Running Late: 10 things from the week

The Pomodoro method, Thai food and dangerous art.

Welcome to Running Late! A place for paid subscribers to get the details of what I’m thinking about week-to-week, sale links or secondhand finds from my favorite designers, articles, action items and things to eat.

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Happy Valentine’s Day from Running Late! If you haven’t checked out the lovingly curated valentine gift guide for yourself and others—go look now! Wishing you a day full of love.

1. My attention span is shot. Here are some tools that have helped me stay on track this week while working from home, and getting to do the things I want to do (like write this newsletter):

   1. The Pomodoro method was created by an Italian college student in the 80s who used a tomato shaped kitchen timer (hence “pomodoro”) to improve focus. This technique isn’t new, but I started setting 25 minute timers on my phone and it’s helped! Go back to the pomodoro roots with this bundle of tomato and kitchen themed timers. I am also interested in this visual timer that’s for kids and adults. They have an app too.

   2. Listening to concentration music like this “Energizing Focus Mix” made by my Spotify algorithm. If you’re not a Spotify person, maybe this three hour long YouTube of “Positive Mood Jazz” will help.

Why is the comment section of positive mood jazz making me cry?

2. My husband and I celebrated Valentine’s Day early this week because of our schedules and also—being out on the town in NYC on this day is a certain type of hell. Everything is even more expensive, and for what? We got insanely good Thai food at Fish Cheeks in NOHO, and had an amazing time.

If you go please get the spicy coconut crab curry and star of the meal, whole branzino with cilantro and lime.

3. I cant stop thinking about this clip of Laverne Cox talking about trans lives and this administration on The View. She is so smart, and among so many other important things she said "I think they’re focused on the wrong 1%.”

   1. Take a minute today to go to the National Parks Service Stonewall memorial page and scroll to “Was this page helpful?” then write no, and explain why removing trans people from this history is factually inaccurate and a website will never erase trans lives. If you have extra resources and can donate money over time, give to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

Thanks for reading this far! Here’s an image of Claude Monet’s gardens at Giverny by Stephen Shore for some Valentine’s summoning of spring.

Now, below the paywall we’re getting into the value of dangerous art and the neutral everyone forgets about…