Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 30

Emily Calandrelli, 100th woman in space, refuses to bow to ‘small men on the internet’

Emily Calandrelli, an MIT engineer and TV host known as “Space Gal,” became the 100th woman in space last week.

In a video released by Blue Origin, Calandrelli — one of six space tourists to join the launch — looks out the window and gushes, “Oh my God, this is space.”

It’s a joyous, glorious moment in her life. Joyous and glorious to bear witness to, too.

Calandrelli called it a dream “decades in the making.”

But less than 24 hours after the video was posted, “hoards of men” online sexualized her emotional response. So many offensive comments were posted that Blue Origin took down its original video from the launch and replaced it with an edited one.

Calandrelli said she would not let online trolls ruin an experience that brought her “the most life-altering spectacular joy and awe.”

“I refuse to give much time to the small men on the internet. I feel experiences in my soul,” Calandrelli said in the post. “I will not apologize or feel weird about my reaction. It’s wholly mine, and I love it.”

Small men.

The world is filled with them these days.

Small, fragile, pathetic men who find strength and pleasure in denigrating the less fortunate, managing those who threaten their standing, rage against the economic and political rise of people who don’t look and sound like them, and cloak themselves in masculine tropes that only serve to signal their weakness and fear.

Can you imagine how loathsome, pathetic, and small you must be to bully an astronaut online because she is expressing joy?

I stand with Emily Calandrelli and every woman ever bullied or attacked online by these small, pathetic men who find comfort in their cowardly, anonymous attacks.

Their actions speak volumes about their self-worth.

They deserve to be ignored.

Dissent reduces conformity

I’ve been described by many as a non-conformist.

Also disagreeable, unconventional, critical, and obstructionist.

I can’t disagree, even though I’m inclined to disagree.

In fact, when coaching business leaders, I often advise them to seek new ground. I encourage them to find a new, and whenever possible, opposing viewpoint. I urge them to tell stories, be vulnerable, and be amusing because so few people in business do any of these things.

It’s in this uncharted ground that value can often be found. Fertile ground is where new ideas can be cultivated. Standing apart from others makes you entertaining, engaging, and unforgettable.

Research has also found that as soon as someone disagrees or even can’t decide, social conformity is reduced.

In social psychology, conformity bias is defined as the act of changing one’s behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes to fit in with other people. It begins around age 12 and becomes more pervasive in groups of three to five people.

Conformity is attractive to many people because it is often easier to follow the examples of others rather than to venture out alone. The pressure to conform affects everyone, reducing individuality, originality, innovation, and productive risk-taking.

Conformity feels safe and appeals to many,  but it’s often detrimental to the individual and society. Conformity often leads to unhappiness, as people feel they can’t express their feelings and opinions and be themselves. To conform, they lose their individuality and self-expression, and the possibility of innovation, reform, and invention disappear.

In the workplace, conformity flattens behavior, reducing the number of new ideas generated. It also results in less productive risk-taking and fewer instances of potentially beneficial opposition.

In short, conformity results in a bunch of people behaving similarly, expressing similar ideas, and nodding in agreement far too often.

However, studies have found that conformity can be reduced from a high of 97 percent on a visual judgment task to only 36 percent when a competent dissenter is present.

In other words, the nonconformist can reduce conformity in a group simply by expressing a nonconforming viewpoint.

Nonconformists breed nonconformity.

They afford people permission to be themselves.

Someone recently approached me and said, “Today’s meeting won’t be something you like. I can already see you opposing this idea. Could you please support me and keep your views to yourself this time? It’s important to me.”

I laughed. My former principal used to do the very same thing. When he knew that an idea, initiative, or plan would not sit well with me, he’d occasionally ask me to keep my opinions to myself and discuss my opposition in private.

It would seem that both of these people understood the nature of this research:

If I expressed my nonconformist views, the chances of achieving a majority agreement would likely be diminished. By disagreeing, I permitted others to disagree, too.

Of course, nonconformists can also cause trouble. While they may reduce social conformity, thus making it easier for people to be themselves, they can also be troublemakers by convincing others to reject norms.

My mother called me “The Instigator” for good reason.

