SC Weekly – February 2025 – #3
~ a curated selection of discoveries ~
::: The Open :::
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy this weekly newsletter (published on Sundays).
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Thank you for reading and for your time.
With Gratitude,
~ Mark
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>>> Please Note <<<
This newsletter may be too long to appear in its entirety in an email.
Click the link or go to the Stay Curious homepage to read in full.
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::: Personal Notes :::
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Talk of submission fees is popular this week.
I read Becky’s post on LitMagNews on Saturday while taking a break from reading submissions. This resulted in me writing an essay asking about how I navigate submissions for ONE ART. This thoughtful ongoing discussion has been productive as I consider how to reshape ONE ART’s submission guidelines to make them more ideal and sustainable.
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::: ONE ART :::
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Upcoming Workshops
“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)
** Please reach out before signing up. **
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Crossing Thresholds: Poetry and Mindfulness
Instructor: Gloria Heffernan
Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Time: 7:00-9:00pm Eastern
Price: $25 (payment options – Stripe / PayPal / Venmo / CashApp)
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~ 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.
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Why is this podcast episode from The New Yorker in the ONE ART section, you ask?
The answer is, perhaps unsurprisingly, because there is mention of Elizabeth Bishop and a secret additional reason that has to do with this particular Bishop reference.
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::: Podcasts :::
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"Science can, in the end, never tell us what to do with its breakthroughs— that's up to us."
— Samuel Mohn
What Went Wrong with Liberalism and How We Can Save it, with Samuel Moyn
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::: Music :::
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Seeking honest opinions about this album.
Is it bad? As I just a nostalgic Third Eye Blind fan?
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Tell me what you’ve been listening to and enjoying. Provide comps if possible (like.. you’ll like this if you also like…) – Share in the comments :)
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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
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How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book in 2025? (Reedsy)
Includes prices for a range of common services that freelancers, such as myself, offer.
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Poet john compton share this worthwhile read in Becky Tuch’s LitMagNews:
the cycle of omitted names: "who is deserving of awards and recognition"
“i fight with my demons and i do not always win. sometimes i’m shoved so far into depression that i believe publishing is a waste of time. it is heartbreaking to be told i am something spectacular; i am going to go far; i will, one day, be a poet laureate—then to be ignored as these recognitions come out. i want an equal place at the table. the poets who get everything can sit at the sideline for a while. they’ll survive.”
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Pentagon schools suspend library books for ‘compliance review’ under Trump orders (Guardian)
Will get worse.
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Can You Spend 10 Minutes With This Painting? (New York Times)
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::: The Trump Regime :::
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Say it how it is.
This is a time to be vocal.
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Trump's executive actions: Tracking his orders by category
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Elon is running the show.
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‘Trump-Putin call: US relations with Europe will never be the same’ (CNN)
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New famous last words just dropped:
“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety.” - JD Vance
(Politico)
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Sotomayor says presidents have largely followed rule of law, offers words of caution
Good read.
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This worries me. I can see it put to disturbing use by bad actors.
“The most accurate DL network, which learned to estimate sex and cranial traits as an auxiliary task, achieved a classification accuracy of 97%, outperforming the human observer at 82%.” (Nature)
It’s a tool that can determine biological sex with close to 100% accuracy based on a person’s skull. Sure, this has forensic use. On the other hand… feels like the potential for a negative version of The Curb Effect.
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‘Vance and Musk question the authority of the courts as Trump's agenda faces legal pushback’ (yahoo)
Following.
They will also lean in on questioning election integrity
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Open Hatred
‘Ye's antisemitic rant, that $20 swastika shirt and why we need to talk about it’ (USA Today)
Also, ‘Holocaust Denial Merchandise Tests Shopify’s Free Speech Ethos’ (yahoo)
There are real life consequences for Jews.
We know Kanye wants a seat at the table. The MAGA table. We should worry.
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‘Marlon Wayans Defends His Trans Son Against Slur-Filled Attack From Soulja Boy in Online Feud’ (them)
Warning: There is a boatload of offensive language in this article.
I don’t typically give trigger warnings (maybe ironic because I personally am easily triggered). If someone is important, I read it. This is my choice and I can’t make this choice for anyone else.
