Yesterday’s rain brought with it some gloom. And gloom for me always leads to contemplative times. So today’s clip is all about seeing this crisis too up-close to realize that something may not be quite right. Or “drinking the Kool Aid” as I often like to say, referring to the Jonestown massacre by cult followers of Jim Jones who poisoned themselves and their kids with cyanide mixed in the punch.

‘The Circle’ is a 2017 film based on a book by Dave Eggers and he’s quickly become one of my favorite writers. Shoutout to Alex Ritman for telling me, back in the day during the Dubai International Film Festival, to read ‘A Hologram for the King’. Friends and colleagues who inspire me are always primo in my book. You can watch ‘The Circle’ on Netflix. The film, but then also try out the 2020 series. It looks cool but if I haven’t watched it myself. so let me know how it is

While you’re at it, do watch ‘The Great Hack’ on Netflix too. I got to interview the filmmakers back in July of 2019 when the film came out. The resulting piece I wrote was better but an overzealous editor decided to make it her own so here is her version of my writing. :-) It’s still OK because the filmmakers were generous with their answers.

Jewelry is from financially strapped fast fashion retailer Forever 21. Apart from having helped a struggling fashionista dress up beautifully all through the 2000s, the company is also the best place to find wonderful items like the necklace and earrings I am wearing in the clip, for peanuts. More than 15 years later, I still wear them and they still make me go “wow”. So when fast fashion is carefully picked and kept, it becomes a classic and I’m all about classics that last and last. Less waste.

The tea is Yogi Choco tea and it’s yummy with a splash of soy milk thrown in.

And finally, Nelson Mandela. His quote reverberates with me because courage and hope are two qualities I love in others and strive for to achieve within myself. In this moment, I am shocked at how much fear is in everything I read, on the news, on social media and particularly from a few colleagues. We are all better and stronger than this disease and 2 million people infected in a world of more than 7.5 BILLION seems like a little tiny drop in the ocean.

So let’s look long and hard at that Mandela quote and live by it.