As a boy, I would relentlessly seek alternative viewpoints and ways of doing things to gain and leverage my autonomy, stand out in a crowd, and become known to the world. This led me to do things like:

Teaching myself to read upside down to annoy teachers.Finding ways to cook pizza on camping trips while others were cooking hamburgers and hotdogs.Writing scathing editorials in the school newspaper about school administrators.Standing on the front steps of my high school as a freshman, passing out “Seniors are wimps” flyers.Being suspended for “inciting riot upon myself.”Becoming a Yankees fan while living outside of Boston.Refusing to complete homework assignments that “diminished me.”Converting myself from a sprinter to a pole vaulter.Parking my car in the faculty parking lot because “I work just as hard as those teachers.”Playing the bassoon because it was new to our school, and no one else was playing it.Trying out for the cheerleading squad.Taking French 4 when French 4 did not exist.

Sometimes, nonconformists do things differently and disagree because they believe in what they say and do.

Sometimes, they seek new ground to annoy others and garner attention.

I like to think that today, I almost always express what I believe and think is right, but as a boy, it was an admittedly mixed bag.

I live to fight another day

I told my students that due to weather and travel complications on a snow day, I had only slept for three hours the night before.

“So be good to me today!” I demanded. “I need your kindness to survive the day.”

“I think this might be it,” one student said.

“What?” I asked.

“I think today is the day we can finally destroy you.”

Then another student pointed at me and spoke. “I still think he has more energy than us. Look at him.”

“You’re right,” the first one said. “Forget it.”

I’ve never felt so simultaneously good about myself and disappointed with my students for not thinking better of themselves and setting higher expectations, even if doing so could apparently lead to my destruction.

Spiders are evil

A spider is living in the upstairs hallway.

Clara has named him Frank after Frank Marshall, the director of the film “Arachniphobia.”

She’s a ridiculous film nerd.

Though Clara hates spiders, she seems to have made peace with him.

Here’s what I won’t be telling her anytime soon:

Researchers analyzed 161 spiderwebs and found that spiders incapacitate captured fireflies to attract other potential mating partners to the web. Spiders keep the incapacitated fireflies alive as long as they can glow, but when they can no longer produce light, they are devoured immediately.

It even appears that the spider’s venom makes a male firefly’s blinks look more like a female firefly’s blinking pattern.

The insect world is a terrible, brutal place.

My favorite part in “Bambi”

A woman beside me on the plane looks at my phone. I’m watching an SNL parody of “Bambi.”

She says, “Oh! You’re watching Bambi?”

She sounds excited. Thrilled to discover someone is enjoying the Disney classic.

I smile. I tell her, “I’m just watching until Bambi’s mom gets shot in the head. That’s my favorite part.”

She stares at me in shock.

She doesn’t realize I’m joking.

She turns away and aggressively ignores me. Takes out knitting and shoves earbuds into her head.

I decide to let her think I’m a monster. Air travel is hard. It’s the little things that make it palatable.

 

 

Sunlight can only be pictured with shadows

Diary entry of James Webb Young, advertising executive and, two years after writing this entry, Advertising Man of the Year.

Sunday, October 25, 1942

Every artist knows that sunlight can only be pictured with shadows. And every good biographer shows us, as Boswell did, that only the faults of a great man make him real to us. But in advertising, we are afraid of this principle, hence less convincing than we might be. The most extraordinary response I ever got to an ad was when I offered a second-hand motor car for sale and judiciously described its defects as well as its virtues.

Sunlight can only be pictured with shadows.

I love this idea.

Honesty and vulnerability are powerful forces in storytelling and all communication, yet they are also often avoided for fear that exposing our faults, failures, embarrassments, and shame will make us appear weak.

The contrary is also true. It’s easy to say nice things about yourself, and it’s not hard to brag. Self-congratulation does not require courage or strength, despite how easily so many people seem drawn to false bravado and artificial swagger.

In truth, those who brag, boast and lie about their achievements are always the least confident, most frightened, most thinnest-skinned people in the world.

Only those willing to express the truth about themselves — in all its tragic humanity — can truly shine.

Sunlight can only be pictured with shadows.

James Webb Young believed this. So, too, do I.

A word filled with predators

I’m listening to an audiobook production of “Sandman” by Neil Gaiman.

I was especially excited about pressing play on this particular audiobook. “Sandman” is a graphic novel — a format I have difficulty reading. My visual skills are weak at best, so when I try to read a graphic novel or comic book, I get lost in the images and have difficulty following the plot.

Dumb, I know, but true.

Then Clara noticed I was listening to it and asked, “Have you heard the news about Neil Gaiman?”

I had not.

Ten minutes later, I learned that five women had publicly accused the author of sexual assault and abuse. Gaiman has strongly denied all allegations, asserting that any sexual interactions were consensual.

