Thought Bananas 15 | invisible worlds and ideas that would otherwise go unnoticed in the busyness of everyday life

Fatherhood, Self Care, Futurism, Higher Ed, Newsletter Length, Deaths of Despair, and Movie Trailers

This week, the process is paying off!

I’ve got something for everyone this week! There are three original essays to share with you that are on totally different subjects and themes. Plus, I’ve got some great news about this whole project, and some awesome testimonials I gathered from last week.

Before diving in, I want thank all the new readers who have joined us since the last issue, and thank everyone who’s been here since Day 1 for supporting this project, after all . . .

🍌Quote of the Week

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

-Helen Keller

🍌In the Newsletter This Week

• Original Writing: What Becoming a Father Taught Me About Self Care, and Three Prediction About the Future of Higher Education

• On My Mind: State of the Newsletter, Something’s Going On

• My Favorite Things: As Art, Movie Trailers are the Perfect Pleasure

• Crowd Work: Favorite Thing So Far?

Original Writing

🍌What Becoming a Father Taught Me About Self Care

I have an eight month old daughter. I knew that her birth would bring changes but I underestimated the degree of these changes and miscalculated their direction. In other words, I thought it would all be outward changes: routine, furniture, calendar. Instead she has reached deep inside me and changed the way I think and feel about myself and the world. One of the most profound changes fatherhood has inspired is in how I approach taking care of myself. Click here to read the full essay.

🍌Three Predictions About the Future of Higher Education

As a Professor, I spend a lot of time thinking about educating people. I’m very interested in how we can better educate people, what ideas people have for the future of education, and how those ideas are being advanced. Through my work, I have been lucky enough to see some of these changes happening in real time. In this essay, I spell out three predictions I have for the future of education, and how we are making those predictions a reality at the program I work for. Click here to read the full essay.

On My Mind

🍌State of the Newsletter

This is my 11th issue of Thought Bananas since I moved to Substack! Thanks everyone who has sent feedback and testimonials so far. Here are two that I’ve really liked:

Warm, emotionally descriptive, and evocative, Charlie Becker is a master storyteller. His writing connects his keen sense of observation and his ability to capture emotion, drawing the reader into invisible worlds and ideas that would otherwise go unnoticed in the busyness of everyday life.

-Akiko Mega

And—

Charlie Becker is one to watch. His writing strikes a wonderful balance of ideas I haven't encountered, connections I wouldn’t have made, and vulnerability I admire.

-Cam Houser

One of the most interesting pieces of feedback I received was from my friend Leo Ariel, who made this awesome graphic to show me how long and media-filled my newsletters had become over time.

I love getting feedback, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with things you love or things you could fix. For instance—thanks to Leo’s graphic I have decided to shorten this newsletter and write more essays and original fiction.

🍌Something’s Going On

If you don’t like to read things that are dark or morose, then I suggest skipping this section.

I am, on balance, an upbeat person. I see the best in people and I’m very hopeful about the future—for me, for my family, for the world, just generally hopeful. But lately, I can’t ignore that among people I know, there has been a dramatic uptick in deaths from diseases of despair. I’ve heard of three deaths by suicide and four deaths by overdose in the last three months.

This is shocking and saddening. I have been reading a lot trying to find out who else is talking about this. I went so far as to download the CDC data on causes of death to see what the numbers say. All I can tell is I’m not the only one noticing it. A lot has been proposed: mental health affliction epidemic, fentanyl running rampant, a shadow depression in the economy.

I don’t have a tight way to wrap this up or a way to make it into a story. I’m sharing this because I don’t know how else to talk about it, and wanted to see if anyone else is noticing it—and if you have seen or read anything about how we might understand it or even how we might make it better—about how we might reach these people in time. 

My Favorite Things

🍌As Art, Movie Trailers are the Perfect Pleasure

This started as a blurb for the newsletter and blossomed into a full essay. It is a short essay that aims to open your mind to the idea that trailers are art unto themselves without even needing to reference a movie. I make my point and curate five of my favorite trailers. If you love movies, or ever think about the nature of art—I would love it if you would check it out. Click here to read the full essay.

Crowd Work

In standup comedy, crowd work is when the comic speaks directly with the audience. This section is a place for us to directly engage one another. 

Thanks to those of you who submitted testimonials last week. It would mean a lot if you’d shoot me an email or drop a line in the comments below to let me know your favorite thing you’ve read on Thought Bananas. What have you liked and what do you want to see more of?

That’s all for now—see you next week!

Thanks to everyone who edited, proofread, and gave feedback on the writing in this issue. And thanks for reading Thought Bananas!