OMM (On My Mind)
~ Week 4, March 2023 ~
::: Recommended Podcasts Episodes :::
On Being with Ada Limón
è This is a must listen – so full of thoughtfulness, openness, calm, and all the good in the world
As usual, a lot of good NPR LifeKit episodes – I recommend ‘Braving the ‘quarterlife’ crisis’ for people of all ages.
As mentioned in my ‘Toast’ post – the episode of 1A entitled ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright: The Post-Pandemic Teen Mental Health Crisis’ is important.
I’m behind on Hidden Brain episodes which, when it happens, always kinda bums me out.
The Poetry Space (Hosted by Katie Dozier (KHD) and Timothy Green (Editor of Rattle) is a great new weekly poetry discussion series that occurs live in a Twitter Space. I try to drop in and participate when I can. You’ll hear me comment, at times, on some of the recent episodes.
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[on] Mentorship
I’ve been thinking about mentoring for a long time now. It’s hard to decide on your own. Here’s a short thought-provoking podcast episode (with nice moments of levity) about mentoring, what it takes to become a mentor, who might want to consider mentoring, and how to think (in advance) about setting sensible boundaries and schedules with mentees.
What are your thoughts? What makes someone a good mentor in your mind? What does an ideal mentor-mentee relationship look like to you?
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::: Music Recommendations :::
Will be checking out the new Lana Del Rey (Lana Del Rey: Did You Know…)
Will be checking out the new Depeche Mode (Memento Mori)
Will be checking out the new 6lack (Since I Have a Lover)
::: Forthcoming Music :::
Looking forward to:
boygenius - The Record (March 31)
The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein (April 28)
Westerman - An Inbuilt Fault (May 5)
Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine (May 26)
Hopefully decent:
Lana Del Rey - Lana Del Rey: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (March 24) ………………………………………….. (why that’s today)
Rihanna (tbd)
Just curious:
The Hold Steady - The Price of Progress (March 31)
Yaeji - With a Hammer (April 7)
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::: Literary & Arts Community News :::
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Check out new posts on Becky Tuch’s substack Lit Mag News
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This article is interesting, in part, for its odd mashup of film and literature. A look at some notable shorter films and then, seemingly because they couldn’t resist, a nod to some giant tomes. I was taken by the presentation even more than the picks…which probably says something about where I’m at.
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A prominent Mexican poet is buried in… Philadelphia.
“Gilberto Owen Estrada, a notable poet and diplomat from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, and one of Mexico’s great 20th-century writers.”
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::: In Other News… :::
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The rise of household with two incomes and no children.
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I was wondering about the deal with fish sauce recently and happened across this insightful article.
It’s a current (inner) debate, how much I should be concerned about certain ingredients as a vegetarian.
Anchovies are an environmentally-friendly fish to be eating, low on the food chain, sustainable, not mathletes, etc.
I’m interested in diversifying my palate and better understanding the foodways of different cultures. Often hard to do as a strict (devout?) vegetarian.
You have to pick your battles.
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Here’s a glimpse of The Main Line pretentiousness I grew up around. As an outsider looking in, it’s always been fairly insufferable—even as somehow who has an interest in, you know, people wearing clothes that look good on their body type + has a longtime confusing interest in Esquire/GQ ads as some sort of Western-Zen mashup.
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Adam Sandler has won the Mark Twain prize. This might be a surprise if you remember him best for The Wedding Singer or Big Daddy and, perhaps, less of a surprise if you remember him for Punch Drunk Love and Reign Over Me (both of which I recommend as they are atypical, thought-provoking and memorable).
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A new formulation of non-psychedelic LSD (read: does not make you hallucinate) has shown promise as an effective treatment for chronic stress, depression, and, notably, mood dysregulation and mood disorders. Granted, this is new science and we know well the importance to tread carefully in the realm of psychedelics, in part due to fraught history and disinformation campaigns, as Michael Pollan discusses in his book/4-part tv series How to Change Your Mind.
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I’m just learning now that in 2022 ACME (Albertson’s) was acquired by Kroger and for vague reasons I need to share this knowledge.
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A reminder of poets/writers contemplating how best to allocate their funds.
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Worry not, The Tweet of God has not abandoned us—but simply moved off Twitter. Although, a recent tweet directed at a certain owner of a certain social media platform was quite funny.
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Life Lesson / Inspirational Quotes from Mister Rogers
Here’s a good one:
“Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love. Like all of life's important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.”
-Mister Rogers
Here’s another:
“It’s really easy to fall into the trap of believing that what we do is more important than what we are. Of course, it’s the opposite that’s true: What we are ultimately determines what we do!”
-Mister Rogers
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Quotes to learn a little about Confucianism
I like this a lot:
“To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.”
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For the Taylor Swift super fans out there…
If you couldn’t be at the Eraa Tour Opener…
Here’s the setlist we missed out on.
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Fun Fact: pushpins were invented in Philly.
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Update: current advice for taking care of your teeth
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Car prices (and used car prices) look like they will remain frustratingly high for some time.
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Snoop Dogg is selling… coffee.
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Best Spring Drives in the U.S.?
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About those young bros preaching the hustle on YouTube…
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Wow. This will piss off many... And please some
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There are some (old) $2 bills that are valuable. We mint new ones every year so feel free to spend ones you can (sometimes) manage to get from the bank.
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Why are Americans so unhealthy? Well, partly (based on recent conversations as well as documented evidence), we’re a little too into snacking as opposed to simply eating food. You know, the real, fresh, not super preserved stuff. *sigh* I’m guilty, too. *sigh*
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Economic Indicator: The price of making your own Chex Mix (national average, but of course).
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Economic Indicator: The price of Pepperidge Farms Goldfish (national average, but of course).
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This story about a person discovering they have cancer. The response is notable. And not just for people who discover they have cancer (which is obviously terrible). Flipping the script… the question of why me? becomes why not me?
Taking a step back, this is a very interesting approach. Statistically speaking, there is a sort of randomness, isn’t there?
You can call it a battle or you can call it how you feel it.
Scientific research truly does show that there is a mind-body component.
Sometimes, there’s no winning, and we know that. Winning, in this case, meaning living a statistically normative length of time in your given society based on your zipcode destiny. The averages vary (and went down in the pandemic, and not exclusively because of the pandemic) for the first time in the U.S. in recent history. Still, the expectation is that healthy individuals that take care of themselves and are treated well by the people in their life and by society might expect to live into their mid to late 70s. Everything else is gravy, as they say.
This is me being glass half-full, for the record.
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Stop requiring a college degree for jobs that shouldn’t require a college degree.
I’ll take this one step further and say let’s stop requiring a Master’s or PhD for jobs that should not require those either. Or, at the very least, let’s really take a hard look at work experience and lived experience acceptable alternatives to a literal degree from an academic institution.
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Utah approves, new, odd, state flag. Ok, whatever, you do you Utah. Or should I say, you do U…tah. No, I am not saying that at all.
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Questions you can ask your waiter that will inevitably result in you spending much more than you anticipated on your meal.
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Possible Pollock that appears to have been gifted to Lauren Bacall discovered in Bulgaria during police raid.
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Didn’t know we voted on such things but here we are.
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Not everything is doom and gloom.
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