The Lizzie Wade Weekly
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An instant classic
September 1, 2024
On feuds and dinosaurs
Three writing tips
August 25, 2024
Hard-won lessons from an almost final manuscript
Rerun: The spell
August 18, 2024
Hello! It has, once again, been a while. This time my long break has a happy reason behind it: I am ~one month away from being done with my book! Well, you...
The bros are not ok
June 30, 2024
The gym, or at least my gym, is a bastion of binary gender performance. Without commenting on anyone’s individual workout routines, which are idiosyncratic,...
Black and white, revisited
June 23, 2024
Two years ago, I wrote about grayscaling my phone as a way of nudging myself to spend less time on it: For me, it’s not exactly that grayscaling makes my...
A book to make you love reading again
June 16, 2024
I’ve read less this year than any other time in my life. Reading breaks come for us all, eventually—illness, overwork, overcommitment, bad sleep, the abrupt...
My favorite recipe
June 9, 2024
I’ve gone through a lot of kitchen phases over the last four years. There was the “are you gonna meal plan, or are you gonna die?” phase, the residual...
On (not) watching Bridgerton
May 26, 2024
This year has been one long setback, as the effects of my January round of COVID have slowly but surely played out. The timeline and symptoms are almost...
Movies for brain fog
February 18, 2024
In addition to the vagus nerve exercises, the other activity that routinely eases my brain fog is watching movies. At home in soft pants, in the theater...
In which I become a wellness influencer
February 4, 2024
I recently experienced yet another round of Weird COVID, complete with the brain fog and fatigue I’ve felt after every infection. I was asymptomatic again,...
Anthropology is haunted
January 28, 2024
When I finished my feature about the Morton Collection in 2021, I needed a long break from writing about what I called “the ghosts in the museum”—the bones...
On medical mysteries
January 14, 2024
As previously discussed, I’m terrible at anticipating near-future trends. But allow me one cultural prediction at the beginning of this still young year: The...
Against New Year’s resolutions (and how to make one anyway)
January 7, 2024
It probably won’t surprise you to hear that I’m against the idea of New Year’s resolutions. The resolutions so often sold to us are mired in the quicksand of...
An interview with me, and other cozy week content
December 24, 2023
I hope everyone is settling in for their ideal hibernation week, whatever that looks like for you. In the past, I’ve been very committed to napping as much...
This week in follow-ups
December 17, 2023
I’m on an early holiday vacation, which would usually mean no newsletter. But I’m trying to get back to something close to my previous weekly schedule, and...
Hello from my new home
December 10, 2023
I hold two contradictory truths about this newsletter: I love writing it, and I think about changing it constantly. Should it have more a consistent theme?...
The mystery of maize
December 3, 2023
I live in Mexico so of course I’m obsessed with corn. It’s the foundation of the cuisine and in many ways the culture, and it has been for at least 4,000...
The agonies of transcription
November 5, 2023
If you asked 100 journalists what their least favorite work task is, I’m positive more than 90 would say transcribing. It’s so tedious, it takes so long1,...
How to create more time
October 29, 2023
Long ago, when I thought about what the month before my manuscript deadline would be like, I hoped for a peaceful stroll toward the finish line, full of...
Archaeology's ethics are changing
October 22, 2023
This week I wrote for Science about a debate bubbling up in U.S. archaeology: Is it unethical to publish photos of objects buried with Indigenous ancestors?...
Social media is dead
October 15, 2023
The internet as we knew it is over. That’s been clear for at least a year, but recently it feels like the discourse is catching up. The social media...
Fun with footprints
October 8, 2023
Two years ago, I wrote about human footprints discovered in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park that appeared to be over 20,000 years old. That was a big...
A creative milestone
September 24, 2023
First of all: hi! I’m back. Second of all: I submitted by book manuscript! It was three years, one pandemic, and several life- and deadline-derailing health...
Half-assing my 1000 Words
June 25, 2023
I’m doing 1000 Words of Summer again. The proposition is simple: write 1000 words every day for two weeks. Each day, you get an encouraging email from author...
So far
June 18, 2023
It’s very hot here in Mexico City. The highs have been in the low 30s C/high 80s F, which is not that hot compared to other places I’ve lived—or most other...
Prehistoric Planet’s dinosaurs are different
June 4, 2023
I first heard about Prehistoric Planet, Apple TV+’s CGI dinosaur show, I thought it sounded like a ridiculous gimmick. A nature documentary about animals...
