SC Weekly – February 2025 – #4

~ a curated selection of discoveries ~

::: 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

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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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Unfortunate news this week… My wife, Louisa, was in a car accident. Thankfully, Louisa is fine— which is, of course, is all that really matters. Sadly, my car was totaled. We’ve been in car search mode… which I’m sure many will agree is rather stressful.

If you’ve been thinking about signing up to support Stay Curious, now is a time when it will be even more appreciated.

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Stay Curious got a shout-out from Erika Dreifus in her ‘Finds for Writers’ newsletter!

Check out the link and consider joining in the ongoing conversation.

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::: ONE ART :::

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‘Balancing Act: The Realities of Running a Literary Journal without Submission Fees’ (SC)

Ongoing conversation about submission fees, donations, and changes to ONE ART submission guidelines.

Seeking input!

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Upcoming Workshops

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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WRITING THE CATASTROPHE: SINGING IN DARK TIMES
Instructor: Donna Hilbert
Date: Thursday, March 20, 2025
Time: 6:00-8:00pm Eastern (3:00-5:00pm Pacific)
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.

Please 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.

Unique email address used for submissions to ONE ART’s 2025 Haiku Anthology: onearthaiku2025@gmail.com

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Here's Jessica Whipple's poem 'Broadleaf' originally published in ONE ART and now republished by SYZYGY with commentary & context (by me & Jessica)

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Erin Murphy in ONE ART

‘Altoona English professor featured in podcast, reading series, journals’ (PSU)

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::: Podcasts :::

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‘How Democrats Can Win Back Young Men (feat. Rep. Pat Ryan)’ (Raging Moderates)

Pat Ryan speaks exceptionally well and on point in this interview and discussion with Jessica Tarlov.

Pretty sure Scott Galloway is on vacation though my first thought was that he was benched this week after statements got a bit too pro-violence in a recent episode. Civil disobedience works but boy oh boy are we hearing a lot of fightin’ words.

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‘The men's loneliness epidemic might not exist’ (It's Been a Minute)

Short listen. High impact.

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‘An NFL star on what the game costs those who play it’ (Code Switch)

Why football is so incredibly American all wrapped up in power, wealth, class and race. This is a short and dark listen about football and CTE. Content Warning: Strong focus on Suicide.

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::: Music :::

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What is on your current rotation? On repeat? Best throwbacks?

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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::

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‘The Perfect Guide for Where to Submit Your Writing (Does Not Exist)’ (Jane Friedman’s blog – article by Dennis James Sweeney)

Not yet it doesn’t.

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::: Health & Wellness :::

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What I'm not doing this time: Lessons from 2016-2021

A thoughtful, useful, helpful post by Nora McInerny about how to [not] handle Trump 2.0.

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Apparently, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than be the rare person who has a genetic mutation that actually allows your body to function properly with less than 6.5 hours of sleep. In short, no matter what people think or say, they almost certainly require at least 6.5 hours of sleep to perform optimally (though, as we know, there are many other factors that come into play).

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‘Why you need one meaningful social interaction a day’ (Vox)

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::: The Trump Regime :::

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Trump & Co. are not even being slick about it. Tech companies choose “move fast and bring things” tactics to achieve… something (in theory). All these guys are doing is hulking it up.

Trump smash.

Elon smash.

History suggests these are generally not the kind of folks you want in the rebuilding process… because the destruction god and the creation god are rarely built into the same human.

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White House posts video of immigrants in shackles, calls deportation footage ‘ASMR’

Disgusting.

How can someone say they are “proud” to call themselves an American with this kind of behavior? Rhetorical question. The answer, of course, is we cannot ethically do so under these circumstances.

I remain an American. There is nowhere for me to “go home” to…

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At least 10% of America is queer— get used to it.

‘LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Rises to 9.3%: Bisexual identification most common; younger adults more likely to identify as LGBTQ+’ (Gallup)

Attacks on the queer community, with a focus on trans people, is not an attack on 1% of the American population. It’s an attack on almost 10% of our people.

Statistically, you only need 3% of a population to band together to resist a Dictator. Let that soak in. (Also, see J.B. Pritzker quote referenced later.)

Our society is not somehow “turning people queer”… America offers living as you are, as who you really are, and previously we’ve tried to create spaces that are more and more hospitable to being open and honest about selfhood and self-identity instead of less and less. People have always been queer and have, in more recent times, found language, strength, and enough comfort and safety to show themselves. And now comes the backlash from MAGA types.

