OMM – November 2024 – #4
~ a curated selection of discoveries ~
::: The Open :::
Dear Reader,
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Thank you for reading and for your time.
With Gratitude,
~ Mark
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::: Personal Notes :::
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~ Personal Recommendations ~
10 Journals that Publish Good, Lasting, Approachable Poetry (Editor picks from ONE ART: a journal of poetry) – Chill Subs
I hope other lit mags / editors will make lists like this. It will help poets/writers more easily find suitable homes for their work.
I highly recommend Chill Subs. They are an invaluable research and submission tool.
Planning to subscribe? Get a discount using this ONE ART exclusive affiliate link.
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::: ONE ART :::
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I’ve noticed what I see as evidence of poets struggling post-election, which is poets sending new drafts of submitted work at unprecedented levels. The reasons range from feeling like the work is evolving, still needs more work, felt unfinished. Errors in the original submission being the most common reason.
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Upcoming workshop:
Weird Up Your Language
Instructor: Grant Clauser
Wednesday, December 11, 7:00pm Eastern
Duration: 2 hours
Price: $25 (payment options – Stripe / PayPal / Venmo / CashApp)
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Upcoming Reading:
Sunday, December 8 — 2pm (Eastern)
Featured Poets: Heidi Seaborn, Marjorie Maddox, Erin Murphy, Hayley Mitchell Haugen, Abby E. Murray
Tickets available here (Free or Donation)
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::: Podcasts :::
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Important listen.
‘Trump, Journalism & The Rough Road Ahead’ (Fresh Air)
“Trump has called the press the "enemy of the people" and threatened retribution, including jailing reporters, investigating NBC for treason, and suggesting CBS's broadcast license be taken away. Terry Gross talks with David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, and Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, about the media landscape as we head into a second Trump administration.”
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‘It's Been a Minute: Make America Male Again? Fifteen years of aggrieved men’
Short, good listen
A reminder of macro and microcosms within communities, too — White men in the literary community have been complaining since pre-Trump about being pushed aside… but, let’s be clear, it's more about making space for those who were previously disenfranchised— it just feels like some groups are gaining while others are losing.
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‘It's Been a Minute: UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream’
Conspiracy theories and the desire to be a part of something larger than your small life — not unlike the same trap as cults & gangs…
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::: Music :::
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New Kendrick is dope.
“A great album is one thing. There are lots of great albums. There are countless great albums that you’ll never hear, that the world will never acknowledge. And then there’s the other kind of great album, the kind that hits the earth like a meteor and immediately changes the composition of the atmosphere.” (Stereogum)
“There is nothing like a focused, pissed-off Kendrick Lamar.”
“His voice somersaults frantically over these tracks, careening wildly from one flow to another with such adrenaline-charged immediacy that you almost can’t believe how sharp the writing is.”
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Pitchfork has some early musings.
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Still into the new Linkin Park album. As usual, reviews were not good. (Quick google search shows 600+ reviews land a 4.5) Seems par for the course when it comes to Nu Metal as a genre.
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Here is a nice human interest story.
‘Jason Derulo makes music dreams come true for 14-year-old Wheaton boy battling cystic fibrosis’ (abc7)
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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
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A free lesson (!!) in how to organize a poetry collection from Mary Ann Samyn on her substack ‘Cake & Poetry’
“I advise anyone setting out to organize a book of poems to return to books they love: how are those books structured and how does that ordering contribute to how we read the book?”
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Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year is "manifest".
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Cormac McCarthy is in the news.
Vanity Fair published this piece. Book Riot clapped back.
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Elon Musk wanted to buy… this platform. (Newsweek)
C-suite gets a few points for not selling.
On the flipside, you may already be aware that Substack has been criticized for failure to crack down on Nazi presence. Follow the money.
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::: Health & Wellness :::
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Ranked: How Often People Go to the Doctor, by Country (Visual Capitalist)
Guess how the U.S. ranks?
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Troublingly… there’s an all-time high search trend for “walking pneumonia”.
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‘Tom's of Maine Factory Had 'Mold-Like' Substance and Bacteria in Water Supply, FDA Says’ (verywell health)
Sensodyne is the only way to go imho.
