SC Weekly – March 2025 – #3
~ a curated selection of discoveries ~
::: The Open :::
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy this edition of SC Weekly (published on Sundays).
Please consider sharing with a friend who you think may enjoy this newsletter.
Thank you for reading and for your time.
With Gratitude,
~ Mark
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::: Personal Notes :::
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Sigh. Not even sure what to say.
It’s been a difficult time on the personal front recently.
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I am looking forward to Donna Hilbert’s ONE ART workshop on 3/20. Just a few days away!
ONE ART will host an upcoming workshop with Tresha Faye Haefner on 4/10. Worth getting excited about!
We’re fast approaching National Poetry Month. ONE ART has the honor of hosting Kari Gunter-Seymour, Amit Majmudar, and Chad Frame as Featured Readers on Sunday, April 6.
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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
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‘Why I’m Replacing Doomscrolling With Poetry’ (TIME)
“My attention has broken into strange shapes. While I usually "chain-read" novels and nonfiction—inhaling book after the book in a stream of information, storyline, and metaphor— these days, I can barely focus on a page without putting it down in favor of doomscrolling.”
“I have, though, found a reprieve from my anxious inattention: poetry. More specifically, the poetry of survival—verse written in the shadow of political extremity. I have noticed this is true for others I know. Friends tell me they are seeking out poetry in uncertainty, just as many of us have long done to celebrate marriages and to mourn our loved ones. Now we are doing so to parse and bear a startling moment in history.”
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An interesting take from Seth Godin on navigating “The Creator Economy” and how to build community.
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Spinal Tap II is OTW— 9/12/25
Something to look forward to.
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Atypical Submission Opportunity—
Apparently you can submit a short-form audiobook to… Spotify?
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::: Podcasts :::
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How to Lead the Richest Life Possible (The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos)
Focus on “psychologically rich” experiences — very much aligned with the Stay Curious mindset
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‘Dropping the Mask’ (Hidden Brain)
Covering is, essentially, hiding aspects of your identity in order to blend in and make others more comfortable.
Even "45% of straight white men report covering." So, if you're not in the dominant majority— there are all sorts of scenarios in which society, and people in your orbit, will expect you to cover.
Question to ask yourself—
What % of the time do you feel you are able to bring your “full self” to a situation?
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I relate way too much with this. It's deeply unsettling.
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Maria Bowler interviews with her sister in this super good conversation:
Maria Bowler: "For No Reason" Season
Everything Happens with Kate Bowler
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I’m looking forward to reading Maria Bowler’s ‘Making Time’
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‘ep. 91 - How to Read Poems (Part I)’ – The Poetry Space_
Wise & educational!
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Dark Moods with Mariana Alessandri (Overthink)
I’ve listened to several interviews with Alessandri about ‘Dark Moods’ and it’s fascinating. I somehow missed the memo about Philosophy of Emotion. I don’t think that was terminology thrown around in the early 2000s during my college years studying philosophy. It seems Alessandri comes at least in part from a background and focus on Existentialism.
Also—
I’ve been loving Overthink. Great philosophy podcast. Wondering about other good philosophy podcasts out there… ideally ones where at least one of the podcast hosts is not a white guy— as that is very refreshing, especially in this area of study. Ellie Anderson is a great host on Overthink.
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A Walz to Remember (Today, Explained)
Tim Walz is so likable. Jeez. A kind and thoughtful person.
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::: Music :::
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The 1975 live album from a Manchester show is a really good time.
30 songs. 2 hours 12 minutes.
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::: Health & Wellness :::
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‘We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky.’ (Vox)
Don’t drink the rain? Sure.
Don’t drink the water? Not really an option…
“Plastic rain is an environmental threat that’s harder to fix than the last one. “It’s much worse than the acid rain problem,” Brahney said. “With acid rain, we could stop emitting acid precursors and then acid rain would stop falling. But we can’t stop the microplastic cycle anymore. It’s there and it’s not going away.””
