Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! Winter circled back around and is giving us one more punch - we had snow coming down most of the morning on Friday, though later it turned to rain. I’m pretty sure this is because I put away my snow blower on Sunday after we had such a gorgeous weekend. Pic is of the daisies here at the LHH with snow coming down.
I made a difficult call this week that disappointed some people. Our college has an internal grant competition and I started to assemble a team of folks to do a large scale qualitative (i.e., interview-based) study of the experiences of nursing home workers during COVID. It was my idea, I reached out to several people to get them on board, and then at the last minute I pulled the plug and told them I wasn’t going to submit the application. Every time I started to write the application, I just couldn’t get myself to do it. I think the idea is great, and someone should do it. I think it would make a really good oral history, in fact. But I realized my reluctance came from the fact that I feel burnt out. I just don’t have the gas to power through a large project like that right now. Trying to keep my students on track with their academics, and then helping them find internships and working with sites, has pretty much drained me. I have a non-trivial number of students who are struggling academically and they may not make it to the finish line, and I carry that as a burden because I really want to see them succeed. So I made the call to kill this research project before it was really under way. Most of my colleagues are already pretty burdened themselves, so they were mostly understanding, but I hate backtracking on a commitment. I despise the “self-care” language because it’s too easy to use it to justify self-indulgence, but I think there is a necessary element here. You have to know your limits, and as a leader, you have to know your team’s limits. I wish I had been self-aware enough to not have started the team process, but I don’t regret having killed the project before it got off the ground. It’s a good lesson I am going to try to internalize.
So that’s where my head is at. This summer I’m going to be doing a lot of reflection about priorities, like where I want to go with this newsletter and what I am going to do with the podcast, as well as where my research is going. Like you, like everyone, this damn disease has taken a toll on me. I’m only now really appreciating how much. I’m glad my work has a rhythm that includes some down time coming soon. I hope you can find that space in your life, too.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the links!
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Read
What: The Atlantic, Platforms Are Not Publishers
Why: I debated sharing this short piece because it is older (vintage 2018) and so much has transpired since it was written, but I agree with his points. I believe social media is one of the most important technological advances, in line with the printing press. When such a powerful and radical technology hits human society, it takes time to absorb it and rebuild institutions around it. There is a certain dismissal of individuals talking to each other without the mediation of elite institutions - and we are going to have to figure out how to do that better and with more control. But I was particularly struck with this observation:
"The mass is a way of conceiving of people we choose not to know. It is necessarily elitist: dismissive, paternalistic, insulting. The word betrays a worldview tinged with disdain or fear."
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What: Persuasion, What America Owes Afghanistan
https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-america-owes-afghanistan-08e
Why: The Trump administration began the process of withdrawal from Afghanistan, and it looks like the Biden administration is staying the course. The reality is the repressive and vile Taliban will once again rule the country we sought to free from religious autocracy. This short essay makes a powerful argument for what we owe for having made this attempt. I think of the images of the Vietnamese who had collaborated with the US trying to get to the last helicopters leaving the US embassy as Saigon fell to the Communists, knowing if they did not get on that helicopter, they would likely be tortured and murdered. We know the Taliban is worse.
These global moments have lessons for us in our individual lives. When you take responsibility for something - especially people - you can’t just walk away.
BTW, Persuasion is a new Substack-based newsletter. The Substack eco-system really exciting - it is providing outlets for excellent journalists and thinkers to reach directly to their followers without the intermediation of legacy media organizations. This is the first Substack-based article I am sharing, but I suspect it won’t be the last.
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Watch
What: Jonathan Haidt, The moral roots of liberals and conservatives
Why: This is an excellent talk. Haidt’s essential message is that a state of self-righteousness is natural, and that it is blinding. Here’s a quote from the talk:
“If our goal is to seek a deeper understanding of the world, our general lack of moral diversity is going to make it harder. Because when people all share values, when people all share morals, they become a team, and once you engage the psychology of teams, it shuts down open minded thinking.”
The “righteous mind” has evolved to help us form teams, which is the key evolutionary advantage of homo sapiens. But teams create insiders and outsiders, which is dangerous and leads to many of the problems faced by a large, heterogenous society like the United States.
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Listen
What: The Great Antidote, Colin Grabow on the Jones Act
https://www.thegreatantidote.com/1134116/8341699-colin-grabow-on-the-jones-act
Why: The Jones Act is one of the most pervasive and pernicious restraints on trade that hurts every American and it will probably never be repealed. Grabow does a great job explaining the Public Choice aspects of this law, illustrating how special interests interact with politicians, and also explaining what this terrible law is. The Jones Act basically requires that any water-based shipping between ports in the US (e.g., NYC to Miami) must be done with US-flagged vessels, and the vessels must have been made in the US, and must be crewed with US citizens. So container ships coming to the US from say, China, that have loads for NYC and Miami can’t take on additional freight in NYC that is bound for Miami, once they have unloaded the freight meant for NYC. There’s a lot more head scratching limitations - head scratching until you realize that there are a few shipping companies who have built their entire strategy around the barriers to trade that the Jones Act creates and they will fight to the death to keep the Jones Act in place. It’s worth listening to the whole thing.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
If you’re looking for a searchable archive, you can see my draft folder here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jwGLdjsb1WKtgH_2C-_3VvrYCtqLplFO?usp=sharing
Finally, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://markbonica.substack.com/welcome
See you next Friday!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
'It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.' - Gandalf (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)