SC Weekly – February 2025 – #2

~ a curated selection of discoveries ~

Feb 09, 2025

::: The Open :::

Dear Reader,

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~ Mark

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::: Personal Notes :::

Trump is succeeding in… preventing me from sleeping well. Bastard.

Oh, he’s also destroying the U.S. government. That’s worse.

Try not to make yourself crazy keeping up with every little thing Trump and his minions pull. They’re flooding the zone, using shock and awe, trying to grind us down.

Last I checked the Ground News app is #2 in “News” in the IOS/iPhone app store… it’s pretty cool. It breaks down articles by bias and then provides you with a range of sources to choose from. 1440 “Quill” is also a neat app. They are trying to take some of this excessive news stress away by providing a relatively short, condensed, daily breakdown of stories. And then that’s it. It’s not updated throughout the day so far as I know. You get to the bottom and it tells you to wait for the next day’s news digest. I’m not saying this is the solution but it’s a reminder that there’s a middle ground when it comes to how much of the 24/7 news cycle you’re taking in in order to avoid burnout. As Brittany Packnett Cunningham mentions in the opening of an episode of UNDISTRACTED below, we’re not far into Trump’s term and it’s already felt like a lot has happened. We have four years of this. We can’t let it destroy us.

::: Avoid Bias :::

Media Bias Chart

Fact Check Bias Chart

News Aggregator Bias Chart

How to Spot Types of Bias

Where do you stand on important issues?

Rate Your Personal Bias

::: ONE ART :::

TODAY!

Sunday, February 9 — 2pm (Eastern)
Featured Poets: Alison Lubar, Sean Kelbley, Jacqueline Jules, Dick Westheimer, Julie Weiss
Tickets available here (Free or Donation)

Upcoming workshop!

“Stealth Formalism”: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Formal Verse
Instructor: Nicole Caruso Garcia
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Time: 6:00-8:00pm Eastern
Price: $25 (payment options – Stripe / PayPal / Venmo / CashApp)

ONE ART’s 2025 Haiku Anthology

ONE ART’s 2025 Haiku Anthology edited by Katie Dozier. The submission window will be the month of March. There will be a unique email address used for submissions so we’re asking that folks wait to submit until that email address is shared and the official submission window opens. The online anthology will be published on International Haiku Day, which is April 17.

Here’s a look at our 2024 Haiku Anthology.

::: Podcasts :::

Energizing listen. Will make you want to do the important, hard work we need in the here and now.

UNDISTRACTED with Brittany Packnett Cunningham: “Women are the Secret Sauce”: Talking Activism with Shannon Watts

Terrific and insightful episode!

The Poetry Space_: ep. 88 - Workshops Part I

“How can we craft a poetry workshop that inspires poets? In this episode of The Poetry Space_, the Squad is joined by poet and Pacific University professor Adrienne Christian to workshop our way to the perfect poetry workshop! At the Table: Katie Dozier Timothy Green Adrienne Christian Joe Barca Nate Jacob Brian O'Sullivan Dick Westheimer”

Important listen.

This Anti-Social American Life (Fresh Air)

Interview with Derek Thomspon.

The Fresh Air interview with Derek Thompson is actually better, I think, than this interview on The Gray Area (which surprised me).

I think it’s worth looking at Thompson’s findings alongside Jonanthan Haidt’s research for The Anxious Generation.

Plus, those with degrees in psychology and medicine will say to have pause when anyone, especially non-experts, start talking about dopamine or serotonin.

I have a lot of follow-up thoughts and questions. I’ll be diving in more on this.

Reading books makes people individuals. More than we may realize.

Books vs. Brain Rot: why it's so hard to read (It's Been a Minute)

I encourage you to call in!

We have some questions for you (Explain It to Me)

Thought-provoking conversation. Will be alarming to many people in the circles I run in. An opportunity to go a little outside your silo and comfort zone in the context of an armchair intellectual conversation (will feel annoying intellectualized to some which is a totally reasonable take). Center-Left with some rather anti-Progressive/Left stances.

At a point in the conversation, my instinct was to throw up my hands and suggest we create different schools (sounds too much like segregation) for kids with parents who want their kids only exposed to limited views whereas parents who want kids to be exposed to more diverse views and, importantly, with teachers who are not hand tied from speaking their mind about their positions (that I would consider important and essential).

Eric Kaufmann on “The Third Awokening” (The Good Fight)

::: Music :::

Humans have been seeking the so-called “Fountain of Youth” since the beginning.

