Weekly Roundup: July 18, 2025

Happy Friday! Let’s get right into it.

Quote of the week:
“I was made for another planet altogether. I mistook the way.” ― Simone de Beauvoir
(I am feeling this a lot lately, as are the other sensitive empaths I know. The world feels very mean and harsh lately. I wish all the non-assholes could just form their own country)

What I’m reading:
Just started The Probable Son by Cindy Jiban, which releases in December!

What I’m listening to:
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. My good friend recommended it. I’m not usually into romance-y type books, but I’ll give it a go.

What I’m watching:
Making my way through season 4 of The Bear on Hulu. Last night, we got into a new documentary series, 100 Foot Wave. I thought it was just a one-episode thing but apparently it’s a few seasons. I can’t turn back now. We also started the new Dexter series, which is really good so far! Oh, and we saw Jurassic World Rebirth in the theater. The writing is terrible but I was entertained enough.

Writing news:
I had a really fun local event at High Tide Coffee this past week. It was a fun collab with my friend’s wine company, Caleb & Rose (subscribe if you want quarterly boxes of truly good wine). I love, love, love talking to readers. Thank you to everyone who came! My daughter took the second photo below. It’s so fun having her at these.

Interesting things I learned this week:

The British government said that it would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. The plan, which would require a new law, would add some 1.6 million teenagers to the voting populationAmericans who think global warming is happening now outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 (69% versus 15%)A new Gallup poll taken over the month of June shows Trump support on “handling the immigration issue” now stands at 35% with 62% opposingThe River Seine in Paris reopened to public swimming for the first time in a centuryIn 2024, men spent an average of 100 minutes per day doing household activities like laundry and cleaning, a record-high amount as captured by the American Time Use SurveyThis article in Salon magazine reports that the movie Frida with Selma Hayek was rated R in the US because of nudity, but in Holland it was rated appropriate for ages 6 and up, whereas The Avengers was the exact opposite. A confused Dutch teen asked, “Why are boobs worse than death?! How do boobs affect people negatively? Are they scary? Do they make people do bad things? I don’t get it.”Related to the above: Being prudes doesn’t seem to help us… The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is 41.5 per 1000 people. Germany by contrast is a mere 9.8 per 1000, The Netherlands is 5.3, Switzerland is 4.3, . Europeans also have lower STI rates and far lower HIV/AIDS rates…and violent movies seem to hurt us: “The U.S. homicide rate was 10.5-7.9 per 100,000 population compared to Europe’s less than 2 per 100,000. The U.S. rate for rape was approximately seven times higher than the average for Europe. United States robbery rates were approximately four times higher than those in Europe. Theft and auto theft in the United States were approximately twice as high as in Europe. The U.S. rates for violent crime were also higher than those for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand” (from the US Dept of Justice’s website)

What I’m grateful for:

Getting to see one of my best friends IRL. She lives out of the country so seeing her is a rare treatA wonderful book event. I love my community so muchPhysical therapy working magic on a lingering issue. Running is feeling good againSummer concerts in the park. We saw the Stones and Beatles cover bands last weekendStarting to write a new novel. I’m never sure if I’m serious so the title of the Word document is “New thing 2025”Puppy got her cone off, which makes cuddling much easier (evidence below)

The post Weekly Roundup: July 18, 2025 appeared first on Kim Hooper's Blog.