So maybe Gaiman is innocent. Having been arrested, jailed, indicted, and tried for a crime I did not commit, I believe very much in “innocent until proven guilty,” but five women?

All unrelated to one another?

My first thought::

When will this end? How many authors, musicians, filmmakers, actors, comedians, politicians, entrepreneurs, and the like are going to be revealed as alleged — and sometimes convicted — sexual predators?

Then I bemoaned how often a beloved song, book, movie, and TV show has been marred by these monsters.

Then this occurred to me:

I’m complaining that a book I’m enjoying might be sullied by sexual assault allegations, but what if I were a woman living in a world filled with sexual predators? Would the tarnished book or song or movie be my primary complaint or concern?

I may be disgusted and horrified by the number of men credibly accused and convicted of rape and sexual assault since the beginning of the “Me too” movement, but I’ve never felt personally threatened by these small, pathetic, amoral monsters and the multitude of men like them.

I’ve never needed someone to walk me to my car at night.

I’ve never been worried about being sexually assaulted by someone bigger and stronger than me.

I rarely look at another person and think they can or will hurt me.

But I would almost certainly see the world differently if I were a woman. Though violent female criminals also exist, I’m never worried about being overpowered and hurt by a violent woman, and more importantly, the ratio of male-to-female perpetrators of violence is approximately a kabillion to one.

Almost all of the monsters are men. Serial killers, sexual predators, murderers, rapists, pedophile priests… almost always male.

The President-elect is a self-described sexual predator who was found liable for sexual abuse by a jury of his peers.

Matt Gaetz, a former Congressman and recent nominee for attorney general by the self-described sexual predator, allegedly had sex with two minors — statutory rape — and only withdrew his name from consideration for that high office when more allegations were reportedly coming.

Yet that monster still appears regularly on conservative news outlets.

Harvey Weinstein, R Kelly, Bill Cosby, Matt Lauer, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Sean Combs, Jeffrey Epstein, Vince McMahon, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh—the list goes on and on.

All have been either credibly accused or convicted of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or rape.

And it happens in every corner of the world. More than a third of women report being sexually harassed in the workplace. I’ve personally assisted women who were victimized by sexual harassment in the workplace.

In every case, the perpetrator was a man.

Almost 90% of the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were men.

Men commit 80% of all violent crimes and 95% of domestic violence.

Nearly 99% of the perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are male.

Women essentially move through a world filled with violent sexual predators, probably wondering which men are good, decent human beings and which ones are capable of horrific violence.

Just like that, in an instant, my distress over Neil Gaiman and the implications of his alleged crimes on my perception of his graphic novel seemed exceptionally absurd, tone-deaf, and stupid.

My choice of teacher

In a recent interview, I was asked, “If you could choose anyone to teach your own children, what kind of person would you want?”

I love questions I have never been asked before. Even so, my answer was almost instantaneous:

Give me a teacher who didn’t start out as a teacher. Give me a teacher with a diverse collection of life experiences outside of education and a healthy dose of struggle and suffering.

If I were allowed to choose, I would choose a teacher who has dug ditches in Nicaragua, survived an encounter with a grizzly bear, panhandled across Europe, or spent ten years working in the private sector over a teacher who went from high school to college to graduate school to the classroom, absent any catastrophe, epic struggle, or life-altering cataclysm.

This is not to say that the traditional path to teaching produces bad teachers. I know many outstanding teachers who have followed this conventional approach.

I would place my own children in their classes any day.

However, if given the choice, I believe that diverse life experiences and wider perspectives bring more to a classroom than a stable life, a traditional path, and a college education.

Mark Twain famously said, “I never let school interfere with my education.”

Some of the best teachers I have ever known came to teaching from the most unorthodox and challenging routes imaginable. People who grew up poor. Owned small businesses. Operated heavy machinery. Served in the military. Worked as a bartender, a landscaper, and a cab driver for years. Managed an NGO. Climbed the corporate ladder. Changed careers many times.

These teachers are often confident enough to take enormous risks, test the boundaries of bureaucratic stupidity, and constantly ask for help.

These teachers can often distinguish between what is essential to learning and meaningless fluff.

These are often the teachers who know which corners can be cut and which are critical to the success of their students.

These teachers often demand great things from their students and know how to shut their mouths and get out of the way to allow those students to exceed expectations.

These teachers tend to be unflappable, remarkably resilient, highly efficient, supremely independent, and beloved by their students.

In the words of one of my fictional characters, these are the teachers who teach school rather than play school.

The path from high school to college to graduate school can undoubtedly produce great teachers. I know and have known many of them.

I am married to one.

Many of them are far more effective than me.

But if I had to choose my children’s teacher absent any other information, I would seek out a diversity of experiences, a broad and varied perspective of the world, and a life of epic struggle, cataclysmic failure, and modest success.

This is hardly a profound or novel position. It probably applies to most jobs.

Diversity of experience is far more valuable than anything else.

So when choosing a teacher for my children, I would seek out these qualities over advanced degrees in education from the finest universities every day because life often offers the most meaningful advanced degree possible.

McRib sauce is a premium product

Last week, McDonald’s sold 500 half-gallon containers of its McRib barbecue sauce online for $19.99.

The sauce — with a label dressed up like a Christmas sweater — sold out in less than one minute.

Silly me.

I clicked on the website about 19 minutes after the sauce went on sale, planning to purchase at least one gallon.

Apparently, I was not alone.

McRib sauce can now be purchased on eBay and similar auction sites for as much as $160—eight times its retail price.

Happily, the profits from this sale were sent to Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities.

As a consolation prize, I had a McRib for lunch yesterday. No pickles, of course, because pickles are disgusting. I also recommend adding cheese to the sandwich, but either way, it’s yummy.

Even better, my friend, Shep, texted me yesterday:

Shep: “Just had my first McRib.”

Me: And?

Shep: Delicious.

Shep has always been a brilliant man.

Resolution update: November 2024

Every month, I report the progress of my yearly goals to monitor progress (or the lack thereof) and hold myself accountable.

I’ve also begun the process of planning for 2025 goals. This includes reviewing this year’s goals to determine which should be repeated or attempted again, alongside an honest, clear-eyed view of my life and its needs to determine what should be next.If you’d like to suggest a goal, I’m always open to suggestions.The following are the November 2024 results.PERSONAL FITNESS

1. Don’t die.

I had a tube put into my left ear last month. They put children to sleep for this procedure but not adults.

It hurt like hell.

Now, my right ear is infected and blocked. I’m looking at another possible tube. Apparently, I now have the ears of a toddler.

I’m not dying from these ear problems, but it’s making me crazy.

2. Lose 10 pounds.

I am still up four pounds from the start of the year. Thanksgiving didn’t help.

3. Do a targeted push-up workout at least four times per week. 

Done.

4. Complete 100 sit-ups four times per week. 

Done.

5. Complete three one-minute planks four times a week.

Done.

6. Cycle for at least five days every week. 

Done. I rode my bike every day but two in November, missing days only because of travel.

I’ve recorded 317 rides in 335 days in 2024.

7. Meet or beat the USGA’s average golfing handicap for men of 14.2. 

My current handicap is 25.0, down from 25.2 last month. It is still a high number but is improving steadily.

But I’ve come to realize something important via research:

The average male golfer’s handicap isn’t 14.2 because most golfers don’t maintain a handicap, and those who do tend to be a minority of better, more serious golfers who are active members at country clubs.

I’ve set a goal that may be unrealistic.

WRITING CAREER

8. Complete my eighth novel.

The due date for my book is January 6, so it’ll be done on January 6.

9. Write my next Storyworthy book.

Done!

My next book will not be a storytelling book. My agent and I have decided upon a novel instead. But the next storytelling book is written in first-draft form and ready to go when the time is right.

10. Write, edit, and revise my golf memoir.

Work has begun on adding to and revising. Barring an expectedly warm day, the golf season has come to an end, so this book will keep me company through the winter months.

11. Write my “Advice for Kids” book.

Excellent progress made. A rough draft should be complete by the end of the year.

2. Write/complete at least three new picture books, including one with a female, non-white protagonist.

Done.

I’ve written children’s books about Connecticut’s infamous October 2011 snowstorm, the gypsy moth invasion of New England in 1981, and the lullaby “Rock a By Baby.”

The rough drafts of all are complete. I’ll need to sit with them a bit, read them to additional children, and then send them to my agent in 2025.

13. Write about my childhood in partnership with my sister, Kelli, at least twice per month. 

No progress.

14. Launch a Substack.

No progress.

15. Write a new solo show.

I’ve accumulated all of the stories I plan to tell in the show, ordered them properly, and created an outline.

I’m now crafting transitions and considering other elements in the show.

16. Write a musical.

No progress.

17. Submit at least three Op-Ed pieces to The New York Times for consideration.

Done!

