Lisa Weiss

March 28, 2026

Making good work

Inside: A scientist doing urgent work, two novels worth reading back to back, and a writing prompt.

This month, I was in Austin for SXSW with Dr. Catherine Nakalembe. Catherine is a TED Fellow. Assistant Professor of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, and Africa Program Director for NASA Harvest. She uses satellite imagery to monitor crops across the continent, looking for signs of drought and failure before they become food insecurity and hunger. Catherine inspires me because she's doing difficult work for the people who need it most. More inside on this.

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In this issue:

Spotlight 5 minutes that will make you smarter Practice What are you seeing that no one else is? Reading A haunting pair to read together

Catherine Nakalembe is on the ground in Africa, working directly with governments, training local researchers, and building early warning systems for drought and flood. Her TED film, How Satellites Are Supporting Farmers Across Africa, made me smarter. I had no idea how large the gap between information and action really was.

Watch the short film

Practice

What are you seeing that no one else is?

You (probably) don't need satellites to do your job. You have your own vantage point: Your field, your community, your daily work. What are you noticing that hasn't made it into the conversation yet? Write for five minutes. Don't edit. Just describe what you see.

Reading

On not looking away
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This month, I read Flesh by David Szalay who won the 2025 Booker Prize. The Vegetarian by Han Kang who won the 2016 Pulitzer. I read them back to back. Both center on a person others take from, certain they have the right. Both are haunting, beautiful, and unusual explorations of gender and sex. Neither author editorializes. They are worth reading in sequence. But I'd add in a palette cleanser as they are both dark and heavy. Ross Gay's Book of Delights could work!

Write and snoop with me at the Newberry

On April 25, I’m leading a small, in-person workshop at the Newberry Library in Chicago: ​ ​Object Diaries: Writing through the Things We Keep. ​ ​ We'll practice writing from special objects in the Collection, and then turn to our own personal objects for inspiration. To prepare, I've been reading Julia Newberry's diary. The library is named after her family. She was 15 when she started writing. Her handwriting is beautiful. She notes the day Dickens died. The day the Chicago Fire happened. There's something that unlocks in you when you read this level of intimacy from another person's life. Join me in Chicago, April 25

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