The Lizzie Wade Weekly
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A pandemic profile
September 27, 2020
This week Science published my profile of Abigail Echo-Hawk, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and a public health researcher committed to making...
Too many words about Twitter
September 20, 2020
Once upon a time, I really loved Twitter. I joined in 2009, just after I’d moved to Mexico City with a Fulbright. Facebook, which I had joined in 2004, early...
Writing during a pandemic
September 13, 2020
This week I’d like to share a series of interviews from Man Repeller about writing during These Times, with Mary H.K. Choi, Shenequa A. Golding, and Vivek...
Why tweet?
September 6, 2020
I’ve been using my vacation to pull back from and reevaluate my relationship to various digital tools and online platforms. That’s a project that will take...
Out of the office
August 30, 2020
I’m still on vacation, struggling to figure out what relaxing means when everything I used to do to relax (get cozy at home, cook a new recipe, watch TV, get...
How to thrive during a global pandemic
August 23, 2020
Throughout these five-going-on-six months of quarantine, my sister Carrie and I have been having long phone conversations about how we’re doing, how we’re...
The return
August 16, 2020
Hello! I’ve missed writing to you. I’ve finished my Very Big Project, which was—*drum roll*—my first book proposal. I’m not ready to say more about it...
New stories
July 12, 2020
Hi friends! I’m still working away on my Very Big Project, which I hope to have more to say about soon. (Both what it is and how I’m getting so much of it...
A quick hello
June 21, 2020
Hello! I’m back, just for a minute. My Forever Quarantine™ life is going well, and I’ve reached a point in my Very Big Project where I need to keep going...
The long haul
May 24, 2020
Up until now, my strategy for staying sane in quarantine has been to work all the time. I’m a journalist writing for one of the most important scientific...
My new story on pandemics and inequality
May 17, 2020
This week Science published my feature about how various kinds of inequality affected the course of past pandemics, and how (sometimes) those pandemics...
Nothing better to do
May 10, 2020
I’ve been thinking about the monks in the desert again. I wrote about this article, about work and life at a Benedictine monastery, in an early issue of this...
A neighborhood in quarantine
May 3, 2020
We are entering Week 7 of official quarantine here in Mexico City. We’re definitely used to it by now, though that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The peak of the...
In praise of Nailed It!
April 26, 2020
In the middle of an episode of the fourth season of Nailed It!, host Nicole Byer rolls over the judges’ table, thuds to the floor, and continues rolling...
A non-coronavirus story!
April 19, 2020
This week I published a feature in Science’s special issue on drought about the rise and fall of Wari, which many archaeologists (though not all!) consider...
Maintenance work, part 2
April 12, 2020
Late last year I wrote about my frustrations with cooking and other “maintenance work,” in the parlance of Jenny Odell: I started reading How To Do Nothing...
A quarantine (re-)read
April 5, 2020
I bet it’s really hard to concentrate right now. I’m certainly feeling that, although it’s gotten a little better now that we’ve settled into quarantine life...
The art of quarantines past
March 29, 2020
The coronavirus news cycle has finally come for me with a vengeance, so due to an avalanche of extremely urgent deadlines, I will be keeping this newsletter...
Rerun: The achievable goal
March 22, 2020
Today I am bringing you a rerun. I originally sent out this issue on Oct 13, 2019, and I think the philosophy of the achievable goal might be helpful for a...
A dispatch from Before
March 15, 2020
Friends, what a week. Mexico has 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with no community transmission reported yet. Schools are closing for a month starting on...
Unsolved mysteries
March 8, 2020
Last week I said that my feature on Teotihuacan and the Maya contained a writing challenge: There is no answer to the mystery, and thus no natural resolution...
An epic story
March 1, 2020
This week I published a long article about an ancient mystery: What, exactly, was the relationship between Teotihuacan and the Maya? If you’ve heard of any...
Drowning
February 23, 2020
I wrote last week about not having enough water. Today I’m thinking about places that have too much water. I’ve been researching sea level rise in the past...
Water
February 16, 2020
You know you’ve really made a friend in Mexico City when you ask to come over to their place to take a shower, because your water has gone out. It happens to...
An experiment
February 9, 2020
What follows is a short piece of fiction inspired by a recent New York Times story about an almost-abandoned cosmic ray observatory and the handful of people...
