Strong guys, tall guys, strong tall guys, and a cartoon clown
It would make a great basketball team, really. Entertaining at least.
THANKS!
Before anything else, I want to thank everyone who helped out during the just-concluded Max Fun Drive. I was hesitant to even set a goal for number of people joining or boosting or upgrading their memberships since I know that audio programming is in some degree of crisis these days. NPR laid off 10% of its staff, other media companies are laying people off, and there are plenty of people whispering that podcasting is dead (which it ain’t). So I thought people might be hesitant. I finally went with a goal of 500 people and in the end, as I just found out this morning, we finished with 591.
I was in public radio for nearly 20 years (and arguably kind of still am) and I did a lot of member drives over those years. The clearest and most compelling argument I heard and used during that time was, “Pay for what you use.” You enjoy a thing, the thing costs money to make, help pay for the thing you enjoy so that you can enjoy it and other people can enjoy it too. So it doesn’t disappear. I’d much rather point out that logical argument than anything else. And this year, 591 number of people responded to that and provided some much needed support for the show and what we’re doing. Thank you.
Chris Powell on the pod
I admit in this week’s podcast episode that my comfort zone is much more suited to poets than to personal trainers. More accommodating of singer-songwriters than reality television stars. More naturally inclined toward a comedian than, well, a personal trainer who is also a reality television star. But this week I bust out of that mold and interview Chris Powell.
Chris was the host of Extreme Weight Loss on ABC for five seasons, where he helped people who were trying to lose 200 or more pounds. His approach on that show was high energy and pretty positive. But people are complex and Chris’s full story has a lot more in it that what he showed on TV.
So in this episode, we cover, and let’s use bullet points:
His paralyzing experiences with anxiety as a young person from a good and stable home.
His fear of flying airplanes, which really got in the way of his career as a flight instructor.
His substance use disorder where he was addicted to painkillers and experienced a degree of homelessness for a while.
A huge flare up of depression and anxiety during and following the collapse of his marriage.
The positive transformational power of antidepressant medication, which helped him a lot and which he no longer uses.
Chris has now used his personal trainer / fitness expert skills to establish new routines and practices to keep his mental health in good shape and he shares some very practical advice that you might find helpful.
Fetterman interview on CBS Sunday Morning
A really strong story/interview with Senator John Fetterman. It’s conducted by Jane Pauley, who really was one of the first celebrities to come forth about her own major depressive disorder and has been outspoken about it for years.
I’ve been feeling for a while that I should write more about John Fetterman but it just all seems so freaking obvious.
“But he just won a Senate seat, how could he be depressed?” Because depression doesn’t care about your achievements or money or grades or anything. Because it’s an illness.
“Should he really be serving in the Senate if he has a mental illness?” Dude, if we disqualified all the depressed people from holding important jobs, society would collapse. We are everywhere.
“But doesn’t this make him weak?” Counterpoint: shut up. The fact that he went and got treatment and was public about it in an effort to help others means he’s actually really freaking strong.
I’m glad Andre Drummond is here
I follow NBA basketball really closely. Pining for the return of my beloved Seattle SuperSonics, yes, but also following the league as it is now. I’m aware of the race for the playoffs, I know when many of the key players are injured or simply weary, and I had no idea that Andre Drummond of the Chicago Bulls had missed a game due to mental health concerns.
“We’re known to be the masculine ones. Nothing bothers us. We have to be the protector, the provider, the one that does everything. I think over the past couple years guys have been expressing it’s OK to shed light on mental traumas and the things we go through,” he said. “It’s OK to share with other people because other people have the same type of journey that we’re going down too. It’s OK to bring them along to let everybody know that they’re not alone.”
Drummond answered “definitely” when asked if being around his teammates and coaches and playing basketball has served as a haven for him.
“Being around people who care about me has been really beneficial for me,” he said. “Obviously, being around my teammates have been a great help for me too. It’s great to be back and to play the game of basketball. I’m grateful to be here.”
There are three bits of good news here, two of them a little subtle.
First, obviously, that Drummond took that necessary time for his health and that he is open in talking about it.
Second, that it was just one game. He didn’t wait until he had a full collapse and had to be sidelined for a much longer period of time.
And finally, that I didn’t know about this. It’s become so routine for athletes to be open about mental health, to take time to tend to their minds the way they would to their bodies. It’s become much more normalized. And while I love that there’s an article about this, I look forward to it being routine enough to not even warrant much of a mention.