#492: The Art of Losing Isn’t Hard To Master
Seven thoughtful dispatches on the theme of loss
I know very little about poetry. But a poem I’ve appreciated is “One Art,” by Elizabeth Bishop. Have you read it? It’s a poem about loss. The first line is, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master.”
I’ve experienced my share of loss, as we all have. Maybe that’s why one of my favorite articles of all time is “When Things Go Missing,” by Kathryn Schulz. Maybe that’s why I’m grateful for Melinda’s Grief Corner. There’s something about the theme of loss that resonates with me personally — and that connects us all.
This week’s issue is a bit different. Instead of four articles, you’re getting seven. They’re all centered on loss. However, they’re not all sad! My hope is that at least one of them will spark new thinking or expand your empathy. As always, thank you for being here, and I hope you have a good weekend ahead.
After the Fires, Spreadsheet Activism
by Chelsea Kirk • n+1 • 20 min • Gift Link
The wildfires in Los Angeles last January caused devastating loss. Thirty people were killed, and 200,000 more had to evacuate. More than 18,000 homes and structures burned, along with 57,000 acres of land. Within the first three days of the inferno, community organizer Chelsea Kirk noticed a disturbing trend: Landlords were jacking up prices for homes and apartments. For instance, a two-bedroom apartment, which had listed for $3,595 on Jan. 7, had jumped 25 percent two days later, then another 33 percent the next day, reaching $5,995. This price gouging was widespread. To fight back, Ms. Kirk opened up a new Google spreadsheet and got to work, raising awareness and pressuring authorities to enforce existing law. But her ultimate goal was bigger. Ms. Kirk writes: “What landlords fear is that we might imagine something better: a world where housing isn’t a commodity at all, a world without landlords.”
The Biggest Loser
by Luke Winkie • Slate • 21 min • Gift Link
When you’re gambling at a casino, you’re not supposed to want to lose money. But don’t tell that to Vegas Matt (real name: Stephen Matt Morrow). He loses gargantuan amounts of money — a total of $404,000 last year, in fact — and somehow keeps a smile on his face. He even brings his 30-year-old son EJ along for the ride, encouraging him to capture his financial fiascos on his iPhone. “Oh my God!” Vegas Matt exclaims joyfully to the camera, “We cannot win a hand!” What explains this strange behavior? Turns out there’s only one thing better than winning, and that is having 1.1 million YouTube followers who love to watch you lose.
It Comes For Your Very Soul
by Michael Aylwin • The Guardian • 24 min • Gift Link
Over the last 10 years, I have read many articles about Alzheimer’s disease. It’s what I do. They’re all sad. They’re all beautiful. They’re all about loss. This is one of my favorites.
Michael Aylwin: “We’re all braced for the overarching tragedy of a dementia patient’s decline, but far too little airtime is given to how much it will drive you mad with irritation on a day-to-day level. Both of you. It works both ways. She annoyed me more than I can say, but if anything I annoyed her more.
“One of you ends up doing everything for the other, which in the context of the disease is fair enough. But the other, already disconcerted by the deterioration of their powers, is driven to distraction by the constant presence of their spouse and the insult, as they see it, of the continual meddling and assisting. Fury is the regular result. Which in turn drives the carer mad with frustration. To have to do everything in the house, including the heavy duty of a spouse’s personal care, and be raged at for your pains.”
The Last of Their Kind
by Elena Kazamia • Nautilus • 11 min • Gift Link
Najin and Fatu are the last two northern white rhinos on Earth. Najin is Fatu’s mother. They live in Ol Pejeta, a wildlife reserve on the plains of northern Kenya. After they die, the species will go extinct. For several years, humans have tried to reverse the inevitability of this forever loss. “No two rhinos have been put through more of an ordeal than Najin and Fatu,” Elena Kazamia writes in this thoughtful article. Both Najin and Fatu have been prodded, poked, given hormonal treatments, inseminated — all to no avail. Now Colossal Biosciences, the company that “brought back” the dire wolf, wants to resurrect the northern white rhino via genetic engineering.
➕ Want to read my favorite article on Najin and Fatu? Here it is, from the Article Club archives, circa 2021. Loyal reader Xuan-Vu found the piece “exquisitively written.”
The Missing Men At College
by Kirk Carapezza & Jon Marcus • Hechinger Report & GBH News
14 min • Gift Link
A couple Januarys ago, I interviewed Paul Tough, author of “Saying No To College,” which revealed how our attitudes on higher education have drastically changed over the past decade. Nearly half of young people today say that a high school diploma is sufficient to “ensure financial security.” The result is that fewer Americans overall will go to college, and in particular, the number of men who enroll will continue to plummet. This podcast episode explains this “demographic cliff” and explores the ways some colleges are trying to curb the decline in enrollment (and therefore the loss of tuition dollars). One common answer: Make it easier for men to get in!
Was Integration The Wrong Goal?
by Justin Driver • The Atlantic • 10 min • Gift Link
No doubt, Brown v. Board was a watershed in the history of the United States. But for Noliwe Rooks, the landmark Supreme Court decision was a loss in two ways. First, the promise of integration never came to fruition. The American appetite to follow through with the Court’s decision was meager at best. Second, the public schools that served Black students were shuttered, and their teachers fired. In short, loving, caring communities were dismantled for a spurious cause. In this book review of Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children, Justin Driver appreciates Prof. Rooks’s main argument but questions her conclusion that Black people at the time did not seek integrated schools.
Are Books Dead? Why Gen Z Doesn’t Read
by Jean M. Twenge • Generation Tech • 5 min • Gift Link
Let’s say that you’re at a cocktail party, or any awkward gathering, and you’re in the mood to rile up a group of strangers. There are many topics you could choose from. An easy one is anything-AI. Another is whether cursive should be taught in school. But my personal favorite is how young people just don’t read books anymore, and what are we going to do about this horror? If you’re like me and like to come prepared with statistics, this article (graphs galore) will come in handy. Sadly and unfortunately, you can say to your fellow interlocutors, the great reading apocalypse looks to be inevitable. While you’re at it, you can add, it’s all the fault of kids-these-days. (Just don’t bring up the follow-up question: What’s the last book you read?)
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The image of the twelve comrades sitting around the author's table, organizing against the capitalist class was inspiring. They finish their article with a question, "What does it take to shift power?" It feels like the authors knows at least part of the answer- we have to abolish capitalism. And we have to abolish the two-party system. A Democratic governor in a blue state protected those landlords and Airbnb. We need a working class revolution if we want sustained meaningful change. Thanks for sharing this article.