The human sacrifice problem
May 28, 2023
Back in 2018, I published one of my favorite feature stories, about the discovery of Tenochtitlan’s tzompantli in downtown Mexico City. Tzompantlis, or racks...
Tools for embodiment
May 14, 2023
Hello, it’s been a while! It turns out my big problem was not as solved as I hoped, and while I was feeling bad again, I had to commit the self-harm of...
Happy anniversary
April 2, 2023
First of all: I wrote a story! It’s about how people in the past related to the ruins that surrounded them, and what those interactions can reveal about how...
AI sounds like your boss
March 19, 2023
The discourse around the Coming of AI has been inescapable on my internet for several months now, and probably yours too. I haven’t tried Chat GPT, or Bing,...
On solving the big problem
March 5, 2023
In my last newsletter, about working with and through the fatigue caused by hypothyroidism, I wrote: All the tools and tricks I’ve developed for dealing with...
Work in the time of fatigue
December 4, 2022
I’ve been tired lately. Clinically tired. I got COVID (again) in July, it was weird (again), and I haven’t been fully awake since. It’s not Long COVID,...
Talokan Forever
November 27, 2022
As an archaeology writer living in Mexico City, I spend an above average amount of time imagining life in pre-colonial Mesoamerica and early colonial Mexico....
Power, colonialism, and daylight saving time
November 20, 2022
Three weeks ago, Mexico permanently ended daylight saving time. We fell back one last time, and we won’t be springing forward ever again. (In most of the...
Fun with branding
November 13, 2022
Now that I’ve quit Twitter like a rat leaping from a burning ship into the cold, dark, open ocean, it’s time to spruce up my newsletter. My personal brand on...
The sweet release of deactivation
November 6, 2022
I look forward to spending more time on crafts like these. I did it! I quit Twitter. Despite what the timing would suggest, my decision is not (entirely)...
The bleakness of space
October 23, 2022
William Shatner’s essay about going to space on a Blue Origin flight has been bouncing around my internet for the past few weeks, and it’s as good as...
Should I get back on Twitter?
October 16, 2022
Long time newsletter readers will remember that a little over two years ago, I soft blocked Twitter from my life and my mind. I didn’t delete it, but I...
The rest cure
August 14, 2022
Well, I got COVID again, and it’s weird, again. At this point, writing about it or anything else feels impossible, but I hope that won’t be the case forever....
A parable on two wheels
July 10, 2022
One of the experiences I’m proudest to have cultivated during the pandemic is that of surrender. As a recovering perfectionist control freak, it’s valuable...
Slow running
June 19, 2022
Today I’m shocked to find myself recommending an article from the New York Times, a publication that has been bugging the hell out of me lately. I will not...
The counterintuitive power of forever
June 12, 2022
Editorial note: You can now read my Weird Covid essay in Slate! Thank you to Shannon Palus for helping me polish it up for a wider audience. If you’ve been...
Weird Covid
June 5, 2022
I tested positive for Covid on January 20, 2021. This was before vaccines were available beyond healthcare workers and the very elderly, at a time when all...
Why I write this newsletter
May 29, 2022
Lately I’ve been thinking about how and why I write this newsletter, and I’ve gotten some questions about it too. Here are the basics: I usually write a...
Fun with music
May 1, 2022
Since I wrote about getting off Spotify a few weeks ago, I’ve been exploring other ways to listen to music. I thought I’d share a few discoveries and...
Black and white
April 24, 2022
This newsletter has been a Four Thousand Weeks fan account for a bit now, and I’m sticking with the theme this week, sort of. I say “sort of” because I’m not...
Three myths of time management
April 17, 2022
Myth 1: You have enough time to do everything you want to do. Sorry, you don’t. No one does. The hard truth is that there will never be an end to your to-do...
The problem with burnout discourse
April 10, 2022
Long time readers of this newsletter will remember my obsession with the monks of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, initially sparked by this article by...
Reclaiming my taste
April 3, 2022
Last week I canceled my Spotify premium account, a step on the way to deleting it altogether. I’ve gotten off a lot of apps and platforms over the last...
Why I have to start at the beginning
March 27, 2022
While exploring your warm-ups a few weeks ago, I promised more about my conflicted relationship to outlining. It turns out my relationship to it is even more...
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