The Sunday Snewz Issue No. 25
September 17th, 2023: Act I, Take Two
It is often said that life doesn’t give you second chances. But I've been getting plenty of them lately. You‘re getting some too, but we’ll get to that later.
Scarlett is spending her Junior year taking online classes at our local college to start earning her associate degree while at the same time fulfilling her high school graduation requirements. A lot of factors went into this decision, the least of which is that the education she was getting at Lake City High School stunk to high heaven. For instance, her math teacher was giving her 5 out of 5 on every quiz and assignment throughout the semester and then she scored a 14% on the final. Granted, she’s not a great test taker but a 14%?!?! That is statistically impossible. So our in-house math guy, Casey, went through all of her assignments. Come to find out she was lost the entire semester and was getting at best 2 out of 5 questions correct. Lazy teacher or just the assumption that all Asians are good at math? My guess is both. We’re also taking advantage of the money the state provides for dual enrollment to pay for general studies classes in case she ends up at a four year university eventually but most importantly, I’m teaching her how to think, instead of how to intake information and output data like a machine.
Being at home and taking on college courses is a sacrifice for all of us. Hard work and an entirely new style of learning for Scar, never having the house to myself for me and Casey….well…he’s tasked with student driving lessons so he might be sacrificing his life. So far it has been a beautiful experience for all of us. Back in 6th grade, I had Scarlett home for half the year after pulling her out of Charter Academy for the Vicarious Parent. You know the places, cell-block institutions where parents place their kids in order to rob them of their childhood and parents absorb the praise they were never able to achieve when they were kids. After watching her sit at our kitchen island, day after day, in her uniform until 10pm, working through thirty algebra problems saying, “your childhood of riding bikes and watching Gilligan’s Island sounds like heaven!” I finally woke up. But keeping a 6th grader at home with a mom who’s starting a new business and falling deeper into addiction didn’t pan out so well. “How can you not know about the Watergate scandal - gheesh?!” At the time, I had better things to do than educate my child, like make money and drink wine. Since getting sober, that half of a year is remorse that’s been hard to shake. Which is why I am so thankful to have her home with me now. I’m patient. She’s delighted. We’re learning together. I’m revisiting U.S. History and Poly-Sci and she’s learning how much philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle knew for being such boring old men. “Mom, do you have a written copy of Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave?” “Why yes Scarlett, yes I do.”
These sort of second chances don’t happen often. As my favorite French poet, Baudelaire would describe, man looks out at each sunset with regret for what he did not do, or remorse for what he did that he wishes he hadn’t. Sunsets lately involve neither of those for us. My daughter is giving me a second chance, I’m not gonna fuck this up.
This Might Just Be Our Last Chance
Rather than gush further over Kennedy, I’m just going to leave his letter to the DNC here for you to read for yourself.
It is my sincerest belief this is our last chance to save our dying democracy. There are no more second chances. We cannot rely on politicians or a Trump second term to save us. The only possibility for redemption and sanity is for the people to create a movement, a movement like the 1890s Farmer’s Movement, the labor movement of the 1930s, the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement in the 1960s. So whether you are historically a Democrat or a Republican ask yourselves this one important question - do you want to be right, or do you want peace?
I said just about all there is to say last week on this topic in the article, Simplicity Is Beautiful. If you haven’t yet, be sure to take advantage of the 20% off paid subscription for life to read the article in its entirety.
The New IQ Test
I went on a whirlwind trip to St. Louis this week to visit the Institute of Natural Health and my medical Jesus, Dr. TJ.
Estrogen 185, testosterone 61, fourteen hours of flying in two days and countless diary entries to harvest for The Sunday Snewz. Rather than irritation at the idiots who reside in the skies on SouthWest Airlines, I think of them as little dollar bills plopped into seats, three across, waiting to land in my pocket. The worse they behave, the better my content, the more subscribers I capture. There’s something in all of this for you too! Refer Unapologetically Evie to friends, family or anyone you want to alienate and get comps.
Back to IQ…the mask. Over the past two years, mask wearing was a sign of your virtue. Your worth as a person really - you wore a mask and saved the lives of thousands. If you didn’t, you obviously stormed the Whitehouse on Jan. 6th, believed the earth was flat, attended Q-ANON meetings without your own knowledge, or did the unthinkable - relied on critical thinking, questioned authorities, and asked questions of corporations with the largest criminal and civil penalties in history before you injected yourself with their magic potions. Gasp! This time around, the mask is an IQ test. Needless to say, the people heading to Spokane, Washington on flight 596 didn’t pass. It wasn’t surprising to me, merely entertaining. About every third person walking down the aisle, hitting everyone in the head with their overstuffed backpacks, was donning the respiratory bacteria inducing cotton cloth. Live and let live is my motto, but when compliance to measures that have been proven to be ineffective at best and toxic at worst are forced upon the masses, the right to be stupid ends. I am confident we have another chance to do things differently coming our way. Don’t fuck this one up.
Are You An Addict Too?
I binge-listened to Dr. Anna Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation this week. Oops-I think she warned against this sort of behavior. And yes, I listened to it which goes against my every educational belief. As a writer, I find audiobooks are for the lazy, boring and infantile. People who need knowledge spoon-fed to them like strained peas to a baby. Yeah, you get the nutrients but you’re wearing a bib and diaper. The reason I listened to this book is because Dr. Anna Lembke has a voice that makes me want to crawl up in her lap, put my thumb in my mouth, twist the end of my blanket into my nostril…and…well…listen to an audiobook. She is so empathetic and so damn relatable that you’d be missing out if you didn’t listen to this one.
We are living in a world of overconsumption. She explains the ramifications of this new age of endless dopamine hits and leaves you ready to make real changes. Don’t miss this!
“Dopamine Nation explains the personal and societal price of being ruled by the next fix—and how to manage it. No matter what you might find yourself over-indulging in—from the internet to food to work to sex—you’ll find this book riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued. Lembke weaves patient stories with research, in a voice that’s as empathetic as it is clear-eyed.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors
A New Section to The Sunday Snewz!
Each week, I screen shot something that I declare wins the internet. I’m not sure why I haven’t thought to share them before now. We’re kicking things off with my science-girl crush,
The maternity and neonatal health providers at a hospital group in England’s National Health Service have decided that “vaginal birth” offends birthing women who don’t think they’re women. So as not to offend the deluded, “frontal birth” is the term the providers at NHS are now using. To me, this invites the question of what other kinds of birth are available. Has anyone tried an ass birth?
Amidst the shadows of regret, A soul adrift, and longing to forget, With hope, relentless, in its cosmic dance, Wished they had a second chance. And the learner needs to repeat the lesson, For growth blooms from a humble confession, With a will to change destiny, they chart their way, In the realm of chances, where dreams hold sway. They seized the moments, once passed by, With hands outstretched, reaching for the sky, Embracing passions once left behind, Unleashing dreams they longed to find. With every stumble, they discovered grace, A tapestry woven, pain interlaced, For in the wounds, compassion grew, Empathy bloomed, their heart anew. For in second chances, hope finds its voice, In redemption's embrace, hearts rejoice, And as the learner repeats the lessons learned, They find their purpose, their soul affirmed.
Copyright Jay Narain