Three so far in 2024. All rejected.

I also submitted all three to the Washington Post. Also rejected.

18. Write at least four letters to my father.

One letter was written in November.

Three letters have been written in 2024 so far.

19. Write 150 letters.

Done!

I wrote 20 letters in November. The recipients included students, administrators, clients, my father, and the Speaker of the House.

I’ve written a total of 196 letters in 2024.

20. Write to at least six authors about a book I love. 

No letters were written in November.

I’ve written letters to authors Andrew Wilkinson and Joe Rocco so far.

I have a list of five authors to write to before the end of the year.

STORYTELLING/SPEAKING CAREER

21. Perform a new solo show.

Initially, I planned on performing at TheaterWorks in Hartford in November, but complications with their scheduling have pushed that back to April 2025.

22. Complete the re-recording of Storyworthy For Business. 

Done!

23. Record and produce at least two new Storyworthy courses.

A total of four new courses were produced in 2024.

We’ll also carve up the new Storyworthy for Business course into smaller, separate courses, extending this goal considerably.

24. Produce a total of six Speak Up storytelling events in 2024.

Done!

Jeni Bonaldo and I performed “Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared” to a sold-out audience at the Playhouse on Park, bringing the total number of events in 2024 to seven.

“Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared” on March 2 at TheaterWorks in Hartford.“Sportsing” on March 16 at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History“School” on May 3 at Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford, CTSpeak Up – CPA Prison Arts show on June 5 at The Pond House in West Hartford, CTGreat Hartford Story Slam on July 27 at Hartford Flavor Company“Stories Sell” book on October 5 at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History“Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared” on November 17 at the Playhouse on Park in West Hartford, CT

25. Submit pitches to at least three upcoming TEDx events, hoping to be accepted by one.

No progress.

I spoke at TEDxBU on April 20. It went very well, and the recording should be online soon.

26. Attend at least eight Moth events with the intention of telling a story.

Done! I attended one Moth StorySLAM in November in Boston. I told the third story of the evening and finished in second place.

A total of 14 Moth events so far in 2024.

27. Win at least one Moth StorySLAM.

Done. I won:

Boston StorySLAM on June 25Boston StorySLAM on February 27NYC StorySLAM on July 17

I’ve won three of six StorySLAMs where I’ve told a story this year.

28. Win a Moth GrandSLAM.

I competed in the Moth GrandSLAM in Boston in March and placed second.

I should’ve won, but I think that a lot.

I’m performing in a Moth GrandSLAM in Boston later this month.

29. Pitch “You’re a Monster, Matthew Dicks” to at least a dozen theaters and/or directors in 2024.

I’ve pitched “You’re a Monster, Matthew Dicks” to two theaters so far in 2024.

I performed the show on March 30 at the Mopco Improv Theater in Schenectady, New York.

30. Produce at least 24 episodes of our podcast Speak Up Storytelling.

No progress.

31. Perform stand-up at least six times. 

I’ve performed stand-up twice in 2024 — both shows in Ottowa, Canada.

32. Pitch three stories to This American Life.

One story has been pitched thus far.

33. Submit at least three pitches to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.

No progress.

34. Send a newsletter to readers at least 50 times. 

Done!

Eight newsletters were written in November, bringing the total in 2024 to 59.

HOME

35. Organize the basement.

Outstanding progress in November.

The goal:

Organize all bins in the basement in a logical, identifiable orderEliminate anything no longer wantedStore Elysha’s classroom materials in an organized manner

36. Clear the garage of unwanted items.

Elysha’s long-forgotten classroom detritus is the last pile to be eliminated. She has begun bringing the bins to school, and this project is nearly complete.

Two bins to go.

FAMILY/FRIENDS

37. Text or call my brother or sister once per month. 

Done.

38. Take at least one photo of my children every day.

Done.

39. Take at least one photo with Elysha and me each week.

None taken in November.

40. Plan a reunion of the Heavy Metal Playhouse.

No progress.

41. I will not comment positively or negatively about the physical appearance of any person save my wife and children to reduce the focus on physical appearance in our culture overall.

Done.

42. Surprise Elysha at least 12 times.

Done!

