OMM – December 2024 – #4
~ a curated selection of discoveries ~
::: The Open :::
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy this weekly newsletter (published on Sundays).
If you’re a subscriber, please consider reaching out to a friend you think may enjoy this newsletter and encourage them to sign up.
If you can, please consider signing up as a Paid Subscriber.
I’ll be just as happy if you donate to ONE ART: a journal of poetry.
Thank you for reading and for your time.
With Gratitude,
~ Mark
*
>>> Please Note <<<
This newsletter may be too long to appear in its entirety in an email.
Click the link or go to the OMM homepage to read in full.
*
::: Personal Notes :::
*
Lynne Kemen was nice enough to interview me for the Blue Mountain Review (December 2024 issue).
I hope you’ll share your thoughts.
*
My new essay in Becky Tuch’s Lit Mag News.
‘"Please Send One to Five Poems." How to Navigate Submission Batches’ (Lit Mag News)
I hope you will consider taking time to read the essay. It took me 8-9 drafts and many months for this to come together.
+
A few of my other essays in Lit Mag News:
These two I consider companion essays:
Dear Lit Mags: Stop Making Submission Guidelines So Complicated
&
Demystifying the Editor/Writer Relationship: Submission and Etiquette Guidelines
+
‘Poetry Manuscripts and Submissions: Editor of ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry offers advice on submitting poetry collections’ (Lit Mag News)
*
Important Note:
Substack is partnering with Bari Weiss and The Free Press.
This is more than a bit alarming.
I myself was briefly taken in by Bari Weiss’ reporting only to learn that some of what was being shared was, well, not quite factual. But it was told as capital “T” truth. That’s a real problem.
Some folks are going to leave Substack over this.
+
We are here.
Please read this. ‘Mainstream Is Now Fringe, and Fringe Is Mainstream: The current state of media is total anarchy’ (Ted Gioia)
I’m interested in your thoughts and reflections. I encourage you to share in the comments.
Fingers crossed this is a trend.
Feels like the desire for populist "leadership" to shake things up...
Once people realize they are completely siloed and living in individualized fantasy realms (already true, but far more dystopian), you gotta hope that The People will decide we actually need a return to credentialed professional journalists who stand by a code of ethics.
+
I think this is, at least in part, what Seth Godin is getting at in the following post:
*
::: ONE ART :::
*
~ Upcoming Reading ~
Sunday, January 5 — 4pm (Eastern)
Featured Poets: Ona Gritz, Heather Swan, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Tickets available here (Free or Donation)
*
ONE ART ranked #4 (in the poetry category) in Chill Subs Community Favorites Best Lit Mag Awards for 2024!
An honor to be on this list and to be able to continue to serve the literary community.
*
Humans love lists. I love lists.
Everyone enjoys creating their own criteria.
Meet “The Fish List”— a new list ranking lit mags
ONE ART ranked #73
Full list of 1,829 lit mags here.
Hey, made the Top 100, we'll take it.
+
Chill Subs breaks down the Top 35 here:
The FISH List of Lively Indie Lit Mags 2025
*
Always nice to be included.
‘30 Literary Magazines Publishing Poetry’ (Authors Publish)
*
ONE ART workshops… TBA/TBD.
*
::: Podcasts :::
*
‘How to thrive, not just survive in winter’ (LifeKit)
Ok, so, I’ve listened to this twice now. It’s really good. Makes you think. Makes you reflect.
I have a difficult time in winter. Also, summer. I’m not a fan of extremes.
In any case, Kari Leibowitz (who grew up on the Jersey shore) makes a truly insightful point about how living in a temperate climate, where it never gets super cold, does people like us a bit of a disservice… because we don’t think we actually have to change our lifestyle during the colder months.
Humans are animals, after all.
Leibowitz reminds us that if you look around, in places where it gets pretty wintry this time of year, animals and plants are certainly behaving differently. But we tend to think we can get away with just keeping on keeping on… and then get down on ourselves when “for some reason” we’re lethargic or less energized or don’t feel up to doing the level of activity that felt “normal” in Spring and Summer months.
This makes me think, too, about places where the weather is pretty consistent year-round. How does this affect the human body’s cycle?
In the episode, you have about how other places around the globe, like Scandinavia, have learned some useful life hacks for making wintertime less…uh, terrible. There’s a whole mental reframing component.
Also, try using small lamps instead of overhead lights. “The Why” is discussed in the podcast conversation.
I suspect the whole book is rather good.
How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days
*
This really has me thinking about my relationship with social media…
‘Glennon’s Dramatic Social Media Plan with Amelia Hruby’ (We Can Do Hard Things)
If you listen, tell me your thoughts.
Clearly, something has to change… for most of us.
*
‘The ‘rush hour’ of life: Navigating your 30s and 40s, with Clare Mehta, PhD’ (Speaking of Psychology)
This is a really interesting episode talking about something, well, rather new—which is referring to 30s & early 40s (30-45, specifically) as “established adulthood”.
