RWL Newsletter #134
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! It’s wicked hot here - I’ve been retreating to my office to work because I don’t even want to be outside. OK - it’s not Texas hot - but when you’re house just has a few window units that just barely take the edge off, it may as well be. But you know what the best thing about late July in New Hampshire is? Blueberries! We’ve got about a dozen bushes in the backyard and my daughter picked about 10 pounds of blueberries this week. What to do with 10 pounds of blueberries? Well, you freeze most of them, and then you make blueberry cobbler! (say it correctly - cob-lah)
I hope you’re all surviving the heat! Enjoy the weekend and let me know what you think of the links!
Read
What: NYT, What Bipolar II Feels Like, by Bassey Ikpi
Why: This is a short, first person essay about what it is like to live with Bipolar disorder. The author does a great job capturing the terrible intensity and disruptive nature of the disease. It is hard not to empathize with this condition once you’ve imagined the various scenarios she proposes in the essay. This is a nice piece for starting a conversation about mental health. I’ll probably use it in my management class this fall. (Thanks to Jon M for the link.)
Watch
What: TED, The beauty of being a Misfit, Lidia Yuknavitch (13 minutes)
Why: As a researcher, I study people’s careers. I ask them to tell me stories about their hopes and dreams, as well as the challenges they have overcome. You won’t hear this much on the podcast when a guest knows that her/his story is going out to the world, but often when I’m interviewing someone one-on-one and they know the recording is private, I’ll hear about how they felt like an imposter, or how they felt like they were an outsider trying to pass. Even late into their career, some people keep going with a narrative that they are a misfit, trying to find their way. I like those stories because I’ve felt like a misfit most of my life, and honestly it’s why I do the research I do. I am interested in stories about careers because I want to help other people be more successful, but also because I’m so baffled by how other people seem to have it all together. Even though I know they don’t. I know because they tell me they don’t.
The misfit narrative is interesting. Listening to Yuknavitch tell her story, you know she had a lot going on that was unfortunate. Sometimes the misfit narrative is completely correct - we really don’t fit and don’t belong in a place. If you don’t belong, you probably should leave. But sometimes the narrative is wrong, and it results in missed opportunities, like the opportunities Yuknavitch relates in this video.
I was also thinking about organizational diversity and inclusion when I was listening to Yuknavitch. Some diversity is surface level. The national and academic conversation on this topic seems a bit stuck at that level. The surface level matters, but as Yuknavitch’s story shows, there is so much diversity hiding in plain sight. With a little effort, we might be able to tap into it. Imagine if one of the agents had tried a little harder when she was in New York - what value they might have gotten, and how it might have changed her life.
I’m a teacher today because once upon a time when I was most definitely a misfit high school student, and I had no way of escaping from that environment, a teacher was kind to me. He was able to see below the surface that there was something of value, even though the system did not. This resonated with me from the video: “Now I am, as you can see, the woman over 50. And I'm a writer. And I'm a mother. And I became a teacher. Guess who my favorite students are.” Me, too.
Listen
What: NPR, Seizures Of Methamphetamine Are Surging In The U.S. (6 minutes)
Why: I have to admit, I was not aware that meth was growing. In fact, I thought it’s popularity had faded. Opioids get so much attention up here because New Hampshire is Ground Zero for the opioid crisis in terms of deaths per thousand, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else. However, the numbers presented in this piece are stunning. The amount of meth seized in 2018 was more than double the amount seized in 2017. That’s a stunning increase. Also of concern is how meth users behave when on the drug - they are more dangerous to first responders and medical staff. Unfortunately it sounds like we will be hearing a lot more about meth.
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 by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
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
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau