TV | In terms of courtroom drama, there's a lot out there. Most of it is uninteresting but lovable, just the right disturbing thing to lull you to sleep after a hard day's work. But with cases like that of Amanda Knox and documentaries like Making a Murderer pulling on America's heartstrings, the public wants more innocence, more justice, and perhaps more shows like CONVICTION. An ABC original, the show focuses on a lawyer and former first daughter (Hayley Atwell) who is caught with cocaine and blackmailed into heading up NYC's Conviction Integrity Unit, where she and her team investigate cases where people may have been wrongly convicted.
Book | It's hard to be wary of any author who has been described as "far and away, this country's best-selling poet" by the New York Times. And Mary Oliver, now 81 years old, has put out yet another book that doesn't disappoint, this time a work of essays, autobiographically detailing her life up until now. UPSTREAM comes with an ode to Walt Whitman, and speaks to the beauty of the mundane and the violent like cleaning a fish or caring for a dying seagull. Oliver maintains her refreshing lack of sentimentality in this exploration of the secret wonders of her life.
APP | PACIFICA (thinkpacifica.com) is made for people with anxiety, stress and worry (so, all of us). It comes with daily tools and reminders to meditate and to track your thoughts and feelings — you can even insert your own hashtags based on life events and feelings specific to you, like #TooManyMargaritas or #TrumpWon. Developed with cognitive behavioral therapy in mind, it's made to help curb negative feelings, so you can start and end your day in a more positive state of mind. ♦
