Libraries: good, student loans: bad, potato chips: good but bad
Paperbacks coming out on days associated with CB radios? VERY GOOD INDEED.
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My book is coming out in paperback on 10/4. Good buddy.
I do need to sell things. I have to. That’s how I earn a living.
When my memoir was published in 2020, I did not get to go on what was supposed to be a pretty extensive book tour. Instead, I went into the closet I was using for an office at the time. A cloffice, if you will.
IT WAS NOT AS GOOD AS GOING ON A BOOK TOUR.
The book told, among other things, about how I had landed on doing this podcast of the same name and my head was screwed on pretty good about mental health.
Of course, between writing that and the time of the publication, said head had become less screwed on and more screwed up. The company that produced that podcast had changed around me and I was miserable. Then the next month, they canceled the show and laid me off. Then they didn’t let me take the show with me to launch it elsewhere.
And now I have this book with this title that I came up with for the podcast but a title that is owned by someone else who can still make money off the archive. I am not saying anything disparaging, these are simple facts.
So now the paperback has a different show listed under my name on the cover.
LIFE IS FUNNY SOMETIMES AND IT’S LIKE FUNNY STRANGE RATHER THAN FUNNY HA HA.
I’m happier now.
Student debt is making people crazy
No really. Like literally.
A new survey of 2000 Americans says that people are not doing well from the ridiculous system of loans we have to hassle with. 54% of respondents report mental health struggles that they say are directly related to their loans.
Here’s a deeper dive into the numbers:
Anxiety (56%)
Depression (32%)
Insomnia (20%)
Panic attacks (17%)
Other mental health conditions (10%)
But wait! Didn’t Joe Biden just wipe out all student loan debt?
Close to 2% of student loan debt has forgiven by the Biden administration. It is the most relieved by any presidential administration in American history.
Congratulations, United States Americans, on being 2% less fucked!
Libraries as havens for the mentally ill
An interesting article in Slate about the varied roles of libraries and librarians in addressing people with mental health needs.
A number of libraries now employ social workers or mental health professionals to step in when needed. Others have partnered with mental health organizations to train librarians in crisis response. In 2017, staff at the San Diego Public Library completed the Mental Health First Aid course developed by the National Council on Behavioral Health. One of the staff, Joe Miesner, tapped into that training when he deescalated a situation with an distressed patron. “I just spent time listening to her,” Miesner told the American Psychological Association, “and eventually she gathered her belongings and walked away quietly.” Some librarians have even saved lives. Three weeks after being trained to administer the opioid antidote naloxone, Matt Pfisterer, a New York librarian, revived a patron who had overdosed.
In many cases, our American healthcare system is such that people with significant mental health challenges cannot get adequate treatment. Their health blocks them from getting reliable full-time employment, which blocks their ability to get insurance, which blocks their ability to manage their condition, which blocks them from getting reliable full-time employment.
So they go to the library. Fortunately, libraries are often staffed by kind, smart people who see the value of helping people.
I used to watch a man who looked like the famous woodcut of Blackbeard the Pirate ride the escalator of my three-story library up, down, up, down. For hours. Carrying a duffel bag. He never bothered anyone, so our security officers left him alone.
It’s not a good system for mental health management, of course, but God bless the libraries.
Between potato chips and apples, which do you think is better for you?
The answer may not surprise you!
The study included 428 healthy adults who filled out questionnaires about their weekly diet over the past year, including consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets such as biscuits, cakes and chocolate, and savory snacks like chips. They also answered questions about their psychological health, alcohol intake, exercise and smoking status.
Those who ate fruit more often showed reduced symptoms of depression and greater positive psychological well-being, the researchers said. More frequent snacking of potato chips and other savory snacks was associated with increased anxiety, depression, stress and reduced psychological well-being.
This is not a new field of study, either!
A 2021 study found poor mental health outcomes among people who drank sugar-sweetened drinks at least once a day. Poor mental health was not found among those who drank 100% fruit juice at least once a day.
The more recent study does have limitations, most notably that it's a cross-sectional study that uses data from a snapshot in time – and doesn't directly say fruit and vegetables, or snacks, directly affect mental well-being, Tuck said.