On editing
February 2, 2020
I love a good edit. I’ve heard not all writers do, but I can’t imagine it. The second draft—after an editor gets involved—is my favorite part of the whole...
Shaking off the dust
January 26, 2020
Hello! I’m back. I planned on returning to this newsletter last Sunday, but the week before I had a challenging feature to file and I didn’t feel like...
The year, the decade
December 15, 2019
I love the end of the year. I’m not really one for new year’s resolutions, but I can’t get enough of year-end lists and reflections, both my own and other...
Maintenance work
December 8, 2019
I have a love-hate relationship with cooking at the moment. I really like doing it, but like everyone in the 21st century I don’t have much time for it. This...
An American abroad
December 1, 2019
The first time I left the U.S., I was 17 years old. I went to Spain on a truly terrible tour with other high school students, none of whom I knew and only...
What does productivity mean anyway?
November 24, 2019
In last week’s issue, I cited RescueTime’s productivity metric in my examination of how much work is too much, but promised to critique it further. Here I...
How much is too much work?
November 17, 2019
I said last week that my overlapping assignments resulted in “objectively too much work.” I know this because I got sick after completing it. But let’s break...
Two new stories
November 10, 2019
I published two print stories in this week’s issue of Science. (That’s a lot, for those of you not in the biz.) One is a feature that I’ve been working on,...
The secret of Stonehenge
November 3, 2019
Writing about tourism in Mexico City last week made me think of my most recent experience as a foreign tourist. I went to England for the first time this...
On (over)tourism
October 27, 2019
This week Kyle Chayka, one of my favorite critics, wrote a long piece about Iceland and overtourism for Vox. Why does it feel like we’re all going to the...
The only thing I should be doing
October 20, 2019
I saw this tweet from the writer Rachel Syme this week: rachel syme @rachsymesometimes i think the ONLY thing i should be doing is writing a book (or...
The achievable goal
October 13, 2019
Over one winter break during my Fulbright years, I wrote my first and (to date) only knitting pattern—though “pattern” is a pretty generous word for what I’m...
A good thing to buy
October 6, 2019
Everyone knows you shouldn’t sleep with your phone next to your bed. It’s too tempting to look at it right up until the second you turn off the light and...
How to survive the news cycle
September 29, 2019
This week. Man. THIS WEEK. After years of dragging ourselves through months and years as slow-moving as molasses and as toxic as, I don’t know, rancid...
Against daylight savings time
September 22, 2019
I have never particularly cared about or understood the rage aimed at daylight savings time in the states. Daylight savings time is great! It stays light...
The first draft blues
September 15, 2019
Last week I published an ambitious story I’m really proud of. This week I’m back in the psychological trenches, practically stapling myself to my chair to...
Sac Balam: Behind the Scenes
September 8, 2019
This week I published one of my favorite stories yet. I joined an expedition into one of the most remote parts of Mexico to search for Sac Balam, a real-life...
The past is a foreign country
September 1, 2019
When did the world we live in begin? I argue for the 1500s. This is when European colonialism in the Americas takes off, when the trans-Atlantic slave trade...
A sisterly chat about productivity bros
August 25, 2019
After I sent last week’s newsletter, my sister Carrie immediately texted me, “Wait, you read Deep Work? Lol.” It turns out we both have a love-hate...
On procrastination
August 18, 2019
I’m writing this to avoid writing something else. I’ve procrastinated basically my whole life. I remember desperately not wanting to do my “homework” right...
Benedictine labors
August 11, 2019
One of the pieces of writing that has stuck with me most this year is an essay in the Catholic magazine Commonweal about how monks in the desert work. The...
Daily stage fright
August 4, 2019
A couple weeks ago, This American Life re-ran an episode from the year 2000 called “Americans in Paris.” The whole thing is charming and feels like a warm...
Rainy season, 2019
July 28, 2019
It’s not raining like it should be. First of all, it didn’t start until well into June. It was so hot in May, when the rainy season typically begins, that...
Reported out
July 21, 2019
I have been swamped with reporting and writing this week, working on a political news article that will come out next week. There’s something liberating...
The magic of paying attention
July 14, 2019
I spent most of the last week in the Caribbean, reporting another story I can’t quite talk about yet. I’ve been traveling a lot since April, with two trips...
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