I’m considering this discussion in conversation with Kanye’s ongoing antisemitic and generally unhinged comments and behavior. By now, everyone should be well aware Kanye has serious mental health issues. Mental health disorders are not an excuse for behaving badly but they help explain The Why and ask us to consider how we respond. Is Ye a bad person? At heart, I don’t think so. I think he needed his Mom in his life to keep him in check. That’s not a dig. Kanye losing his Mom really took an important anchor out of his life. We know now that Ye has said bad things for a long time. We’ve seen Kanye go through episodes before. Some of what he says is probably pressured speech, some of it he may believe at this point. It’s difficult to know what is real when someone is at the far end of the bipolar spectrum and has delusions (including delusions of grandeur, which his position in life actually exacerbated). Fame is not good for lots of people. Fame at the highest level is bad for someone with Kanye’s level of mental health issues. Not a defense, but something we should keep in mind as a society. We like to put people on a pedestal and then watch them fall. It’s not ok to be like that, but certain people are built to handle the climb and the descent better than others.
I’m thinking about these anti-trans attacks on the Wayans’ family in a historical moment when it’s popular to be anti-trans. People from J.K. Rowling to Elon have really fueled this hatred/discrimination/bigotry.
We’re not a tolerant society. We never were. Now, haters gonna hate right out in the open. Aziz Ansari was really on it in the SNL monologue he gave right after Trump won the first time.
We needed to push back harder, sooner.
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Kanye x Elon
Maybe the main thing I want to say about the Kanye (and Elon) situation is… a lesson.
Artists need to realize that even if your fans have loved you, they can (and will) learn to live without you and your work. I’ve heard lots of talk from hardcore Ye fans who said that they didn’t need to wait for Round Two of Kanye’s unhinged antisemitic, hate-filled rants, his praise of Hitler, and the list goes on, to decide to part ways with his music, his merch, his legacy.
People are getting rid of their Teslas. For a while, there have been jokes about people putting a bumper sticker on their car saying they bought it before they knew the kind of person he was. This goes beyond losing the faith. It’s standing by your principles.
Good people want to be on the right side of history.
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The Market has Never Been about Doing Good
ESG investing has been problematic from the get go because corporations are not in the business of making friends and doing good deeds… at the end of the day, they put profit over people. Patagonia was not allergic to getting trendy. Oil and gas companies see what is coming on the horizon and have bought up a ton of green energy companies which is why Exxon Mobil (and other companies) are listed in ESG funds. There are plenty of companies that just slashed DEI programs that are still listed on these funds.
A lot of the companies that tried to do good were punished. Target is a prime example. But they weren’t catering to the queer community in good faith, it seems. This was about the bottom line. The LGBTQ+ community has become a sizable demographic that business can sell/market to and so in a consumer-capitalist system they are going to capitalize on this.
I could go on and on because, well, I’ve put kinda scary amount of energy into learning about this kind of stuff since 2017. I’ve written before (I think?) about how learning about the stock market / trading / investing felt akin to learning (memorizing) all the material needed to play Magic: The Gathering (MTG) at a competitive level (back in the day). I didn’t actually play in competitions because I was too shy but I had slightly older friends who did.
I’m thinking about MTG because of this story, which I found really heartening. It reminds me that this always has been a community that appealed to thoughtful nerds (said in the nicest possible way)— ‘A Magic: The Gathering YouTuber Has Raised Nearly $500,000 For Trans Lifeline’ (them)
Don’t get me wrong though, gamer types can be super arrogant and pretentious (much like comic book guy in The Simpsons). No community is a monolith. Anyway, my main point was to say that this is a really nice story to see and I’m glad to see this community rising to the occasion.
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‘Why Americans are moving in with strangers twice their age’ (Vox)
It’s the economy…
Maybe not all bad... but it should be a choice. As is wisely said in The West Wing (in a different context), "Dire economic need is a form of coercion."
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::: Health & Wellness :::
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‘Flu season in the US is the most intense it’s been in at least 15 years’ (CNN)
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This is truly terrifying.
‘RFK Jr. Goes After Widely Used Antidepressants, Claiming They Could Be A Threat To Americans’ (VF)
These medications save lives. Period.
Expert opinion: “In my 35 years in the addiction field, I’ve met only two or three people who thought they were addicted to antidepressants versus thousands who were addicted to heroin and other opioids.”
Gotta love how in this conversation RFK openly admits to being a junky for a decade and then wants to complain about the time-tested medications that have helped millions.
Dude is nuts.
