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It's been January for months
Payton Mitchell & John Green
January 24, 2025
Hello!
"It's been January for months in both directions." So begins Kaveh Akbar's poem "Wild Pear Tree," and it really does feel like this particular January has stretched on and on. The snow won't melt. The news won't stop. I suppose you come to this newsletter for consolation, but at the moment all I can really offer is commiseration.
It's been a long winter already for those of us in the northern hemisphere—a burning, surreal winter—and one can't help but feel like we're just getting started. But as Octavia Butler reminds us, "The only constant is change." Now always feels permanent, and the problems of now always feel intractable. But they're not. And even amid grief and fear, there is joy—just as even amid joy, there is grief and fear. Akbar talks of this as the tension between "public joy and private grief" or "private grief and public joy."
I don't know how to navigate this very long January. But I know that my puppy needs me, and nuzzles up against me while I watch a dumb TV show at night in a vain attempt to distract myself from fear and longing. I know that I must walk the dog in the blistering cold, and I don't want to, but when I make my way outside and feel that wind on my face, I am reminded that in spite of it all: We're here.
John
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This Week in Stuff
Even when it feels like nothing is going right, Jacob Simon reminds us that there’s good news.
One TikTok user shared some of the wacky sled alternatives Texans used during their recent snowfall.
Life is Good drew a “hugging spot” on the sidewalk and shared some of the hugs with us.
Hank made (and then corrected) a UFO mistake.
Curious Archive explained the evolution of absolutely everything in 20 minutes.
Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]
Five developed countries met the UN’s target for foreign aid in 2023
Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Arriagada
In the 1970s, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution asking developed countries to contribute at least 0.7% of their national income to foreign aid. Most countries accepted this target, except for Switzerland and the United States.
But very few countries have met this target in the fifty years since then. Even today, only a handful of countries do.
Just five countries met this target in 2023: Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, and Denmark. You can see them in blue on the map.
Every other developed country gave less than 0.7% of their national income.
Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.
This Week at Complexly
Ask Hank Anything is a new show where our celebrity guests ask Hank questions, he does his best to answer them, and they learn a little bit about each other in the process. New episodes premiere the last Wednesday of each month starting on January 29th at 12pm PT, 3pm ET! The first episode features Rhett & Link asking Hank questions like, "What would the world be like if humans laid eggs?"
Subscribe at YouTube.com/complexly so you're ready when the first episode comes out next week!
Angels, aliens, and ghosts—oh my! In the latest episode of Crash Course Religions, we figure out how the paranormal and supernatural show up in our religions, and outside of them. If you or someone you know identifies as “spiritual but not religious,” this one’s for you.
Some Games to Play!
Real Bird Fake Bird (by Studio Folly)
SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)
This Gubbins postcard was made by Fennec. Send yours to [email protected]
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Best Day Ever
Last week, we asked what your perfect day looks like. Thanks to everyone who sent us your day! We hope this inspires you to get out and do something you love.
My perfect day would start off with getting out of bed whenever i feel like, having hash browns, avocado, eggs, and greens for breakfast, followed by a coffee. I’d put on my favourite outfit and go for a walk while listening to music. I’d grab some snacks and head to a double feature movie, then I’d walk home and grab pizza and a bottle of wine for dinner. I’d chat with my sister while getting ready to go out with friends and we’d spend the rest of the night dancing together. I get home and fall asleep feeling deliriously happy and incredibly grateful.
I wake up on my own, no alarm, and no one needs me for anything. I'm not in pain and I'm rested. I read without interruption, I write something fun, and eventually I wander out to play a game with my family. We have smores over the campfire and go to sleep still smelling of smoke.
My perfect day just involves being around the people I love (and taking a walk in the sun).
The idea of a perfect day only really happens in hindsight, you have to look back on a day to decide that it was or wasn’t perfect. I might’ve had a million perfect days already and remembering them is going to be hard because humans are just like that. A perfect day for me is just any day I get to spend time with my partner, talking in the kitchen whilst cooking dinner or talking in her room with the tv glow in the background. I’m not going to remember what we talked about or what she was cooking or even what video was paused in the background when we talked, but it’s hindsight that will make it perfect.
My perfect day would be spent playing with my kids. But I wouldn’t be distracted by the pull of work or social obligations because nobody else would exist. They would be paused in time and we would have a day just to ourselves. I would be able to put my phone away with no social media posts to miss out on and no wordle streak to keep alive. And on this perfect day my bones wouldn’t creak every time I get down on the floor to play.
My perfect day is any day I get to go swimming outdoors. I have always felt so at peace in the water and was lucky enough to spend my childhood summers at our family cottage on the lake. Lakes remain my favourite place to swim, but I also enjoy a good river, ocean, or an outdoor pool in a pinch. All of my best days have involved getting properly soggy!
My perfect day would be at a cool river in the forest and being alone or with my bff and getting to chill.
I think my perfect day really depends on what my life’s been like, so it could really go one of two ways! If During a busy time, my ideal day looks like catching up on some drawing and listening to music. And during a more boring or stressful time, it looks like hanging out with a few friends, baking cookies, and scream-laughing at bad movies. It’s always okay to need a reset day, and it’s okay for that to look different depending on where we’re at mentally and emotionally. Life is pretty weird right now! And it’s weird how long it’s been weird for actually!
No one has ever summed one up better than Czeslaw Milosz's "Gift" imo:
A day so happy. Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden. Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers. There was no thing on earth I wanted to posses. I knew no one worth my envying him. Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot. To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me. In my body I felt no pain. When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
April 25th! It’s not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket!
You made it to the end!
What 2025 book releases are you eagerly counting down to? Let’s build a TBR together!
Send your books to [email protected].
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