OMM – June 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 is typically too long to appear in its entirety in an email. Please click through to Substack to read in full.
*
::: Personal Notes / ONE ART :::
*
Becky Tuch gave me & the OMM substack a shout-out on her ‘stack LitMagNews.
For what? Discussing ‘The Rise and Fall of Lit Mags’ + ONE ART’s ‘In Memoriam’ page which I’m very much hoping other lit mags will replicate.
*
I have a massive list of podcasts I want to listen to… or think I should listen to … and have not been able to find time to listen to … after all, it is difficult to prioritize … hard to decide which ones will be “most worthwhile” … this has been a frustrating ongoing struggle for quite some time now.
*
*
‘A Unique Opportunity Courtesy of Faith Shearin’
So far, I’ve received really positive feedback from those who have purchased Faith Shearin’s prompt packet.
A reminder, this initial prompt packet purchase (of writing exercises) includes the opportunities to work with Faith (for an additional fee) later this Summer (about 2 months from now or so).
*
WORKSHOPS!
Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024 (THIS WEEK!)
Time: 5:30-7:30pm (Mountain Time)
*
On the horizon…
‘Nature and Ecopoetry Workshop’ with Grant Clauser
Learn more about Grant on his website.
*
Check out ONE ART’s future workshops, too!
*
::: Podcasts :::
*
Fresh Air has a good interview with Dr. Fauci
Nice to hear his voice and reason if you haven’t in a while.
He has a new book out that sounds worthwhile.
*
‘This is your kid on smartphones’
Sean Illing interviews Jonathan Haidt
A convincing argument for why children shouldn’t have smartphones and why teenagers, especially girls aged 11-14, are at increased risk of mental health issues if they have access to social media.
There’s basically an overall good argument for why children under 16 shouldn’t have regular access to smartphones and social media. As a person with mental health issues, it’s actually extremely easy to imagine how absolutely devasting and disruptive both of these would have been for me in formative adolescent years. I’d be interested to hear from people with mental health issues that actually feel otherwise.
I’m not saying there are no benefits to smartphones and social media for youth… there are… but there are just so many ways this technology is harmful.
*
::: Music :::
*
Omar Apollo has a new album out on June 28.
Clairo has a new album out July 12 (!!!)
Ice Spice has a new album out July 26 (low expectations… give her a few years?)
Tory y Moi has a new album out September 6 (moderate expectations)
*
“Sony Music bought the Queen music catalog for ~$1.3 billion, making it one of the most valuable rock songbooks.” (The Skimm)
*
‘Billy Joel Forced To Weigh In On Justin Timberlake Arrest, Says He’ll Probably Play MSG After Residency Ends’ (Stereogum)
*
‘Stevie Nicks Confirms Fleetwood Mac Are Done’ (Stereogum)
*
::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
*
‘The Anatomy of Embarrassment’ (Sam Harris)
Who knew Sam Harris had this level of storytelling chops?
*
Wanna nerd out about punctuation?
Check out Shady Characters.
*
Wild story.
‘A Twice-Stolen Titian Expected To Break Personal Sale Record In July’ (Art & Object)
*
‘Barnes & Noble Buys Denver’s Tattered Cover Bookstores for $1.83 Million’ (Publisher’s Weekly)
*
‘After Calling My Child’s Principal to Report the Boy Researching Guns on His Computer’ by Francesca Bell (SWIMM)
*
‘The neurologist gives us permission’ by Seema Reza (Poem-a-Day)
*
‘33 Lit Mags Who Publish (and Pay!) LGBTQ+ Writers’ (Chill Subs Sub Club)
*
‘Where to Read (and Publish) Writing on Jewish Themes’ (Erika Dreifus)
*
“The job of the poet is to use language effectively, his own language, the only language which is to him authentic.”
— William Carlos Williams
*
‘The Latest Impersonation Scams’ (Writer Beware)
*
‘Florida Gov. DeSantis Vetoes $32 M. in Arts and Culture Grants from 2025 Budget’ (ArtNews)
Florida continues in a tragic direction.