Notably, there’s mention of older adult periods being divided into three stages: young-old (65-74), old-old (75-84), and oldest-old. You only accomplish “oldest-old” at 85+.
*
::: Music :::
*
Washed in Filterworld.
*
::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
*
The Death of Publishing? Again? (Forbes)
First, keep in mind that Seth Godin thinks like a marketer. Not just any marketer, but still, that’s part of the lens.
“The number of books published digitally every year has gone from 40,000 to a million, and the number of books that are distributed the first week a book comes out have gone — for a big book launch — from 20,000 copies to 120 copies. So the economics of a scarcity-based bookstore, scarcity-based book publishing, are over.”
I don’t think Seth Godin is scaremongering.
I think people who read, read. People who were never readers are not becoming readers. And I suspect there are a lot of the in-between types who would like to read a bit more and have their attention pulled away by algorithms.
This is also notable:
“The AI revolution of giving us the information we need — right this minute — doesn't yet know how to give us the information we don't know we need. Books have been great at that forever. Books open doors for you that you didn't even know were closed. AI, right now, doesn't do that. AI responds, but it doesn't lead you.”
It’s kind of like the problem of not using a physical dictionary or thesaurus… you don’t stumble upon things. Also, remember Stumble Upon? Hasn’t even been gone that long.
Anyway, there is something worrisome about being handed precisely what you think you were looking for… instead of wandering about… browsing.
I encourage you to go to the library soon.
*
Amazon “Best Sellers” vs. The New York Times Best Seller list
Speaking of books… a little while back I was comparing Amazon’s best sellers to New York Times best sellers.
What I learned is that Amazon provides more granular data on best sellers because the real sales information is updated on an hourly basis whereas the New York Times works off of projected sales.
Amazon and NYT also have different approaches. Amazon is gonna Amazon, basically. They’re in the numbers business. NYT, on the other hand, offers a curated best seller list based on their storied history of using select bookshops as data sets.
*
From Harper’s Index (January 2025)
This is [one indicator of] how bad the election was for people’s mental health:
Portion of Americans who say that the election was one of the most stressful events of 2024 : 3/5
Who say that they didn’t care who won and “just wanted it to be over” : 3/10
+
Estimated percentage of corporate spending in the 2024 election that came from the cryptocurrency industry : 44
Percentage of Americans who own cryptocurrency : 7
+
Portion of Americans aged 18–30 on social media who describe themselves as influencers : 1/4
+
Portion of scientists who stop publishing research within five years of their first paper : 1/3
Within ten years : ½
Now consider the AI effect as it becomes even more normative…
+
Percentage of FEMA’s 2025 disaster-relief budget that was spent in the first eight days of the fiscal year : 48
+
Percentage by which the rise in the average cost of day care in the United States outpaced the rate of inflation last year : 160
+
Portion of American men who are interested in taking birth control : 4/5
Who would be willing to try birth control this year if it went on the market today : 1/2
+
Estimated portion of global steel demand that the Saudi megacity Neom will account for by 2045 : 1/5
(this project is so absurd … drives me crazy…)
+
Percentage change over the past year in the portion of Americans who see Saudi Arabia as a U.S. ally : +73
Percentage of Americans that are wrong? 100% (just my opinion)
+
Percentage of American that believe World War III is imminent : 4/5
Obviously a big problem. Y’all heard of self-fulfilling prophecies?
*
::: Health & Wellness :::
*
‘A simple exercise from Yale’s Happiness Lab will help you make decisions that lead to long-term happiness’ (Fast Company)
“Close your eyes and imagine you’re sitting across from yourself in 20 years. How might that change the decisions you make today?”
*
‘A transplanted pig kidney offers a grandmother hope for life without dialysis’ (NPR)
Two thoughts.
1. We owe the animal kingdom, pigs in this case, a lot.
2. We owe people like this a debt of gratitude. As the article notes, this is pioneering. Brave.
*
‘You’ve never heard of the Covid booster with the fewest side effects: Novavax is just as effective, but far less likely to cause fevers and fatigue.’ (Vox)
Novavax is what I’m hoping to get next year… unless something better arrives. mRNA-based covid vaccines have been brutal for me.
*
‘FYI, Rinsing Your Dishes Before They Go In The Dishwasher Might Just Leave Them Dirtier’ (HuffPost)
*
‘The perfect humidifier doesn’t exist’ (Vox)
“The potential danger of humidifiers may not outweigh its benefits”
*
It’s a shame Americans refuse to learn lessons.
It’s a shame the wearing of masks got politicized.
Getting sick isn’t a good time and we should all be able to agree about that.
We should also be able to agree that protecting other people’s health is a moral/ethical imperative and not a matter of personal choice.
*
::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
*
Excuses, excuses.
Oh, yeah, this is definitely why I’ve been losing my hair since my 20s.
*
White Lotus Season 3 is OTW.
The first 2 seasons were good.
*
How America shops for groceries, mapped
I spent a lot of time in supermarkets… so it’s kind of like a special interest at this point.
