Out with the old and in with the new(ish)
Out with the old and in with the new(ish)
Microdosing civics, Dr. Seuss pinch-hitting and the media cleanse we're all looking for
This weekend we brought back Shabbat dinner in a big, LA summer way. I made my first trip to Costco and came back with everything I didn’t know I needed and exactly what I went for, an obscene amount of prime tri tip and bulk Sweet Baby Ray’s. I grilled so much meat (not that you were wondering, but my “push” present was a grill). I ditched my need to do it all and warmed up a Whole Foods cherry pie in the oven.
Hosting dinner is my west coast meditation. When I start to future trip and freak out about Gus growing up in an entertainment bubble, I always come back to good food with friends around the massive dining table I’ll never have in New York, and it helps me be more present.
Back to Basics: What Is “Civics”?
Starting this Friday until the election, we’re going to get into the basics of civics. Think of it as a weekly micro-dose formatted specifically for millennial parents, and the closest I’ll get to bringing back Schoolhouse Rock.
I am so excited to co-learn the basics of civics together. To set us up, someone recently reminded me that many of us still don’t know what civics *actually* means. I’m very much on this journey to civic enlightenment with you, but for now, I put together a few thoughts that felt important.
First and foremost, for my fellow members of the Exhausted Majority, civics is NOT politics. Politics is obviously a part of civics, but when you zoom out just a little, you realize it’s only a small part of the story (and not even the most exciting/relevant part).
The idea of “civics” becomes clearer when you telescope it down to daily life. For example, our two year old goes to the same park every morning. We take for granted that everything is maintained and all the equipment is safe to use. For the most part, you don’t think about things like that until they’re not working, and that’s the whole point of civics. We have expectations that things will run smoothly and hopefully work more than they don’t, but when a giant screw falls out of a slide or there’s a crack in the cement that poses a safety risk, it’s important to know how it all works behind the scenes.
Civics embodies the rights — and responsibilities — that each of us have as citizens. Part of this involves learning about the protections afforded by the Constitution or how government works at the most basic level. This part of civics tends to be where our eyes glaze over, but it can be broken down in an accessible way for parents (and kids!) and that’s what we’re going to do every Friday until the election.
This Week’s Parenting Tip in Reverse
Sometimes parenting is as much about recognizing bad advice as it is about learning what works.
Social studies teachers everywhere:
Gus’s Pick of the Week
We’re having such a throwback summer.
My mother in law recently gave Gus a copy of The Cat in the Hat (my husband’s favorite when he was small) and he loves it. He’s obsessed with watching the original Jungle Book and won’t go to bed until he listens to the Beatles.
Apropos of everything happening right now, we discovered a kid-friendly voting treatise in the form of imaginative non-fiction Dr. Seuss, and it’s so fun. This is such a cute book to read with kids as a jumping off point to talk about things they’re hearing on the news or at school, etc. Thanks Anna Lane for many things recently, but especially for this one.
One Vote, Two Votes, I Vote, You Vote (The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library)
The Civic Influencer Saving My Week
Do yourself a favor and go on a media cleanse with .
I love her Substack News Not Noise, I love her Instagram posts and everything else she writes. She describes herself as a recovering political reporter and is one of those rare people who helps you be more informed and somehow less panicked.
Thanks to
, I had a chance to see her speak this past week and I am so hyped to have on my ever-evolving journey to being balanced and informed.
Internal v. External Productivity
Gaining confidence in civic knowledge and trying to raise curious, emotionally intelligent humans are lofty goals. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s hard to just be. Lately I’ve been trying to find things that just make me feel happy without any need for productivity and wanted to share my newest discovery.
Like most people, I don’t read for enjoyment nearly as much as I should. When I think about starting a novel, I feel like I should be reading a biography. I have to push aside this nagging feeling that “down time” should still have some element of self-growth/learning/productivity. Enter the short story.
I’ve been a guest lecturer for NYU Tisch for several years and my biggest piece of advice for aspiring screenwriters is always the same: write a short story. Short stories are often overlooked but some of the most beautiful films I’ve worked on over the years were adapted from short stories. They take less time to read (or write, for that matter), leave room for imagination, and give a sense of accomplishment without committing to 300 pages.
I recently discovered Laurie Colwin’s short story collection The Lone Pilgrim and I’m just about to finish her third collection. I try to read one story a day. It’s the closest I’ve come to forgetting about everything I should be doing, at least for a few pages at a time.
See you FRIDAY!
More soon,
Sarah