*
Top 200 list of Art Collectors feat. Jay Z, Jeff Bezos, Team Dyson, Larry Fink (Lord of BlackRock), The Gap Fam, David Geffen, Cheech Marin, Team Schwab, Alice Walton, and more.
*
::: Health & Wellness :::
*
Falls are no joke.
‘Lower your risk of falling as you get older with these simple steps’ (AP)
*
The Destructive Nature of Social Media & Smartphones on Youth
‘Surgeon general demands warning label on social media apps’ (CNN)
If only it was this simple.
See above statement about interview with Jonathan Haidt on The Gray Area with Sean Illing.
We really need to figure out how to limit access to social media and related technologies that are addictive and have a tendency to exacerbate mental health issues.
Do you have a take on Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’? If so, share.
+
‘Life as a teen without social media isn’t easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline’ (AP)
You can try to keep kids away from social media…
“This is a tale of two families, social media and the ever-present challenge of navigating high school…”
“Growing up without it has meant missing out on things. Everyone but you gets the same jokes, practices the same TikTok dances, is up on the latest viral trends. When Gabriela was younger, that felt isolating; at times, it still does. But now, she sees not having social media as freeing.”
“From my perspective, as an outsider,” she says, “it seems like a lot of kids use social media to promote a facade. And it’s really sad. Because social media is telling them how they should be and how they should look. It’s gotten to a point where everyone wants to look the same instead of being themselves.”
+
Speaking of social media…
“On June 6 the State Department’s top official on digital and cyber policy, Nate Fick, told an audience: “I don’t think most American citizens really viscerally understand how much of the content they see on social platforms is actually a foreign intelligence operation…. I just don’t think we viscerally get how much of what we see is bot-generated or foreign intelligence service–generated.””
*
‘A study identified 6 types of depression. Here’s why that matters’ (CNN)
We still know so little about the brain. It’s like the ocean (think: deep sea) or the vastness of space. Except it’s directly about us.
*
::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
*
On AI safety, threat, and if humanity will survive to tell the tale…
‘The AI bill that has Big Tech panicked’ (Vox, Future Perfect)
+
Something positive about AI!?
‘SoftBank’s new AI makes angry customers sound calm on phone’
*
Countries that aren’t hurting for tourism. (Visual Capitalist)
*
Sounds like a challenge!
I’m kidding… this sounds terrifying.
Y’all should see my inbox as it is…
Reminds me of my worst fears (so far unfilled) when drones came on the scene. (Hint: we can see blue skies on clear days… at least in the U.S.)
*
‘Interactive map: Where in the U.S. can you afford a home on your income?’ (NBC News)
Looks like we can afford a house in Iowa.
*
‘Nearly a fifth of America's billionaires went to just 5 colleges’ (Quartz)
But you knew this. Elite spaces provide privileges that are not accessible to the rest of us.
*
Electric Flying Taxis Are Quietly Sneaking Up on Us (Scientific American)
XPeng intends to have “low altitude” car/planes (dangerous-looking mashup of a drone/helicopter/car) operational by 2030.
*
‘ChatGPT has caused a massive drop in demand for online digital freelancers — here is what you can do to protect yourself’ (Tech Radar)
I can confirm this appears to be true from personal experience, job hunting, research.
+
‘Leopold Aschenbrenner, formerly of OpenAI, argues that it is “strikingly plausible” that AI systems will be able to replace any remote worker by 2027, and that we may see superintelligence a year after.’ (Effective Altruism newsletter)
Learn more about Aschenbrenner’s opinions on the subject here.
*
Everyone is saying terrible things behind the scenes. Of course, terrorists would say terrible things to your face, too. And worse.
‘Hamas leader calls civilian deaths ‘necessary sacrifices’ in leaked messages: WSJ’ (Ground)
Let’s be clear, this isn’t much a “war” at this point.
