Every so often I like to write about what I have read in the weekend papers. In looking back, I haven’t written a Weekend Papers post since October. Either we’ve been busy or I haven’t been prioritizing the paper. Either way, here are my latest picks.

Sharing E-Grief, Made Personal by Katherine Rosman. This piece is written by a friend of Lisa Adams who died last week from metastatic breast cancer. The author writes about all the people that Adams touched through her on-line writing before and during her illness. Like the people mentioned in the article, I was deeply saddened to read about Lisa’s death although I have never met her. I feel like I knew her through her writing. I could certainly write a lot of this topic as I think about it often. I can’t tell you how many times I have been saddened to learn of a death of a distant acquaintance’s pet through Facebook. Is this a good thing or not? My jury is still out on that one.

Accepted? Rejected? Relax by Frank Bruni. I was so glad to read this and then to hear Bruni interviewed about his new book, “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania.” We are not facing college admissions yet, thank goodness, but I only hope books and articles like these proliferate between now and then.

What My Friends Mean to Me by Iris Smlyes. This article pokes fun at our modern definition of friendship. I cringed a few times seeing myself in some of it’s line. Being a friend is hard work and reading this reminded me that I could be working a bit harder at the whole thing.

The New New Math by Tina Rosenberg. This article explores the School of One concept in which math instruction is individualized to students via a computer program. There are obvious cons to this idea but also many perks. I wonder about the possibility of something like this going large scale. If the Common Core/PARCC conversations have taught me anything, it’s that we are raising our children to succeed in a world truly different from the one we were prepared for. Looking at all options seems important and perhaps this is one to consider.

Lessons From a Traffic Light by Hans R. Agrawal. Agrawal describes his fascination with watching pedestrians approach the traffic light outside of his office window. Time and again, people will approach the light when the walk sign is on and not cross. Yet as soon as the don’t walk sign is illuminated, they will proceed to walk across the street. The author compares this behavior to similar decisions made by people who prefer a known danger to an unknown one. This was certainly an interesting thing to think about especially as I become more and more of a procrastinator the older I get.

I’d love to hear what you all are reading and enjoying. Do share!