Our new episode this week is about the crazy messages the internet spigot is sending our young boys and men, and about making something a little goofy to speak back to all that.
Death, Sex & Money producer Cameron Drews showed me a TikTok account a few months ago called Sex Ed for Guys. Athletes at Colby College in Maine run it, and their videos promote emotional vulnerability and openness, strong male friendships, safe sex, and lots more. Like lessons from Heated Rivalry in IRL sports culture.
I talked to a few of the guys working on the TikTok, and Cameron also introduced me to Adam Howard, an Education professor at Colby, who advises the students on the account. Adam, who grew up poor and gay in eastern Kentucky, has not always felt comfortable in elite institutions or around groups of straight guys, and I loved hearing how he came to prioritize mentoring and creating real relationships with student athletes at Colby. (In addition to advising on the students’ TikTok, Adam is also the men’s basketball team faculty liaison.)
I loved getting to know all the men in this episode. I think you’ll enjoy it.
I finally watched Blue Moon, the Richard Linklater-directed movie about Lorenz Hart, the longtime writing partner of Richard Rodgers… before Rodgers teamed up with Hammerstein and became more successful and famous than ever. Ethan Hawke is perfect as Hart, on one night at Sardi’s about eight months before he dies of alcohol-related pneumonia.
Watch this movie if you’ve ever struggled with wondering if your best days are behind you, or fallen for someone who doesn’t want you back, or found yourself overwhelmed (and lonely) because of your big feelings about art and beauty.
Or watch this movie if you’ve ever loved someone who can’t stop harming himself and you’ve longed for him to make different choices…and he just can’t.
The film is now streaming on Netflix, and here’s a hot playlist of Rogers and Hart standards.
I also found myself amused and unsettled by Emily Nenni's new music video for her song “Living in Shame.” Its energy is odd (in a good way), and the swing of the song alongside the half-hearted surrender at the end made me tear-y.
ALSO: Hrishikesh Hirway, our great chronicler of song creation on the podcast Song Exploder has released the first song off the album he’s been making for years. It’s called “Stray Dogs,” and you should listen to it. The musical arrangement has a rare combination of sprightliness and chill.
There’s also a nice companion interview about collaborating with Iron & Wone on the latest Song Exploder episode. It was exciting to hear how it happened, particularly about the nerve-y email from Hrishi to Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam asking about working together on a song.
Finally, the best thing in my week was a concert at my kid’s Berkeley elementary school. In Berkeley, every 4th- and 5th-grader gets a district-issued instrument and lessons at school, and this week the Berkeley Symphony came to school to perform orchestral arrangements with these early musicians accompanying them. The Suzuki classic French Folk Song has never been quite so beautiful.
THIS IS WILD. David Greene-sounding talking robot v. Veteran public media journalist/human David Greene
Forests make rain. Amazing! Read this from Rhett Ayers Butler: “The Amazon’s most valuable export isn’t timber — it’s rain.”
Just when you thought the state of housing affordability in America couldn’t get any bleaker, The Wall Street Journal has this report on data center developers out-completing home builders for land.
Until next week,
Anna
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