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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
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‘The Democracy Index’ (Joyce Vance)
“Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion who has become a democracy advocate, calls it the superpower of demagogues and autocrats. He says that their ability to create a new scandal every day means that the prior day’s issues get pushed aside and forgotten. We know this is coming again. We need to be prepared. Knowing what’s coming, my plan is to keep a record of it this time, a democracy index, so to speak. Trump will engage in all sorts of outrages, big and small. I’m going to try and stay focused on the ones that threaten the future of democracy.
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The basic idea here being that if you wear a blue friendship bracelet, you’re signifying solidarity with others who are Democrats and identifying yourself as a “safe” person for those who are in minority communities such as the LGBTQ+ community.
I think it’s a good idea.
The concern is a reminder that someone self-identifying as “safe” doesn’t mean you can confidently trust them. But that’s the case for anyone anyways. So, no, don’t let your guard down around someone just because they’re wearing a symbolic bracelet. At the same time, I think the gesture is a nice wink/nod to those who might feel alone—especially if they live in a community that is Trump/MAGA population heavy.
One of the historical precedents for this is flagging or “hanky code” in the queer community using handkerchiefs. I can foresee this making a comeback for obvious reasons.
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“As Morning Joe economic analyst Steven Rattner notes, for all that Republicans embrace the attacks on public education, Republican-dominated states receive significantly more federal money for education than Democratic-dominated states do, although the Democratic states contribute significantly more tax dollars.” (Heather Cox Richardson)
“There is a bigger game afoot, though, than the current attack on the Department of Education. As Thomas Jefferson recognized, education is fundamental to democracy, because only educated people can accurately evaluate the governmental policies that will truly benefit them.”
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“I’ve spent quite some time around presidents and president-elects and even advised them about personnel decisions. The most basic rule of such advice-giving is you never make your advice public.” (Robert Reich)
“Doing so puts the president-elect in an impossible position: If he does what you’ve publicly urged him to do — even if he was going to do it anyway — your public advocacy makes it look as if you pushed him into it, so he seems to be your patsy.”
“If the president-elect is Donald Trump, who thinks mainly in terms of dominance and submission, you’re playing with fire.”
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“Once Republican Senators bypass one provision of the Constitution at Donald Trump’s behest, they’re all up for grabs.” (Joyce Vance)
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“It was a big week for insane stats showing just how much digital streaming has grown, particularly on the two biggest streaming platforms. YouTube released numbers showing that more than 45 million Americans watched election returns on the platform. And on Friday, 65 million viewers at one point watched the bizarre boxing match/spectacle between YouTuber Paul and former heavyweight champion Tyson. The stats are flawed and somewhat incomparable to more reliable Nielsen television ratings, but demonstrate the enormous reach of the two biggest streamers.” (Semafor)
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“Power is a zero-sum game. The more power in billionaire hands, the less power in everyone else’s. And power cannot be separated from wealth, or wealth from power.” (Robert Reich)
“Recall the admonition credited to Justice Louis Brandeis that America has a choice: either great wealth in the hands of a few, or democracy — but we cannot have both.”
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Number of countries whose carbon emissions exceeded those caused by Canada’s wildfires last year : 3
(California Institute of Technology via Harper’s Index)
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Estimated amount stored on unused gift cards in the United States : $27,000,000,000
(Bankrate via Harper’s Index)
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Percentage change since 2021 in the portion of Americans who want to receive books for the holidays : −13
(National Retail Federation via Harper’s Index)
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Portion of Americans aged 18–27 who wish that Instagram had never been invented : 1/3
(Harris Poll via Harper’s Index)
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NYT has an article that based on a small body of research (again, small study), they seem to have found evidence that it’s possible (again, possible) that in certain circumstances a person interacting with a chatbot was able to better diagnose than a person/patient interacting with a doctor while the doctor was making use of a chatbot.
I know… sounds a little something something.
I’m not suggesting everyone go on a self-diagnosing rampage. It’s a temptation and if you’re a good “AI whisperer” then you can get some good material out of chatbots… but there’s a big difference between our ability to “know thyself” and our actual self-awareness.
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The Death Penalty (Gallup)
“Over half of Americans (53%) are in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers in the U.S. The 2024 figure, which matches the percentage in favor last year, remains at the lowest level of support since 1972. In the interim, support peaked at 80% in 1994 and was routinely at 60% or higher through 2016.”
“The long-term decrease in the percentage backing the death penalty is mostly driven by those born after 1980 — namely, millennials and Gen Zers — among whom less than half now favor the death penalty.”