Two surprises in November:

Flowers sent to Elysha at schoolDesserts delivered to Elysha and her colleagues on a tough day

A total of 16 surprises in 2024 so far:

Tickets to “Little Shop of Horrors” on BroadwayTickets to “Merrily We Go Along” on BroadwayTickets to “Tommy” on BroadwayCheesecake delivered to Elysha and her teammates during an especially challenging dayA surprise weekend spent in Rhode Island with friendsTickets to “The Outsiders ” on Broadway this monthA well-timed sweet teaA basket full of things Elysha lovesDinner on the tableFirst-class tickets to San FransiscoI sent flowers to Elysha and her class just because.I located and surprised Elysha with a 100-Grand bar — one of her three favorite candy bars.Tickets to “The Shark Is Broken” at the Playhouse on ParkTickets to “Jekyll and Hyde” at The Hartford StageFlowers sent to Elysha at schoolDesserts delivered to Elysha and her colleagues on a tough day

43. Play poker at least six times.

Done!

I’ve decided to count poker games with Charlie since they are serious affairs with candy at stake.

A total of seven games in 2024.

44. Spend at least six days with my best friend of more than 30 years.

Done!

We’ve spent eight days together in 2024, and he asked me to find ways to spend more time together next year.

MUSIC

45. Memorize the lyrics to at least five favorite songs. 

No progress in November.

I’ve decided to memorize two Christmas songs in December:

“Fairyland in New York” by The Pogues
“Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses

Two of the best Christmas songs.

Memorized so far:

“Our Wonderful Lives” by Styx
“Come a Little Bit Closer” by Jay and the Young Americans
“Fox on the Run” by Sweet

46. Practice the flute at least four times per week.

I did not practice in November. I suck.

MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS

47. Read at least 12 books.

I read two books in November, bringing my total to 26 in 2024.

“Outline: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Attia
“All Things Aside” by Iliza Shlesinger

Though I’ve finished “Meditations,” I will continue to read it, probably for the rest of my life.

I suggest you should, too.

I’m currently reading:

“Sandman” by Neil Gaiman
“The Power Broker” by Robert Caro
“Excellent Advice for Living” by Kevin Kelly
”Miracle and Wonder” by Bruce Headlam and Malcolm Gladwell

Books read in 2024 include:

“Upstream” by Chip Heath”Happy Pepple Are Annoying” by Josh Peck”Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama” by Bob Odenkirk“The Power of Regret” by Daniel Pink“Fluke” by Brian Klass“Misfit” by Gary Gulman“How to Weep in Public” by Jacqueline Novak“The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt“The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson”You Like It Darker” by Stephen King”A Short Guide to a Happy Life” by Anna Quindlen”How to Say Goodbye” by Wendy McNaughton”We’re All In This Together” by Tom Papa”Smart Brevity” by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz”Hello Molly” by Molly Shannon“The Deerfield Massacre” by John Swanson”Duma Key” by Stephen King”Never Enough” by Andrew Wilkinson“Opposable Thumbs” by Matt Signer“The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larson
”One the Edge” by Nate Silver“Green Lights” by Matthew McConaugheyMediations” by Marcus Aurelius“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck”
“Outline: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Attia“All Things Aside” by Iliza Shlesinger

48. Finish reading TIME’s 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time. 

I did not read any of these books in November. I read plenty of picture books to my students, but no new ones from the list.

I may need to find or purchase some of the books on the list that are not in my school’s library. I also need to get my students to start hunting down these books in the school library.

I’ve read 36 books from the list thus far.

49. Unify my passwords using a password manager.

Done!

50. Learn to use QuickBooks for my business.

Done! Invoicing, payroll, and taxes are now all managed via QuickBooks. It’s much easier than I thought.

51. Rectify the heating problem in my studio.

Done.

It’s officially cold outside, and my portable electric radiator, attached to a Bluetooth switch, works well. Another electric radiator might be needed when temperatures get exceptionally cold, but we’ll see.

52. Learn the names of every employee who works at my school.

In November, I could not find a colleague whose name I did not know. Someone may still be lurking in the building who I cannot identify, but I haven’t found them yet.

53. Assemble a complete toolbox.

Done! Completed as a part of the basement cleanup.

54. Edit our wedding footage into a movie of the day.

I’m making no progress.

55. Memorize three new poems.

I memorized James Joyce’s “Tree” and Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.”

I’m still working on Act V Scene 5, lines 18-28 of Macbeth.

56. Complete my Eagle Scout project.

Done!

Completed on October 12. A total of 42 volunteers, plus my family, joined me on a perfect day to complete this long-awaited project.

I hope completing the project eventually makes me feel better, as I had originally hoped.

57. Post my progress regarding these resolutions on this blog and social media on the first day of every month.

Done.