Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! Happy Day of the Dead! Ironically, yesterday morning we said farewell to our beloved Marley, our Walker Coon Hound-Boxer mutt whom we adopted from a former student in 2011 when she was three. For a large dog, she lived an unusually long and healthy life. Right up to the end she would go for long walks with us, though much more slowly than she once did. I used to run five miles with her and she would be bouncing around with energy as soon as I let her off the leash at the end, while I needed to sit down. Her favorite thing was to run through the trails behind our house when we would take her out and let her off leash. She was faster than lightning, blurring by us to go find the next thing to smell.
The Last Homely House is now a little more of a lonely house with both our cat and now our dog having passed, and all our children are gone (moved out, that is - they’re all doing great). I came home after work yesterday and even though I knew she wouldn’t be there, I still had the instinct to look for her snuffling snout coming around a corner, welcoming me. But sadly, no more.
It’s the Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead), and so an appropriate day to remember and celebrate those who have impacted our lives. While there are many people whom I have loved and now lost, today Marley is on my mind and my heart.
No essay this Sunday - instead it will be Episode 4 of the Flourishing in the World podcast. I have a great interview with Marc Hubbard, the coach of the UNH Men’s Soccer Team, who says his mission is to make better humans. I hope you check it out! As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Candy and chewing gum prices up 7.5 percent from September 2022 to September 2023
Why: Is nothing sacred? Even candy and chewing gum are victims of inflation.
Actually, my first real experience with inflation was the summer I turned 10 (it was 1980) and over the course of the summer, candy prices doubled due to inflation. I remember riding my Huffy down to the Pine Street Market (known as Johny’s) to buy a candy bar and a soda at the beginning of the summer and paying $0.25 each, and by the end of the summer it was $0.50 each. Inflation was just insane. And at 10, it’s not like I had income to have it keep up with inflation.
(I might be exaggerating slightly - maybe it was $0.35 or $0.40, which is still a 40% or more increase - but it was an eye-popping, WTH moment. I suddenly understood what the adults had been blah, blah, wah, wah’ing about.)
I feel for the kids. There is no justice.
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What: After Babel, Suicide Rates Are up for Gen Z Across the Anglosphere, Especially for Girls
Why: Back when candy was $0.25, I used to play outside in my neighborhood a lot. There’s a common set of memes I see, that read something like this:
And sometimes I think, “we’re just romanticizing the past.” But this graphic shows that isn’t true. This graph doesn’t go back to 1980, but even as late as 2003, kids were spending a lot more time with their friends IRW (that’s in the real world for you Luddites).
The crash happens with the arrival of the smartphone and social media.
This article documents scary trends in self-harm across the Western world coincident with smartphones and social media. It’s long, but you can scroll through and look at the graphs - the evidence that we have unleashed a demon is quite clear.
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What: Forbes (Via AEI), Researchers Say High School Civics Test Doesn’t Boost Voting. They’ve Lost the Plot.
What: I just finished writing a book chapter on health policy, and I decided to spend about half of my allotted words on explaining federalism and divided government, as I mentioned in last week’s essay. I did this because when I teach health policy in my own health systems class, I spend a significant amount of time going over these concepts because my college students don’t understand these basic civics concepts, or why our form of government is the way it is.
The author’s key point: civics isn’t about making activists, it’s about making pluralists. As in, making people who can get along with people who aren’t like them. Activists insist on changing people. Pluralists leave people alone. Pluralists are tolerant. Activists are not. Sometimes that’s a blessing, most of the time it is not. (remember activists aren’t all on your side: sometimes they wear robes and burn crosses on your front lawn; or fly hang gliders into music festivals and murder children)
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What: Rob Henderson's Newsletter, Understanding the Young Male Syndrome
Why: A thoughtful discussion about what drives a young male to become a man, a opposed to just a thug or a deadbeat:
But if boys aren’t exposed to positive examples of masculinity in their personal lives, they will look for it elsewhere.
In contemporary western societies, parents, teachers, coaches, local community leaders, and other high-status figures used to raise boys to become men, imparting lessons about personal responsibility, hard work, relationships, and obligations. Today, in the absence of such guidance, many young boys are being raised by viral TikTok influencers peddling diluted and ungrounded conceptions of masculinity.
High-status individuals have a societal responsibility to guide young men toward constructive avenues for status acquisition.
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Watch
What: Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think, Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile (8 min)
Why: Introduces anti-fragility in the context of happiness. Chasing happiness is likely to result in increased rates of depression. Pursuing purpose is more likely to result in happiness.
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Listen
What: Quillette Podcast, The Extraordinary Life of Tom Nash aka DJ Hookie (67 min)
Why: Tom Nash contracted a meningococcal infection at age 19 that led to him losing all four of his limbs. Despite that, or, in his telling, because of that, he has become a successful DJ and renowned speaker.
I heard this interview while I am in the midst of reading The Obstacle is the Way, which makes the argument that adversity is often the spark of generativity. I would not trade any degree of success for what Tom Nash suffered. But listening to him is fascinating.
Nash talks about how universal design actually unleashes many things that non-disabled people didn’t realize they really wanted, so the story is not at all a guilt trip - it’s really just the opposite. It’s quite inspiring.
I’m planning to add his new memoir to my pile.