OMM (On My Mind) – December 2023 – #3

~ findings & research ~

Dec 17, 2023

::: 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

::: Personal Notes :::

I’m delighted to have the opening poem in this new anthology from Tiny Wren Lit – The Half-Life of Echoes

Chill Subs – Spreading Love: Community Favorite Lit Mags of 2023!

Thrilled that ONE ART ranked #6 in Chill Subs’ Favorite Lit Mags of 2023!!

The ONE ART community made some lovely remarks about the journal and we are forever grateful!

Louisa Schnaithmann (ONE ART’s Consulting Editor) responded to interview questions for an On My Mind conversation.

::: Coming Soon :::

ONE ART will be posting our Pushcart Prize nominations tomorrow!

Received very positive feedback about last week’s Poems of the Week.

Looking forward to posting a new selection tomorrow!

This Week: An On My Mind conversation with Amy Small-McKinney!

::: Music :::

Back to Back

Jamie Grace – God Girl + The Postal Service – Such Great Heights + Salty Sounds – God Girl

“I won't deny it, I'm a straight ridah” – 2Pac

::: The Arts & The Literary World:::

Write Dangerously with Karen Rile (EIC of Cleaver Magazine)

‘Surge in number of ‘extremely productive’ authors concerns scientists’ (Nature)

You can imagine how this is a problem across disciplines.

‘James Patterson awards $500 bonuses to 600 employees at independent bookstores’ (ABC News)

I even know someone who received one!

Shout-out to Christina Rosso-Schneider at A Novel Idea, in Philadelphia!

::: Health & Wellness :::

‘Chronic fatigue syndrome is not rare, says new CDC survey. It affects 3.3 million U.S. adults’ (AP News)

They buried the lede a bit in this story. Here’s where I see the real story:

“When I go to the ER or to another doctor’s visit, instead of saying I have chronic fatigue syndrome, I usually say I have long COVID,” Powell said. “And I am believed almost immediately.”

‘What's The Deal With That Cough Everyone Seems To Have Right Now?’ (Huff Post)

Small joys ruined by skimpflation and greed. (Business Insider)

“In addition to the taste degradation, recipe tweaks made by large companies are often worse for our health.”

Leave a comment

::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::

Pantone's 2024 color of the year: peach fuzz.

‘How to Actually Execute a 4-Day Workweek’ (Harvard Business Review)

“When implementing a four-day workweek, asynchronous communication becomes essential to help employees from having work interrupted. To maintain employee focus, there should be a clear understanding of what requires escalation, and who will handle it.”

The New York Times:

“Here’s a stark way of thinking about the problem: If the U.S. had made as much progress reducing vehicle crashes as other high-income countries had over the past two decades, about 25,000 fewer Americans would die every year.”

“Many of the potential explanations for the trend don’t seem to fit. Cars in this country are large, but they have become only slightly larger since the early 2000s. Drunken driving has not become more common, and roads have not become more dangerous.”

“But there has been one major change in driver behavior: the use of smartphones.”

“Smartphones have also become ubiquitous in other countries, of course. But American drivers seem to be addicted to their phones in ways that drivers elsewhere are not. Surveys suggest Americans spend more time on their phones while driving than people do in other countries. In part, this phenomenon may reflect this country’s culture, which emphasizes professional success and immediate gratification.”

“It also partly reflects vehicle technology. Nearly all cars in the U.S. are automatic transmission, freeing drivers’ hands (or so they may think) to use phones. In Europe, almost 75 percent of cars still have gears that a driver must change manually.”

“Smartphones aren’t the only likely cause of the trend, Emily, Ben and Josh write. The spread of legal marijuana may also play a role, as may the rise in opioid addiction. In one recent federal study, half of the drivers involved in serious accidents tested positive for at least one active drug.”

“The continued growth of the population in the Sun Belt, where roads often lack sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes, may also be a factor, as may the recent increase in homelessness. People living on the streets are especially vulnerable to being hit by a car.”

“Some of these problems are difficult to solve. For others, however, there are promising solutions that state and local governments have simply chosen not to try. Building safe sidewalks, as Europe has done, is relatively cheap. Using traffic cameras to identify drivers who are texting — and imposing significant fines on them — would not be difficult, either.”

“Instead, the U.S. has chosen to accept a vehicle death rate that is almost three times higher than that of Canada, Australia or France, more than four times higher than that of Germany or Japan and more than five times higher than that of Scandinavia, Switzerland or Britain.”

Video: Google — 25 Years in Search: The Most Searched

( ~ 4 minutes )

“Perhaps value is created by the creator of a show that is the one show that gets someone to keep paying their Netflix bill, even if they only watch an hour a week.” (Seth Godin)

This has been well-known for… a long time. Having an outdoor cat or indoor-outdoor cat is, sadly, problematic.

“Free range domestic cats” (see NYT article) are adorable cold-hearted murderers. (Nature)

“We identify 2,084 species eaten by cats, of which 347 (16.65%) are of conservation concern.”

“Free range” cats “are amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world.”