In these findings, note how the percentage of those coming out increases with millennials and then much more with Gen Z. We’ll see this, too, with Gen Alpha unless the backlash is too great (which it may be). This is not the type of history that has the luxury of operating in linear manner. See: the history of Black Americans.

Note that Gallup has not been tracking queer community affiliation for very long at all:

“In the 12 years that Gallup has been tracking LGBTQ+ identification, it has nearly tripled, as those becoming adults during that period have been far more likely than their elders to say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The recent increase is largely due to more adults in their late teens, 20s and 30s -- particularly young women -- saying they are bisexual. But younger adults are also more likely than older adults to identify as lesbian, gay, transgender or other nonheterosexual orientations. The rate of LGBTQ+ identification is likely to continue to grow, given the generational shifts underway.”

As an Elder Millennial, I can vouch for the fact that it did not feel like there were a lot of identity options “on the table” when I was growing up. There is the opportunity for a lot more exploration that has been granted to Gen Z and, overall, that’s a good thing.

There’s a separate conversation about extreme individualism and identity politics in conversation with civil rights goals related to community that have historically involved a focus on collective rights. This is much more of a complex issue than it might sound like on the surface. We will likely have to get deeper into these conversations as we try to figure out how to organize to maintain human rights and civil rights incorporating ideas from various historic movements and leaders such as MLK. Bearing this in mind, there’s a difference between concerns for the collective good and personal rights to express who you are and what you stand for. In a better version of society than we are living in at present, we should be able to have the best of both worlds. It’s also really the more conservative members of our society that need education to understand identity choices and why these are not a threat to their belief systems and way of life. We can have both. America is fully able to accommodate people from all walks of life. The American experiment is all about pluralism and personal choice.

We can be different and tolerate one another. We, as a society, are failing on both accounts right now.

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Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker: “He recalled how ordinary Illinoisans outnumbered Nazis who marched in Chicago in1978 by about 2000 to 20 and noted, tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the tragic spirit of despair overcome us when our country needs us the most.”

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With regards to Venture Capitalists (VCs) and ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley C-suite types moving themselves and their companies… (KFC is another recent example so it’s not just Tech Bros):

“BTW, nobody believes you moved to Florida or Texas for better governance — you wanted the chance to recognize a capital gain at a lower tax rate than the middle-class taxpayers who funded your infrastructure.” – Scott Galloway (No Mercy, No Malice)

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‘So many Americans died from COVID, it boosted Social Security by $205 billion’ (Fortune)

Tragic.

Frustratingly, this is the type of finding that Elon's DOGE will claim responsibility for or, worse, claim as found money for “other uses”.

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‘Trump talks of a third term amid growing concerns about a constitutional crisis’ (Politico)

“The crowd, which included elected officials, like Republicans Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Rep. John James of Michigan, as well as political appointees and athletes like famed golfer Tiger Woods, responded with chants of: “Four more years!””

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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::

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Federal Trade Commission Launches Inquiry on Tech Censorship

Have a legit grievance? Write to them!

Have you been censored? Have your posts by deemphasized by a platform’s algorithm? Ideally, you can provide some form of proof. I would like to believe that sharing a notable drop in analytics engagement would count. I don’t know whether we would call this censorship—however, the way information systems prioritize what people see/hear is part of how propaganda campaigns operate. Twitter (X) is openly boosting MAGA-friendly posts. I’m sure evidence will be gathered to show this. As a sort of citizen journalist, if you have some proof, telling the FTC could help if people respond in droves about their personal disenfranchisement.

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Yelp’s Top 100 US Restaurants 2025

If you’re local to any of these, do you agree?

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‘It’s illegal to own a pet raccoon in Kansas. One man is trying to change that’ (NPR)

New personal hero?

In any case, I hope this ends better than the Peanut The Squirrel story…

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Did you see the story about the doom fish?

Elsewhere, you can read theories that this sign has been a “good omen” in folklore. Like a coin… two sides.

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Nice news.

‘Man Spots Shadow In The Waves And Ends Up Saving Boatloads Of ‘Stunned’ Animals’ (The Dodo)

There are good people out there. And many are quietly doing good deeds who will never make the news. Heartening.

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::: Google Search Trends :::

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Top searched "books about..."

Past week, US

1. Kindness

2. Love

3. Greek mythology

4. Depression

5. Friendship

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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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