Web Reads: Finding meaning, purpose, and joy in work

The joy of work. Chris Horst has a brother with special needs who works at Costco. In this blog post he describes the difference that job has made to his brother and links to articles about other businesses employing people with special needs. Of his brother he writes: “Matthew makes his Cotsco a better place. He brings joy to his customers and experiences rich meaning through his work. Costco fulfills a deeply human need for Matthew, providing a place for him to use the unique skills and abilities God’s entrusted to him. We each need charity to help us land on our feet. But even more, God designed our hands and feet to work, because in our work, we find meaning and purpose.”

Actors’ advice. Memorizing is hard unless you’re a child. This article spells out some of the methods actors use to help memorize their scripts.

Pizza barons. The founders of Domino's and Little Caesar’s Pizza are both from Michigan. Both have owned the Detroit Tigers, and both are now old. “Twilight of the Pizza Barons” shows both in pursuit of things that have captured their imaginations.

To eat. Foodie TV makes short videos about food. This one features Neal’s Cheese Yard, a shop in London where people care for rounds of cheese as they age. Workers explain the process. And this very short wordless video shows how one Turkish baklava shop creates rounds of the sweet treat.

Children’s books. WORLD in two weeks plans to announce its Children’s Book of the Year, so it’s appropriate here to mention the We Too Were Children blog, which focuses on children’s books written by 20th century authors mainly known for their books for adults. An entry on poet Randall Jarrell’s The Gingerbread Rabbit shows several of the book’s Garth Williams illustrations and explains how the story, which seems to be an adaptation of The Gingerbread Boy, grew out of an experience from Jarrell’s childhood.

Bad blog. Federal district court judge Richard Kopf keeps a personal blog on which he’s written many controversial things, including a post in which he used an acronym for a strong profanity to describe the Supreme Court and its Hobby Lobby decision. You can read about it here. One thoughtful Nebraska lawyer took the time to write the judge to ask him to please stop blogging. The judge is rethinking what he does, and promised, “Blogging will be light while I figure this out.”