If you’ve read Frazen’s ‘Freedom’ then you have already been subjected to a lengthy PSA.

‘The weird world of celebrity training: how Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Madonna get in shape for their shows’ (Guardian)

“Today’s image-conscious artists “aren’t going to ruin their reputation or cancel a show because they’re hungover. They’re too professional,” says Roberts. Only a few of his clients have lived up to the hard-living, hard-drinking cliche, and “they were in rock bands, where they don’t give a shit about how they look”. That, too, had to be taken into account in training. Roberts recalls working with a singer who refused a protein shake because it contained additives. “I told him: ‘Mate, you had four lines of coke last night, and it was a Tuesday – get your priorities right.’”

“Stop saying 'I hope you are well' in work emails” (Fast Company)

Seriously, what do you think? Is this a problem? Do we need to stop saying this? Is it distracting from the point or “weakening” the authoritativeness of our communication?

What is a “PowerPoint Night”?

You can google it and it still might not make a ton of sense.

What’s the deal with Third Place Theory?

In brief, it seems to be the concept of having a special space that is neither your work nor your home where you can find solace. Might be your local library, park, coffee shop, bookshop, place of worship, artist studio (if you’re lucky).

‘Milk Powder Is the Key to Better Cookies, Brownies, and Cakes’ (Epicurious)

Thoughts on this? Real? True? Trill?

Flora & Fauna Awareness

‘Emojis to the rescue? More are needed to address the biodiversity crisis, scientists say’ (Yahoo News)

“In the emoji lexicon, the planet's tens of thousands of tree species are reduced to four measly symbols: a palm, a cactus, a nondescript deciduous and an evergreen. (A version decorated for Christmas appears under “Events and Celebrations” in the “Activity” section.)”

“While vertebrates make up only 5% of known animal species in the real animal kingdom, they account for 76% of the 92 animals in the emoji biosphere.”

“An eggplant or a peach may be elegant shorthand for the complexities of human desire.”

Elegant.

25 movies added to Library of Congress National Film Registry

See the complete registry here

Soon, I’ll share my own recommendations from this list of necessary “classics”

‘America's 17 Best Streets for Christmas Lights’ (Thrillist)

Pew Research: Striking findings from 2023

Exciting year for the public domain. (AP News)

‘Antisemitic incidents surge 337% since start of Hamas-Israel war: ADL’ (Axios)

“Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have surged at an unprecedented rate since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to an Anti-Defamation League report released Monday.”

In a debatable use of local gov’t good time…

Pennsylvania House Legislatures Recognize 2023 as 'Taylor Swift Era' (Rolling Stone)

Fun though.

A surprising 27% of Americans think it’s possible AI will have no effect on their job … Ok, good luck with that. (Pew Research)

“TikTok has become the first non-game mobile app to reach over $10bn in consumer spending across the App Store and Google Play, just shy of top earner Candy Crush Saga’s $12bn.” (Chartr)

‘US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses’ (AP News)

Seriously, when do we collectively decide to do something about this!?

We could be tackling the problem of homelessness with a seriousness that the FED has approached inflation.

These are real people with real lives. They deserve a dignified life.

Shelter (safe, affordable housing) is a human right.

I realize not everyone agrees with me; however, I strongly believe we were on the right track during the pandemic when many of us were able to receive regular cash infusions which amounted to UBI (Universal Basic Income). We saw positive changes such as a massive decrease in credit card debt and people paying off medical bills. We saw people are to improve their lives (even under extreme circumstances). But almost all of the progress we gained was lost when the payments stopped and people are now more desperate than ever.

I’m interested to hear thoughtful, plausible ways we may be able to address homelessness as well as develop a UBI system that can create a basic standard of living in the U.S. We have not had a serious update since Mollie Orshansky developed the poverty line in the 1960s.

“Orshansky's poverty thresholds were based on the cost of a minimum food diet multiplied by three to account for other family expenses. The Census Bureau updates the thresholds annually and they are primarily used for statistical purposes.” (The Census Bureau / SSA, emphasis my own)

The Fight for $15 is not a living wage in contemporary times. Have you looked at the price of a box of cereal recently?

When I lived in West Virginia, I can’t tell you the number of people I talked to who told me (in one way or another) that they felt priced out of the fresh produce section.

This isn’t new.

The question is whether or not we finally want to do something about it.

‘Homelessness in US cities and downtowns: The perception, the reality, and how to address both’ (Brookings)

This is a fairly long read, though even by skimming you’ll get a lot of useful info.

The breakdown of people living in emergency shelters vs. transitional housing or a safe haven or unsheltered.

When we think about homelessness, we tend to exclusively think of people living in shelters (at least at night) or those who are unsheltered and are highly publicly visible.

The focus, here, is on four major cities: New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Seattle. And major cities, in general. This is notable as I’ve been to places where there is a very visible population of those who appear either homeless or in otherwise desperate situations (such as Asheville, NC).

I’d call special attention to the section where they talk about the proven benefits of “Housing First” initiatives.

OMM (On My Mind) – December 2023 – #3

~ findings & research ~

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