Staying Informed Without Losing Your Mind
This was another banner week for news.
We had our first major commercial aviation crash in over a decade, a second plane crashed directly into a neighborhood in Philadelphia, and the nominee for Health and Human services pedaled race science about vaccinations schedules and “Blacks” during his confirmation hearing before the US Senate.
If you missed any of those, congrats! There were numerous other outrages that may have obstructed your view.
I am aware of those things as well as the usurping of the internet infrastructure of the federal bureaucracy by an unelected billionaire, but I'm not going to dwell on any of that today.
While I am continuing to follow the news, I’m making a concerted effort not to be consumed by it.
In this week's newsletter, I’m highlighting a few things worth your time. If I can turn you on to even one, then this was time well spent.
I.
We’ll start with a book recommendation. I belong to a ten-ish year old group chat that originally centered on the Seattle Sounders but in the off-season becomes about other things. Although, the Sounders are in preseason and looking good. I hope that we get some returns from the $8 million transfer fee invested in Argentinian attacker Pedro de la Vega, lest I digress.
Recently one of the participants in the group chat, KZ, took up my recommendation to read David Joy's masterpiece The Line That Held Us. Joy, a North Carolinian writes stories centered in the valleys and hollers where he was raised. If you are a long time reader of the newsletter or listen to the podcast, you’ve likely heard me talk about my love for this literary niche. Joy, Brian Panowich, SA Cosby, and Eli Cranor, are among my favorite authors. They were all raised on Elmore Leonard novels and write deeply human stories about family, manhood, intergenerational curses and the associated trauma, all wrapped around a heist or a murder.
Joy's books stand out for their straight-forward plots and rich dialogue. There’s never a twist—just relentless momentum. The plot of The Line that Held Us is so simple yet so wonderfully executed: it follows Darl and Calvin, two way out of their depth friends, as they grapple with the fallout of an unfortunate accident. Meanwhile a vengeful (and absolutely terrifying) Dwayne forces them into a fight for their lives.
The book was published in 2018 and I've read some of his other books including Where All Light Tends to Go and When These Mountains Burn. But I think this one is my favorite of his so far.
II.
As a part of Troop 104 of the old Mount Rainier Council, I was a Cub and then Boy Scout. I probably spent a hundred nights at campsites around the Puget Sound.
As a mid-twenty something, I fell in with a group of friends who did frequent trips into the Olympics: Hurricane Ridge, Humptulips, the Hoh Rainforest, and the countless sites within the National Park.
But at some point I fell out of love with sleeping on rocks stabbing me through my slowly deflating mattress and discount sleeping bag.
In the Gulf, camping is extremely popular. It is one of the favorite hobbies of Emirati people. I reckon it's a cultural holdover from their Bedouin past. Many of my fellow westerners have also become fans of desert camping, but I have always scoffed at the idea.
Afterall, I'm a PNW traditionalist.
Camping for me has always been an occasion when I spend most of the time dodging the rain and setting up a network of blue tarps trying to keep our possessions dry. This is followed by sipping beverages while you sit around the fire that took you twenty minutes to get started with the damp wood you brought. I'm laughing as I write that because it sounds miserable, but I loved it.
Long story longer, this weekend I gave in and went with some friends for desert camping in a place called Al Quaa. It's about two hours into the desert and billed as the darkest place in the UAE.
There are no fixed campsites as you're accustomed to if you camp in the US. People just drive out this road and then set up their camping circles in the dunes.
It was absolutely gorgeous.
And as night fell I realized why the place is also called the Milky Way Spot. The view of the stars, in the absence of light pollution, was breathtaking. Jupiter shined brightest directly overhead. Behind us set a low crescent moon with Venus glowing above it. I whipped out my Google Sky Map and passed my phone around to people in our circle and we stargazed and explored the constellations.
If you're reading this and you're in the Gulf and you want to go camping before the temperatures turn the wrong way, holler at your boy. I am a convert.
III.
Lastly, I sense that many people are craving a bit of escape right now. While that's understandable, it carries risk. We need to stay engaged with what’s happening in the world, but we can’t let it consume all of our attention.
Recently, someone on Bluesky asked about my media habits and recommendations, so I thought I’d share my thoughts here as well. I feel like I’ve struck a good balance—staying informed without slipping into endless doom scrolling.
A newsletter reader, KN, said earlier this week that with the death of newspapers we've lost the curatorial function that editors serve. There's a finite amount of information that can fit into a newspaper and that forced editors to triage what went into each daily edition. Social media however delivers an endless smorgasbord, if you let it. There have been times where I desired that endless scroll. This ain’t one of them.
To stay informed on US news, particularly foreign affairs, I’m a dedicated reader of the GZero newsletter by Ian Bremmer and the Eurasia Group. The term Gzero describes the world we’re entering—post US dominance—where no nation or bloc has the power to solely shape global policy. Their writing is measured, aligning with the realist tradition of the foreign policy establishment. They publish several newsletters a week, each with a distinct focus, and I’ve never felt that reading one was a waste of time.
With tech bro oligarchs ascending to the highest levels of American governance, staying informed about digital privacy and data security is more important than ever—especially the developments happening beneath the headlines. 404 Media, founded by former Vice Motherboard journalists after Vice’s collapse, is increasingly a go-to source for me. They publish a sharp newsletter and host a witty weekly podcast that offers a big-picture view of pressing issues in technology.
The third pillar of my hard news diet is Axios’ Seattle newsletter, spearheaded by multiple time Nerd Farmer Podcast guest, Melissa Santos. For my money Santos is one of the finest reporters in the biz. She does remarkable accountability journalism and reporting on local government. Although the newsletter primarily covers the Seattle beat, it also offers coverage of events further south, particularly in the area of oversight of law enforcement and local government.
In essence I've reassembled my own newspaper catered to my proclivities: national & international affairs, tech & business, and local news.
The world isn’t getting any less chaotic, and the firehose of information isn’t slowing. But I refuse to let the churn of news turn me into a doomsday obsessive. If any of this helps you do the same, then great. If not, well, at least you got some decent recs.
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Coming up on the podcast Monday, I’m joined by Geography and Indigenous studies professor Zoltan Grossman from the Evergreen State College. I’ve known Zoltan for nearly 20 years, yet somehow, this was his first time on the show—an oversight I won’t repeat. I brought him on to discuss the administration’s fresh imperial ambitions, particularly around Greenland and the Panama Canal, and ended up getting a masterclass on both. Zoltan is a gem, and I can’t wait to have him back. If you’ve never tuned in before, this is the episode to start with.
As always, if you have any thoughts or feedback about the newsletter, I welcome it, and I really appreciate it when folks share the newsletter with their friends.