No shade on junkies—I’ve known plenty.
Here’s what I’ll say about SSRIs (for now). They are a blunt instrument. Unfortunately, in many instances, this is the best we have available. You gotta work with what you got. Also, what you can afford. New Rx that are not available as generics are a small fortune (as many are well aware) and the Trump Regime doesn’t seem super interested in using power to force Big Pharma to lower prices.
I have so much to say on this matter… I’m sure we’ll all have plenty of time to dig in over the coming weeks/months/years.
People will die because of RFK Jr being an idiot. This is a statement we can say about all of Trump’s cabinet picks. Tragic. Really truly tragic.
I’m reading MLK currently and none of this is new. America has seen this type of backlash before. I’m trying to learn how we make our way to the other side with the least amount of damage to ourselves and the better angels of our system.
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‘JD Vance’s relative, 12, refused heart transplant over vaccine status’ (Independent)
This is sad.
This will become increasingly common.
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‘After delay, CDC releases data signaling bird flu spread undetected in cows and people’
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‘Shared reality in relationships reduces uncertainty and boosts meaning in life, study finds’
"The findings revealed that couples who perceived a higher shared reality with their partner also reported greater meaning in life. This effect was evident even after controlling for relationship satisfaction, suggesting that shared reality offers benefits beyond general positivity about the relationship. Additionally, observable shared reality behaviors predicted self-reported shared reality and meaning in life."
There's more to the study in the article.
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‘Warding Off Superbugs with a Pinch of Turmeric’ (Texas A&M Engineering)
“The researchers showed that when curcumin is intentionally given to bacteria as food and then activated by light, it can trigger deleterious reactions within these microbes, eventually killing them. This process, they demonstrated, reduces the number of antibiotic-resistant strains and renders conventional antibiotics effective again.”
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Americans want to go on more dates. Your partner is looking at you right now. They don’t look mad, but they have their arms crossed internally.
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‘3 Ways To Fight ‘Time Sickness’—By A Psychologist’ (Forbes)
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::: America :::
Visualized: The 1%’s Share of U.S. Wealth Over Time (1989-2024)
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‘Google Removed Pride Month and Other Diversity Holidays From Its Calendar App’ (them)
The Verge covers this story.
“Some Google Calendar users are angrily calling the company out after noticing that certain events like Pride month are no longer highlighted by default. Black History Month, Indigenous People Month, Jewish Heritage, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage have also been removed, according to a Google product expert.”
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Punching Down
‘West Virginians spend among highest percent of income on groceries: study’ (WBOY)
Article from WV local news.
Having lived in WV, it’s a bit deceptive. The prices might seem lower but that’s not true when compared to income. People are, for the most part, broke. And so while prices at Kroger or Walmart might seem cheaper compared to if you live on the Coast, it’s not the reality if you make an in-state typical wage.
There is also an extremely high level of stigma in WV about receiving welfare assistance in any form. People there talked to me about “Welfare Queens” all the time. I argued with folks about this a bit… to no avail. Check out how much a parent is given per month for each additional child. This is not a way to “game the system”. Children are very expensive, clearly. I found this really distressing while living in WV that people were so aggressive about the idea that their neighbors were not “bootstrapping” which is a myth. Up there for worst things Ben Franklin did (though yes there were worse…) I feel like Franklin’s bootstrapping lie (which is well-known to be a lie) has done so much damage that it cancel out a great deal of the good he did.
Real Welfare Queen? Elon. Others have pointed this out. Bro takes so much from the government and is the wealthiest human in history. Totally normal and fair.
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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
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‘Man from uncontacted tribe emerges from rainforest’ (Pop Sci)
Concerns about the spread of disease as a deterrent for interactions clearly runs deep in human history. America certainly has a disturbing history of murdering Native Americans in this manner.
I'm forgetting specifics but I'm sure plenty of sci-fi have called attention to the fact that interactions with other lifeforms could result in illness.
Usually, I feel like we worry about ourselves but we are just as likely to impact any beings who are not in our ecosystem. Covid is a reminder.
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Why did Duolingo kill its owl mascot? (NPR)
Boo. Media stunts that users dislike are a bad look. Stockholders probably have their arms crossed right now waiting to see how this unfolds.
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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
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
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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"People will die because of RFK Jr being an idiot. This is a statement we can say about all of Trump’s cabinet picks."