Rapp Strategies Rundown – August 2018
What we’re reading, listening to and thinking about this month.
Todd R.: I look forward to reading Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear: Trump in the White House, when it comes out in September. I am gearing up for the Wild season and enjoying listening to Michael Russo and Jim Souhan on “Talk North.” I have also been anxiously awaiting “Better Call Saul” – Season 4.
Todd S.: If time allows, I hope to get to the book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy, who is a journalist and best-selling author. In her latest work, Macy is exploring the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction – from distressed small communities to Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs. The opioid crisis isn’t going away. It’s time to learn more about it.
Sarah: I’ve recently discovered the delightful podcast “Cabinet of Curiosities” by Aaron Mahnke. Based on German Kunstkammer – or rooms of intriguing items – each quick episode highlights stories of coincidence, unexplainable moments or just downright strange tales. My binge quickly sent me down a click-hole of Aaron’s other podcast, “Lore.” I highly recommend Episode 89: “Fanning the Flames” which spotlights some of Chicago’s strangest stories and tragedies. On a much less supernatural front, I love when good journalism incorporates elements that makes my visual-learner brain excited. “Here’s How American Uses Its Land” from Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby at Bloomberg did exactly that.
Aaron: It’s never too early to get in the mood for Halloween. I’ll be reading Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in preparation for my favorite holiday.
Anna: I have been binge watching the series “Jamestown,” a PBS drama focusing on the first women who arrived at the Virginia settlement in 1619. I’m also listening to The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, a novel that parallels the lives of a Chinese woman named Li-yan in the mountains of Yunnan and her daughter Haley, who has been adopted by a Californian couple.
Andrea: The most recent movie that I've seen in theaters is "Sorry to Bother You," a brutally honest and dramatized piece that unashamedly brings forward the topics of race and class, specifically the stereotypes viewed by white America.