of the Emmy Awards was when the comedy writers went onstage to collect their prize. “You see these gnome-like cretins, just kind of all misshapen. And I go, ‘This is me. This is who I am. That’s my group.’ ” By your 40s, you don’t want to be with the cool people; you want to be with your people.

Two different favorite friends posted photos this week of essential book collections.  I love them all.  I love books.  Which books do you love?

Per the forever eloquent S.E.: In the end, these were the books that mattered most: The Complete Works of Beatrix Potter, "Momoko and the Pretty Bird," Three different collections of fairy tales, The Sufi Poets, Yehuda Amichai, Pablo Neruda, "The Prophet," Stephen Warren Moore's "Life Days," "The Secret Garden," My dad's New Testament from high school, "Portrait of a Lady," and a nasty little number titled, "The Story of O." There were others of course that changed my life, but in the end I had to let them go. I'm not sure what this small library I've kept close says about me, but here it is in all its glory. 

The books that L.R. and her kids have read together this year.  So perfect.

Our family doctor has been fasting in Richmond, Virginia this week to protest the government stalemate over expanding Medicaid.  Such an important issue.

Speaking of the working poor and uninsured, this article about maternal mortality in the U.S. is important.  I was able to participate in 2010's Amnesty International report Deadly Delivery and I haven't stopped thinking about this issue since. 

What do you think about this movie?  Too same ol', same ol'?  Yay! A new Wes Anderson?

Have you already seen this video?  I agree so completely and it makes me so sad.  I want to hug all of my middle school boys and especially my son.

And.  International Women's Day in photos.  Le 8 mars is special here in Congo and around the world.

A long time ago in 2012, the girls had special International Women's Day dresses made and this adorable photo quickly claimed the spot as one of our most popular posts ever.

Sarah's List:

In 2016, I fear going from this passport...

Such tasteful understatement.

...to this one. I tend to agree with this article.

Speaking of minimalism, check out these brand makeovers. And these too.

Why Africa is the most homophobic continent.

By See-ming Lee 李思明 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/) (Flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Ellen poses for Annie Liebovitz.

Big image news for bloggers. Thanks Getty! 

Jeu des Echanges. Probably the most telling piece of colonialist memorabilia. 

See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

My child's name has an umlaut, or trema as we say, because hers is extra special and French. (And they are slightly different.) Check out all of these amazing ways not to use that symbol.

By RicHard-59 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

When non-Americans throw "American-themed" parties.

And thank you to everyone for your awesome comments regarding our move. I promise I won't start linking all things Burkina, but here's a good piece about their current political situation.

By English: Master Sgt. Jeremiah Erickson [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons