RWL #287
back from Mollidgewock
Greetings from the LHH! I’m just back from my annual trip to Mollidgewock State Park in Errol, New Hampshire. Mollidgewock is basically a strip of campsites that dot the Androscoggin River, and it is absolutely gorgeous. This is my fifth time visiting Mollidgewock, mostly because it is a three hour drive from the LHH. I usually try to make it part of my site visit to Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin, NH, because that is only 45 minutes south of Mollidgewock, but I didn’t have an intern at AVH this year, so I had to just bite the bullet and head up there on my own recognizance. I brought Daughter #3 and some good friends, but was sans wife because her idea of camping is a suite at the Four Seasons. Regardless, there was paddle boarding, camp fires, pancakes al fresco at dawn, and more. Here’s a little video I shot this morning while I was out for my last paddle:
https://youtube.com/shorts/jKnAIHbe3fw?feature=share
… and that’s why I’m getting this newsletter out to you late this week. It’s important to sustain a discipline when you commit to it - as you know I believe if you have been following this newsletter for any length of time. So thanks for bearing with me, and thanks as always for reading.
So with that, willing good for all of you, I present you with the links!
Read
What: Evil HR Lady, Instead of Being Friends With Your Employees, Do This
http://www.evilhrlady.org/2022/07/instead-of-being-friends-with-your-employees-do-this.html
Why: I had phenomenal leadership training in college. And you all are saying, “Wait, weren’t you an English and Philosophy major as an undergrad?” Yes, yes I was. But the leadership training I received was through the ROTC program and through being a resident assistant (RA) in what was one of the big party dorms back when UMass was still “Zoo-Mass”. I was going to be the Cool RA. (OK - stop laughing.) I was going to rely on my own authority and not the authority of the position. Wow, did that go wrong. I practically had anarchy on my floor by the end of the year and no one was my friend. It was as an RA that I learned the lessons of this short article. Check it out - probably if you are a leader, you have made that mistake at some point. I think we all have to. But no reason to repeat it.
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Watch
What: BJ Fogg at TEDxFremont, Forget big change, start with a tiny habit (17 min)
Why: I just finished reading BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits this past week and it’s fantastic! It’s inspiring in its simplicity and it is already reshaping my thinking about self-improvement. I plan to re-read it soon. I’ll write more about it soon, but in the meantime, do yourself a favor - watch this short video, then go buy the book. You’ll thank me later.
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Listen
What: Proof, Strawberry Fields, Forever? (44 min)
Why: I’m a huge fan of America’s Test Kitchen’s magazine, Cook’s Illustrated, but I just discovered they had a podcast, too. This cute title about strawberries turns out to be a story about the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII, and how that ties into California agriculture. I know when I was going through high school, we learned all about how great FDR was, and we never learned that he ordered the imprisonment of some 120,000 American citizens because of their national ancestry. I’m glad it is getting some air time now.
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 week!
Mark