Here’s a couple quotes that seem relevant:
“War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that the enemy too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.” – Karl Kraus
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." – Blaise Pascal
*
RTO vs. WFH
“Almost half of Dell’s US workforce rejected the firm’s return-to-office push despite being told they would be ineligible for promotion if they worked from home. In February, the tech giant told staff to classify themselves as either hybrid or remote workers: Hybrid staff would have to come into the office roughly three days a week, while remote workers would no longer be able to change roles or move up the ranks. But months later, staff have largely rejected the move: One told Business Insider that remote working gave them time for hobbies, friends, and family, and “the more time I have to spend in the office, the less time, money, and personal space I have for all of that.”” (Semafor)
*
Try not to fall into traps… or conspiracy theories. (Seth Godin)
+
‘These conspiracy theory believers went deep down the rabbit hole — then found a way out’ (ABC News)
On the importance of harnessing doubt (and more).
Clearly, it’s scary, and it takes effort, but people can and do step away from their beliefs in conspiracy theories.
*
‘What Is Rage Applying? The Latest Trend That's All The Rage On Social Media’ (The Skimm)
“The trend is all about getting revenge on an employer — and it's actually working out for many TikTokers. With some raking in a $25,000 pay bump at their new gig.”
+
Don’t let your day job dictate your entire existence.
*
‘Cheaper versions of blockbuster obesity drugs are being created in India and China’ (Nature)
*
‘Why museums should repatriate fossils’ (Nature)
“Implicitly or explicitly, it is often assumed that because Earth sciences deal with rocks and fossils, rather than with artefacts or human remains, they should not be held to the same ethical standards as anthropology and archaeology.”
*
‘Newly deciphered papyrus describes 'miracle' performed by 5-year-old Jesus’ (Live Science)
“A manuscript written in the fourth or fifth century describes how Jesus brought clay birds to life as a child.”
Scholars have varying opinions on the findings.
*
The perils of extreme heat include… brain drain.
“Heat makes us stupid, aggressive, and unpleasant. That’s the finding of several pieces of recent research exploring the relationship between cognition and high temperatures, The New York Times reported. One 2016 study found that students living in Boston during the summer without air conditioning performed significantly worse on math and self-control tests compared to students staying in cushy, cooled dorms. And a 2019 experiment showed video game players were more spiteful to their competitors in a hot room compared to a cool one. As an oppressive heat wave hits much of the US, foggy San Francisco is capitalizing on people’s heat intolerance by marketing itself as a cooler refuge.” (Semafor)
*
"After some initial debate, FEMA was authorized to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, despite the fact that “pandemic” was not a listed disaster category."
“Everybody in emergency management was like, well, surely it was intended to cover that." (NPR)
*
"Thailand will become the first Southeast Asian nation to recognize same-sex marriage." (Semafor)
*
"The economic cost of invasive mosquitoes and the diseases they carry was at least $94.7 billion in 2022 and is rising, a new study found. The research focused on mosquitoes that transmit potentially deadly viruses, including Zika and dengue fever, and looked at their economic impact across 166 territories and over 45 years." (Semafor)
*
This is both a fun and thought-provoking read.
‘How Does Our Sense of Humor Change With Age? A Statistical Analysis’ (Stat Significant)
*
Endangered Species & a little good news
I have a sense that I knew about this abstractly but I certainly had not seen the website for the IUCN — International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Here’s a look at the red panda.
The recent big, positive news relates to the Iberian lynx.
*
‘U.S. home prices have far outpaced paychecks. See what it looks like where you live’ (NPR)
This is why I am condemned to live in a van down by the river for all time.
*
Anthropic claims its AI agent, er, “model”, Claude, is the best in the industry. They’ve been improving Claude’s ability to understand humor as well as “complex instructions”.
*
Louisiana & The Ten Commandments
Don’t worry too much about issues like Louisiana wanting to display the Ten Commandments in the classroom. Yes, there’s a slippery slope concern. By mostly this is misdirection. Displaying the Ten Commandments isn’t going to make kids (or teachers) do or not do whatever they were going to do anyhow. It is symbolic though. It reveals there’s a larger agenda towards old ways of conservatism that are not aligned with the modern times. It’s important to remember that someone who calls themselves a Conservative is embraces ideas that once upon a time were actually radical if not heretical. The old ways provide some people, who tend to benefit from the status quo or are nostalgic for a society that never actually existed, with a sense of calm, a sense that things were better back then, a sense that all is right in the world. But it’s just not the case. Things were not better for all the reasons that are always wildly apparent to those who are not in the majority or most privileged classes.