But what is that, really?

What does it mean to stay young? to feel young?

This is a good deal of what Stay Curious is all about.

Consider the arc of Kim Gordon’s music career from Sonic Youth to her newest album ‘The Collective’ (2024).

Kim Gordon is 71 but is innovating in ways that are not so different than Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Lorde, and really anyone else who has been crushing it in recent years.

Grammy’s 2025 happened

Grammy’s 2025 Winners: See the Full List Here

We may have Trump in power but the music industry is powered by Pride

Also, ‘Berkeley grad learns of Grammy win while delivering packages for Amazon’

Just learned Sabrina Carpenter grew up local. How bout that? I'm sure she has some Q-Mart stories. ✨

I recommend checking out her track “Dumb & Poetic” to get a sense that she’s quite slick in the lyrics department.

Kanye is back in the spotlight… and definitely in the midst of a disturbing mental health crisis. Sadly, this what the far end of the spectrum for certain mental health disorder like bipolar can look like.

I’m not saying this to defend Kanye. I’m saying this as a PSA about mental health. Anyone close to Kanye should have helped him get the help he needs a long time ago. In short, it seems like Kanye doesn’t have any real friends. They always say, “It’s lonely at the top” but there are other dangers, too. Unchecked, people are susceptible to falling into extremism— especially if they have mental health issues.

::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::

Trump disbands presidential committee on the arts and the humanities (The Art Newspaper)

Of all Presidents— “The PCAH was established in 1982 under president Ronald Reagan.”

Ok, we know Trump actually feels more kinship with McKinley. Yadda yadda life is a flat circle.

Let’s talk about how we’re going to help support The Arts without any support at the federal level.

Writers and Artists should be concerned

‘The US Copyright Office says AI-generated material can be copyrighted — if humans edit it’ (Sherwood News)

This arrived sooner than expected…

‘Books written by humans are getting their own certification’ (The Verge)

Certified “Human Authored” by The Authors Guild

Noteworthy, informative. Too many good pull quotes to even bother… just dig in.

Special Update: Reading Periods for Debut Poetry Books or First/Second Books: Trends and data on submission fees, compensation, and more. Focused just on publishers with deadlines for first poetry books. (Poetry Bulletin)

::: Health & Wellness :::

Possible Short-Term & Long-Term future risk… 2 year and 10 year outlook…

Microplastics on the brain.

Apparently, microplastics in water are able to make their way into our brain. Not good. I didn’t think that was the case, previously. I’ve read up on this a bit and I’m not seeing concrete solutions. Some sources say that if you both boil water and filter water (using a Brita filter or related) then you can eliminate 90% of microplastics. I don’t think most of us are going to do this so… sigh, we have to pick our battles.

::: TRUMP 2.0 :::

I’ve been hearing these extremely reductive arguments for why the nation turned back to Trump.

For example, the price of eggs.

Did we really sell Democracy for cheap eggs?

All Eyes on Me

The other day, I was listening to a podcast episode of Pod Save America and the guys were talking about Trump (because of course) and a few notable comments stood out. By now, everyone is well aware Trump is “unusual” (to say the least) for a politician, and a President, but what they noted was that Trump is always talking. Americans, of all political stripes, would often like to hear more from their Commander-in-Chief and then there’s Trump who is taking questions from reporters non-stop and dominating the news cycle. Continuing in this vein, it was noted that unlike a normal President/politician/person, when given the choice (and it is a choice) to take “no coverage” vs. “negative coverage” Trump will always fall on the side of negative. He wants all eyes on him, he wants attention so badly, he wants to capture the news cycle so badly, that he is willing to take wholly negative coverage in lieu of no coverage at all. And this isn’t an “all attention is good attention” (aka. “at least they’re talking about me”) situation either. This is pure narcissism. Being the center is an integral part of shifting from Populist to Authoritarian, so there is that aspect to consider as well. There are plenty of world leaders who are Dictators who have negative reputations but that has not resulted in a loss of power.

Talk is Cheap

Part of me wants to make this statement though I don’t believe it’s entirely true. “You don’t have to worry about what Trump says, just pay close attention to his actions.”

Basically, a play on “actions speak louder than words” which is true.

As noted, Trump is constantly talking. Some of it is meaningless, some of it is misdirection, much of it is vile… the list goes on. He’s a weird magician. Not one you’d invite to your kid’s birthday party.

