Our monthly reading edits are compiled by Francine Thompson, W&D’s Content Manager, Bridgette Dutkowski, W&D’s Project Manager, and me! Every month we get together to talk about the content going on W&D for the upcoming weeks, which is most often inspired by articles, timely topics, and cultural touch points outside the lifestyle category. We hope that we enjoy these links and get as much out of them as we do!

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!”
― Humbert Wolfe

Shorter days and cooler nights are reminding me to mark the passing of time. Seasons are one of the perks Midwesterners enjoy and I try to remind myself of this in March when I swear I’ll pack up the family and move to California by spring. This year will undoubtable be different. The days go by fast when I’m racing against the clock to get as much done during the day so my nights can be spent Joe, August, Winnie. I can’t say I’m succeeding each and everyday, but every once and awhile there’s enough light left in the day to get out on a walk.  The other day we looked up and saw fall in an entirely new way.

We hope your September was a lovely one.

—

+ On learning from making less: “You can change your perspective and refocus on the other aspects of your life that don’t require money—like your health, family, and personal relationships. When I took my first pay cut, I really started to find out what was important in my life. It’s amazing how perspective changes.” Five Things You Can Learn As The Result Of A Pay Cut – by John Rampton via Fast Company

+ On the “it” factor: “What these women share is not a “look” so much as an attitude: a looseness, an informality, a sheer undauntedness in the face of having so much hair to handle. These are women who wear their hair rather than letting it wear them. They sweep their hair up and away and they themselves are swept up in some fabulous pastime or new creative endeavor that will be, inevitably, well-received.” Effortless Hair? It’s Complicated. – by Christine Smallwood via The New York Times

+ On Angelina’s decision to go solo: “We can’t blame fairy tales for every antiquated thought seared into the soft parts of our brains, but it’s hard to shake what those of us raised on pre-Pixar Disney were taught from a very young age: that the end goal is a happily-ever-after marriage.” –Happily Ever After Isn’t the Only Happy Ending – by Amelia Diamond via Man Repeller

+ On becoming your best self at any age: “At every stage of life, you should be a rookie at something. This insight comes from Chris Dionigi, a Ph.D. in “weed science” and the deputy director of the National Invasive Species Council (that kind of weed). He believes trying new things and failing keeps you robust. Always have something new and challenging in your life, he says, “and if that something is of service to people and things you care about, you can lead an extraordinary life.” 8 Ways You Can Survive — And Thrive In — Midlife – by Barbra Bradley Hagerty via NPR

+ On Sandy Hook’s meaningful rebuild: “The Sandy Hook project is a uniquely contemporary piece of American architecture, a kind of 21st-century gothic: the first public-school campus in the United States to have been demolished and reimagined in direct response to a mass shooting. It is a reluctant but unavoidable statement project.” Can You Erase The Trauma From A Place Like Sandy Hook? – by Avi Steinberg via The New York Times Magazine

And if you missed the debate last night, check out a recap.

—Image via Free People