Hello, it's Friday. Here are some things that #MatteredToMe recently.

1. have often found over the years that I am most comforted by poems that acknowledge darkness, but choose to turn toward the light. Ross Gay's poem "Sorrow Is Not My Name" does that. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/92472/sorrow-is-not-my-name #MatteredToMe

2. @lydiakiesling wrote about meal planning, in a piece which is also about gender roles, and parenting, and the stress of isolation, and, I think, a certain grace in surrender. I think a lot of us will find it relatable. https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/how-to-make-a-meal-plan.html #MatteredToMe

3. Anna Watkins Fisher's essay "Nothing to Spare" is about the precarity of lean production, and how running the government like a business undermined our infrastructure. It's not comforting, but it is illuminating, I think. https://medium.com/@annawfisher/nothing-to-spare-187944835bcb #MatteredToMe

4. This thread by @mneelzy is hilarious and utterly delightful. Being a former theater kid, it really hit me exactly perfectly. https://twitter.com/mneelzy/status/1245044972069326851 #MatteredToMe

5. Finally, last night my friend @Cecilyjk sang us all a little lullaby—the song "The Dimming of the Day," which I know as a Bonnie Raitt song—and it was so beautiful it made me cry a little. https://twitter.com/Cecilyjk/status/1248497821608640512 #MatteredToMe

As always, this is just a portion of what #MatteredToMe recently. It's been a strange and difficult time for most of us. If you're upset, just know: it's okay to be upset when things are upsetting. Thanks, and take care.