I’m thinking back to Trump 1.0 when many of us were appalled by Trump staffer comments along the lines of “Well, you can’t take the President literally”… basically, that he doesn’t mean what he says. This was all part of the greater breakdown of Truth, blurring the lines of fact and fiction, which is all part of the long con for becoming an authoritarian leader. He just didn’t have his shit together (so to speak) in the first term.

He needed more time. And some want to give him that time.

‘House Republican who wants a Trump third term proposes Constitutional amendment’ (American Military News) (Note: I believe this is considered a Far Right source.)

“MAGArthyism is the new McCarthyism. And it's moving at internet speed.” (NextDraft)

Robert Reich is being, well, direct:

‘This is what dictatorship looks like: We're now in a coup’

There’s a more nuanced look at this from Joyce Vance / Heather Cox Richardson.

Is It Really a Coup?

Short answer: yes.

Power sharing authoritarians? Potentially.

“Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat calls it “a new kind of coup,” writing in Lucid about Elon Musk’s seeming power sharing with Trump: “And here is where the U.S. 2025 situation starts to look different. The point of personalist rule is to reinforce the strongman. There is only room for one authoritarian leader at the top of the power vertical. Here there are two.” It is unusual, but it is still an effort to use extra-legal, undemocratic practices to radically alter American democracy, undoing the balance of power the Founding Fathers established between the three branches of government by consolidating power in the hands of the presidency as a complacent, Republican-led Congress looks on.”

Outside perspective.

‘Trump 2.0 is exposing American exceptionalism for what it is – and has always been’ (Guardian)

A paradox for mainstream media who is (generally speaking) trying to maintain integrity and fact check, which takes time, will always be at a disadvantage against Trump-style engagement.

Doing the right thing and saying “This is a developing story” just can't compete in the broken trust world we live in (WWLI) where playing fast and loose with facts and truth reigns supreme.

Elon may finally get rid of the penny.

This is not a new thing. The U.S. Mint has been losing money on the penny for a long time. I’ve wanted to get rid of anything under a quarter (so also dimes and nickels) but I’ve been told this would cause more trouble than I realize.

It should be noted that while the mint loses money on production of nickels that’s not actually the case of dimes, quarters, or even half-dollars (which of course are used heavily, right?)

In case you had any doubts about just how devastating a trade war would be…

Mapped: The Top Import Partner of Every U.S. State

Canada, Mexico, and China combine for a total of 42% of America’s total imports.

Gen Z grad says being unemployed is ‘harder than a 9-5’ because ‘most workers would have a breakdown' dealing with the admin—he’s among the NEET men frozen out of the workforce (Fortune)

‘The U.S.' Bottom 50% Held Just 2.4% Of The Country's Wealth in 2024’

The people on top are well aware that massive wealthy disparity is often a factor in Revolutions.

This is a big reason why they want you staring at your phone all day, isolated, drained of energy and willpower to rise up.

Charted: Approval Ratings of 24 World Leaders in 2025

Well this seems… VERY inaccurate.

Why not include Putin. I’m sure he has something like a 99% approval rating, right?

::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::

Guns, Elsewhere.

‘Sweden plans tighter gun laws after deadly school shooting’ (BBC)

“Under current Swedish gun laws, anyone over 18 who does not have a criminal record can apply for a permit for a shotgun, handgun or semi-automatic rifle.”

“They must justify to the police why they need a gun. People over 20 can apply for a special dispensation to own a fully automatic weapon.” (emphasis added)

Some slang The Youth are using…

And… Banished words? Looks like you can vote for next year.

While we’re here… are you using emojis wrong? Do you care is another question altogether.

Apparently, you can make your own emojis now. Did we need this? …probably.

Adult friendship and “The Friendship Dip” and why life is, you know, generally unfair.

This essay applies to people of all ages.

“Many of us currently grappling with The Friendship Dip work the way we do because we’ve been conditioned to precarity — and many parents, particularly white bourgeois parents, parent the way they do because they’re anxious about downward mobility.”

Predictions for 2025 made in 1925.

“Women, owing to their accelerated development, will compete on equal terms with men in all branches of scientific research, resulting in faster progressive developments for health, comfort and speed of thought and life. Many of the new discoveries of the future will doubtless be entirely due to the sex at present referred to as ‘fair’ — a term they will scorn in days of real equality.”

Overall, a lot of impressive futurist thinking.

Sadly, I think many of us have much more dystopian expectations (due to climate destruction) for the year 2125.

What are your predictions?

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