“For us to get rid of PFAS, we probably have to go back in time,” said Natalia Soares Quinete, a chemist at Florida International University who was involved in the 2024 study. Even though the government is increasingly regulating PFAS, she said, “I don’t see us completely getting rid of those chemicals.””
“Treatment facilities don’t have the technology to treat all of the microplastic compounds, let alone the technology to measure them, Brahney said. “There are tens of thousands of chemicals involved, and we only understand a fraction of them,” she said.”
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::: The Trump Regime :::
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More pain more… pain?
No one voted for this.
I’m pretty sure there are many Trump voters who are unhappy right now.
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‘The US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is the highest it’s ever been — pandemic excluded’ (Sherwood)
Trump loves uncertainty and unpredictability. Real life is not a game show and people are not enjoying the ride.
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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
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2025 is looking a little too much like… 2009.
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Read a good argument for the federal minimum wage to be increased to $25/hour. This would equate with about $52,000 as an annual salary.
The argument has to do with housing not being tied to wealth.
Notably, the U.S. has a problem with health insurance being tied to work.
In order to comfortably afford a home in the U.S., you need a household income of around $106,000/year.
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I’d love to see Universal Basic Income though current estimates tell me it would cost $3.96 trillion per year and that’s not about to happen under Trump. Fake DOGE cuts are not about to help the cause.
Being practical, we need to save some form of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. As many have pointed out, cuts to entitlements such as Medicaid will significantly impact Veterans.
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Worse than an AI Takeover?
The answer is, “No.”
Regardless… ‘Ad-supported AI chatbots could be nearer than we thought’ (Sherwood)
Frankly, I should have seen this coming.
Without going into unnecessary detail, this will be annoying for many “knowledge workers”.
Also, much like search engines and social media, users remain sources of free information… so, really, because we remain users, doubling down and forcing ads is obnoxious.
Much scarier things are coming from the world of AI. I’ll be getting into this much more as I continue to spend time with Harari’s Nexus— in which he rightly calls AI – “Alien Intelligence”. We have no idea what we’re going to be dealing with and the human decision-makers (of which there are few) have been playing fast and loose in recent years. Elon is going around calling people “NPCs” (non-player characters) and he means it. Watch out— this designation may end up meaning something truly dark.
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Like newfangled gizmos?
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An area in which I agree with Jamie Dimon:
‘Dimon also weighed in on corporate America’s stepback from ESG policies. “I’m not in favor of wasting shareholder money with virtue signaling,” he said.’ (Semafor)
The bigger picture is that I have disdain for the false promise of ESG investing. The market is, by design, a place where investors have blood on their hands. There are certain EFTs and funds and companies that are better than others and I agree with those who are willing and able to vote with their dollar.
That being said, let’s be honest, we all disdain virtue signaling. ESGs have been specifically predatory to Millennial and Gen Z retail traders who were looking to do “the right thing” when it turns out that’s a lot more complicated than it might appear.
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‘Apple Plans AirPods Feature That Can Live-Translate Conversations’ (Bloomberg)
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Screen Addiction. (NPR)
“Researchers studied what happened when people agreed to block the internet from their smartphones for just two weeks. And turns out, 91% felt better after the break.”
Internet bad.
I know. You know. We all know.
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The ongoing quest to convince the richest among us to redistribute wealth. The way it's framed here is pretty good. Philanthropy should feel good. Helping others is not just altruism, it's personally gratifying. Billionaires on the sidelines need to get in the game.
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‘Nearly half of Americans think people have gotten ruder since Covid’ (Sherwood)
Not new.
I don’t think the concept of the “Ugly American” ever went away.
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::: Google Search Trends :::
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It’s Spring cleaning season and the searches for “decluttering” are pouring in.
Notably, folks in Iowa and Louisiana are the ones who specifically seem to need to declutter (or organize) their bedroom.
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Another great roundup Mark. Thanks so much, esp for the podcast recs. Will check them out!