*
Café 8.
Due to kids being kids, this café wants to ban anyone under 30 from being a patron after a certain time of night.
Can you blame ‘em? No.
“Is that legal? It’s not clear. Under federal law, age is not a protected class in service settings. But in D.C., people can’t be discriminated against for their age if they’re over 18.” (WaPo)
Does make me think, not for the first time, that we may want to consider revising the 18 and you’re an adult law. Cutoffs for 21 and 25 make some sense… Basically, there just needs to be spaces for young people and that are exclusively spaces for young people. And we have that. It’s actually inverted more of the time, I suspect. There are plenty of bars that cater to college age kids and adults kind of know not to go there after 9:30pm because the place turns into a quasi-club atmosphere and it’s well, awkward at best and in some cases inappropriate for the real adults to be there.
*
Kindness for the win.
“Physical traits aren’t the only things that make people attractive. Other attributes, like humor or intelligence, can make us see people as more beautiful. But there's one trait that surpasses all others when it comes to this kind of perceived attractiveness: kindness. In a study, researchers found that people rated strangers as significantly more attractive when those strangers engaged in consistently kind behavior. The effect held true for both men and women.” (Hidden Brain)
*
If I have it correct, Baidu Baike is China’s Wikipedia, give or take.
Here’s a related hoax. ‘Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures’
Notably, this hoax includes reference to the “Grass Mud Horse” alleged to be a species of alpaca.
Why am I researching this at all? Because I’m fairly convinced that metro areas in China (and the people who live there) are basically the same as people in the West, the U.S. My sense is that there’s a purposeful, insidious division created between our cultures for geopolitical reasons.
As Trump talks up tariffs and other nonsense that would result in an internecine — (patting myself on the shoulder for this choice diction). (Aside: my favorite definition of “internecine” is “equal destruction on both sides” … though, sure, I suppose this can be shortened to “mutually destructive”) — it’s important that we keep in mind that China is not an enemy. Rather, China is our most powerful trading partner. Briefly, Mexico has taken the #1 spot, and they should definitely leverage that.
*
‘What Are the Most Commonly Used Movie Clichés? A Statistical Analysis’ (Stat Significant)
“What’s the meaning of this?”
Nothing too surprising here.
Fun though.
+
This is also fun.
‘Who's the Greatest Actor in Movie History? A Statistical Analysis’ (Stephen Follows)
*
U.S. – 1
Murder Hornets – 0
The U.S. has, allegedly, defeated the murder hornets. Maybe they weren’t so menacing after all?
*
New categories for filing taxes just dropped.
“Crew payroll” is an instant classic.
Ok… not exactly. NFA.
‘How rich musicians billed American taxpayers for luxury hotels, shopping sprees, and million-dollar bonuses’ (Business Insider)
*
Doing the good work.
‘Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott reveals another $2 billion in donations in 2024’ (AP)
“She is creating an amazing role model for philanthropists, although I don’t see very many that have followed her role modeling.”
*
::: Google Search Trends :::
*
People are hoping to “manifest” their desires into reality.
Top “How to manifest” searches include:
How to manifest…
· a man to come back
· a life partner
· someone to fall in love with you
· the perfect man
· a breakup
· meeting crush
· divorce
· flowers
But also—
How to manifest:
· owning a house
· a job
· winning the lottery
· money
· an exam being easy
*
Top trending “new year’s resolution” questions
December 2024 vs December 2023, US
1. What is a new year's resolution?
2. How many people start their new year's resolution?
3. Why do people make new year's resolutions?
4. How to write a new year's resolution?
5. What percent of new year's resolutions fail by February?
Top trending “how to be more ___” searches
December 2024 vs December 2023, US
1. Active at home
2. Comfortable with your partner
3. Productive at work
4. Innovative
5. Mature in a relationship
Top trending “self help books for ___” searches
past week, US
1. Black women
2. Moms
3. Teenage girl
4. Kids
5. Young men
Top trending Personal Development and Self Help questions
past week, US
1. What is personal growth and development?
2. What is 0123 in personal development?
3. How does developing grit contribute to personal growth?
4. How is the tipping point a self help book?
5. What is a personal development plan?
*
Consistent Recommendations:
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American – daily news with historical context
ONE ART: a journal of poetry – daily poems
Verse Daily – daily poems
Poetry Town – daily poems
Chill Subs – down to earth submissions resource
** Want to subscribe? Get a discount using this ONE ART exclusive affiliate link.
Becky Tuch’s LitMagNews – literary community news & essential resource
Trish Hopkinson – resource for the literary community
Erika Dreifus – resource for the literary community
C. Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers –weekly email newsletter contains invaluable short essays
Jane Friedman – blog, email newsletter, resource for the literary community
The Poetry Space_ with Katie Dozier & Timothy Green (podcast)
Commonplace: Conversations with Poets and Other People (podcast hosted by Rachel Zucker)
The Gray Area with Sean Illing (podcast)
Hidden Brain (podcast)
*