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The Joy of Taxes (Gallup)
It will not surprise you that regardless of how much money a person is making, concern about having to pay your taxes is extremely divided across party affiliations.
No one loves taxes.
The question is really who sees taxes as “too high”.
Republicans. Especially those making more than $100,000/year. (77%)
Independents. Especially those making more than $100,000/year. (71%)
To a much lesser extent— Democrats. Only 41% of those making over $100,000/year.
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You know what’s expensive? Military stuff.
Ukraine was just granted access to Storm Shadow missiles which cost about $1,000,000 each.
You know something is expensive when the company gets an order for one a year and that’s all they needed to sell. Tough FY2023 when “0 submarines” were ordered.
It goes without saying, I hope, that it’s not ideal we need to manufacture so many weapons for warfare.
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Why is the DOJ antitrust case pushing for the sale of Google Chrome now?
Feels strange to defend Big Tech; however, we’re at an unusual historic moment… I’m wondering about the motivations behind forcing Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to sell Google Chrome (which will end up being both a hit to Alphabet and to Apple due to shared search revenue). This coming specifically at a time when AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT is gaining such prominence and is a clear threat to Google. Google took on Gemini and integrated it into their search engine… All this to say that, in fact, Google search has plenty of competition right now, and likely facing its most significant challengers since the early 2010s.
Looking back… “Google it” came into play as a verb… how long ago? Well, quick Google search (I know) reveals it was used in a 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Apparently, in 2006, Google actually tried to plead with the public to stop using the phrase “Google it” to avoid “genericizing the company’s trademark”. This clearly did not end up harming them. The missed the “Curb Effect”, though I guess they were concerned that their search engine may not be as indomitable as Kleenex.
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‘Stanford’s AI Center names US the top AI ecosystem, China follows’ (Semafor)
The (New) Wild West.
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At this point the “Americans agree on core values” argument just feels like propaganda.
But it continues…
“As a political philosopher, I am deeply concerned about the perceived contrast between the public’s shared political concerns and the high level of polarization that is dividing the electorate.” (The Conversation)
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‘A Century of Restlessness: What It Means To Be A New Yorker Cartoonist’ (LitHub)
“All cartoonists offer up a stew incorporating shifting ingredients.”
Being a cartoonist or web comic creator is, I would think, an interesting way to investigate and process the world. Not so different from poets and stand-up comedians, I imagine. We’re all wandering in the dark searching for answers.
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A consideration of voters who went from Obama to Trump.
We’re going to be unpacking this bizarre reality for a while.
Which one?
Ok, many bizarre realities.
But this one is… hard to conceive. (Vox)
Vote switching. As in, switching parties. As in voting Obama and then…somehow…deciding to vote Trump.
“Based on Trump’s overall popular vote, the poll’s finding suggests that roughly 9.2 million Trump voters cast a ballot for Obama in 2012, a higher estimate than those based off the two election studies.” (The Center for Politics)
Ok, so, it’s not entirely incomprehensible. There are a lot of single issue voters out there. And when “your team” is against an issue that matters to you personally, then you may decide to sit on the sidelines.
“None of this means that Democrats must embrace across-the-board centrism in order to compete for the presidency in 2028.”
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‘The 25 Most Important Recipes of the Past 100 Years’ (Slate)
Clickbait-y… but it’s fun to peruse.
Here’s an interesting section on “Enchiladas de Chile Colorado (Red Enchiladas)”:
“Rather than having you bake your tortillas in soupy, cheesy sauce for half an hour, all these recipes instruct the chef to dip a tortilla in a heated chile gravy just long enough to infuse it with flavor—to “chilefy” it—fill it, fry it, then eat it immediately. That’s how Mexican and Mexican American families have long eaten their enchiladas in Mexico, in the borderlands, and across the U.S.”
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‘Trump’s picks don’t look like America. They look exactly like Fox News’ (CNN)
On the other hand, if you check Fox News, they will inform you Trump has made “excellent” cabinet choices.
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Gen Z says “success” looks like making $270,000/year. And you’re not wealthy enough to impress anyone until you’re banking $600,000/year. (Morning Brew)
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“Housing prices: The American Dream now comes with a $107K admission ticket.” (The Average Joe)
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::: Google Search Trends :::
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Interest in working in coffeeshops is at an all-time high.
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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
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)
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Mark: There must be some enjoyable poetry reading on line. If so a list will be of interest to many of us.
Thanks for considering the issue.
Jamal