This Week - Apr 04, 2014

This new style of dining is symptomatic of a larger disorder. We look at menus and try to analyze what the best dishes are to put together the right order. We’re in danger of becoming people who would rather have an opinion about a restaurant than a richly textured memory.

— Eating Alone, Together (China Millman for Medium)

Since the tender years of childhood, we are conditioned to believe that failure, misery, pain and aggression are the identifiers and influencers of the quality of success that follows them.

— The Courage To Fail (Vyoma Nupur for Medium)

It was after this letter that Burnett realized that busyness of a certain kind—meaning not the work-three-menial-jobs-and-put-your-kids-in-precarious-day-care-by-necessity kind—became a mark of social status, that somewhere in the drudgery of checklists and the crumpled heaps one could detect a hint of glamour. 'My God, people are competing about being busy,' Burnett realized. 'It’s about showing status. That if you’re busy, you’re important. You’re leading a full and worthy life. … As if you don’t get to choose, busyness is just there. I call it the nonchoice choice. Because people really do have a choice.'

— You're Not As Busy As You Say You Are (Hanna Rosin for Slate)