The big fear is vast adoption of legislation along the lines of what is being talked about with Project 2025.
The powers that be will keep trying to distract you with smaller issues, lesser “victories” or let downs or outrage spirals.
“Flooding the zone” is a new system of oppression.
“This is not about persuasion: This is about disorientation.” – Steve Bannon [on] the concept of “Flooding the zone”
*
In breakdancing news…
‘Inspired by Olympics debut, Japan's seniors blaze breakdancing trail’ (Reuters)
*
This National news is, in fact, also Local news.
‘Netflix to Open Massive Entertainment, Dining and Shopping Complexes in Two Cities in 2025’ (Variety)
Here’s a story on this from CNN.
One of these is going in the famed KOP mall which, I believe, retains its position as the 3rd largest mall in America.
It’ll be interesting to see how many of these Netflix (and perhaps other streaming services) decide to create. They don’t appear to be pop-up shops but rather permanent installations. Strategically, you can see how making them destinations might be a wiser modern approach than putting them all over the country like movie theaters.
*
Remember to vote with your dollar… in wise ways.
This story from ProPublica is a reminder that there are nonprofits and so-called “charities” that are bad actors.
Charity Navigator can help you determine where it makes the most sense to donate.
*
::: Google Search Trends :::
*
Following the Tony Awards, Shaina Taub is the top trending Tony Award winner in the U.S.
*
Apparently, some folks don’t know how to cook corn on the cob. As a general rule, boil some water, then put it in the water for 10-11 minutes. Agreed?
You butter pre-boiled corn and wrap it in foil if you put it on the grill. At least, that’s my technique in years past working with a charcoal grill.
*
Fun fact:
“Camping” searches spike in June whereas “Glamping” searches spike in July.
*
State going its own way.
“Hawaii is the only U.S. state searching for tent over recreational vehicle in the past year”
*
‘Investigating the Mandela Effect’
Always fun.
*
‘How this US region has become a hip place to live — with it also being dirt cheap: ‘We’re never leaving’ (NY Post)
I’m not actually going to suggest you move to West Virginia. It’s not for a lot of folks.
Also, Appalachia covers a fairly large area and not all of it is a total monolith in terms of cultural norms and mores.
That being said, we have a pretty big country and some places are, potentially, hospitable to people who didn’t grow up in the neighborhood. Places less congested and more green and less expensive. It all depends where you want to be and why you want to be there. Climate change is certainly a factor. So are natural disasters. A lot of hard realities.
*
Top trending camping recipes
past week, US
1. Ramen
2. Stir fry
3. Chocolate chip cookies
4. Fried rice
5. Sloppy joes
*
Evidently, The People have become boujee campers.
Whatever happened to living on s’mores and beef jerky?
*
Top “how long does it take to hike…”
past year, US
1. The Appalachian trail
2. The PCT
3. Mount Everest
4. Diamond Head
5. 5 miles
Funny list.
All I know is that #5 takes less time than #3.
*
The People are into "wrist weights" for exercise.
*
Folks are wondering about hidden costs related to home ownership. There are many non-hidden costs that seem rather challenging as it is.
*
People want homeowners’ insurance due to wildfire concerns. Will insurance companies grant coverage is another issue altogether.
*
::: News of the Weird :::
*
Aliens? Influencers? Banksy #9?
‘'Mysterious' monolith similar to column seen in 2020 appears in Las Vegas desert (ABC7)
*
::: Thoughtlets :::
*
Black holes are in the news. Occurs to me how lucky we are that there isn’t one of these super near Earth.
On a lighter note, you can easily imagine a catastrophe film based on the concept that a black hole begins to open in relative proximity to Earth and humans have to quickly figure out how to close it back up (or however else we’d get out of it). Bruce Willis obviously has to make a token appearance in said film.
*
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
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
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)
*