June definitely had so many surprises and I’m not really good with them, admittedly.

Here are the noteworthy articles for this month:

Will the world be quieter after the pandemic?(BBC)

Just a couple of weeks ago, I went out with my husband and my father-in-law for groceries and noticed how quiet the world outside was. That might be an exaggeration but if you lived in a populous city, worked in an even more populous one, you’d know that the absence of noise, albeit a welcome change, could still put you off-balance. For a second, I thought I was wearing my headphones with the volume turned so low. I certainly don’t miss the noise, and I do agree that the world can use some quiet, particularly since we significantly benefit from it.

The learning opportunities hiding in our failures (BBC)

I’m not on board with rigid optimism. Call me old but I know the world is not as simple as a coin with two sides. Screw-up nights with people involved in product development sound like a good idea.

How to cope with a gaslighting or narcissist boss (Forbes)

Though there is an undeniable strength in martyrdom, one must have enough self-respect to walk away. Blind obedience has never achieved great results apart from stable employment and incessant complaints about one’s work, colleagues or boss.

Kierkegaard on Nonconformity, the Individual vs. the Crowd, and the Power of the Minority (Brainpickings.Org)

This hits the mark like no other so I shall leave it here.

How masks have appeared in art (BBC)

The New Normal has become widespread, with it, the habit of using a mask. Masks of different materials, shapes and sizes are available in outlets and online shops. According to this article, they even infiltrated the art. It wouldn’t be surprising that a decade from now, our children could see masked men and women in their history books– when I was a kid, I only saw them in Japanese shows.

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