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Now, the links you’re here for:
Impostor syndrome: 6 successful black women on how they tackle it at work (Paula Akpan, Stylist)
At times, I felt guilty for feeling like I was an impostor, because I’m supposed to be all about empowerment and standing in your power and truth – but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. We’re all human, and within that is layer upon layer of complexity. We live in a structurally racist society in which black women are forever told that they must remain at the bottom of the pile, so it’s no wonder that despite how brilliant you are, self-doubt can kick in.
Masterpiece Theater (Anna Altman, the Atavist Magazine)
It takes a certain psychology to exploit art’s loopholes: a tendency toward self-aggrandizement, a loose relationship with the truth, and a sense of superiority, particularly vis-à-vis art royalty. Many forgers take a perverse pleasure in thumbing their noses at gatekeeping elites. And forgers can be something of a Rorschach test for the public. The art world, with its exclusivity, money, and pretension, elicits strong, sometimes negative reactions. The idea of someone skilled enough with a paintbrush or pen to fool the rich and powerful can be tantalizing.
What happens when you don’t pay a hospital bill (Olga Khazan, The Atlantic)
Krevat’s bills were just a drop in the American medical-debt ocean. About 43 million Americans have unpaid medical debt dinging their credit, and half of all overdue debt on Americans’ credit reports is from medical expenses, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study from 2014. The debt typically comes from out-of-network doctors who people thought were in-network, hospital stays, or ambulance rides.
Two sisters and the terrorist who came between them (Jessica Roy, Elle)
We’re here to determine whether the woman is a terrorist, but all Lori sees is her sister. The gait and the posture she would recognize anywhere, even through her khaki prison uniform. The tattoo, a pair of puckered lips on her neck, peeking over the collar. She has Lori’s natural brown hair color, now gray at the roots. Sam is Lori’s older sister, but Sam was the one always getting in trouble. Parties, older boyfriends, dead-end jobs, dead-end marriages. And now, three federal charges: providing material support to ISIS, aiding and abetting ISIS, and lying to the FBI.
How to really listen to music (Rachel Ament, The Paris Review)
But sometimes I wonder what would happen if we listened harder, or better, or more rigorously. This might seem exhausting. Am I incapable of relaxing? Probably. But music scholars insist that if we listened to music the way a musician would, understanding how notes trigger feelings, how tones take on their own textures and meanings, then we might experience something more visceral and expansive. We could push deeper into every song.
Image credit: Oatsy