Wealthy Women, Dangerous Meditation, and Young People Getting Better
Also: screaming goat and Mountain Goat
Okay, so we did THAT. And THANKS.
Happy to report that the 2024 Max Fun Drive is now in the books and I sincerely thank you for your patience, your support, and your recognition that making things costs money. We had a great drive with tremendous support for both Depresh Mode and Sleeping with Celebrities. I hope that you feel as great as I do about this community coming together and I hope you enjoy any thank you gifts you receive. And you can always join Max Fun and support the shows even outside the drive, you just won’t get those gifts.
Leah Rudick, aka Wealthy Woman, on Depresh Mode
Leah Rudick has become very famous in a way that just wasn’t done a few years ago. She’s TikTok famous, she’s Instagram famous, and that has led to her being in-corporeal-form famous in standup venues all over the place. This week, she’s Depresh Mode famous as my guest on the show.
Leah is probably best known for a character she created for the onlines called Wealthy Woman, a lady of means who issues breathless reports on the wonders of pedestrian experiences like going to Ikea or camping or dining at Applebee’s.
Leah’s got like a zillion followers and it all started as a way to keep her comedy career alive during the pandemic. She’s also a person with anxiety, which Leah has dealt with from a very young age. She talks about that journey on our show as well as her tendency to be a people pleaser. It’s been an obstacle on her first big tour as a headliner where she’s been reluctant to tell her opening performers how long of a set they should do despite them repeatedly asking her.
Meditation is good for your mental health but sometimes IT REALLY VERY MUCH IS NOT
NPR has a story about some research done by a new podcast about the effects of intense meditation retreats where the result is far from a state of perfect serenity.
Psychosis is really common. So [are] hallucinations, physical pain, like electrical zaps going up and down their bodies. In the first episode, [one young woman] describes it as being like stuck in a torture chamber for her mind.
The big one is terror, abject terror. I had one person email me this week saying, 'Thank you for making this podcast because I thought I was alone.' And he said that he would rather saw his own arm off than go back to that mental headspace.
The problem, according to one person they talked to, is that meditation can act as a kind of stimulant or accelerant, like having a ton of coffee, where it amps up where you may already be headed. So if you’re on a good path, it’s good, and if you’re heading down a bad road, well, you get there sooner and more disastrously.
I searched for videos on “screaming meditation” but I got this one on screaming goats instead and I love these goats and they are my friends.
HEY LOOK SOME GOOD NEWS ON TEENAGERS’ MENTAL HEALTH
At least in Washington state, where plenty of young people are still in rough shape but things are better than they’ve been before.
Suicidal thoughts among 10th graders in Washington are at the lowest rate in 20 years, according to a new survey from the state Department of Health. The same survey also found that while mental health among youth in the state is improving, 30% of 10th graders are experiencing persistent depressive feelings and six in 10 report feeling anxious or nervous.
And yeah, 30%, not great, but still at the lowest it’s been since 2002. The research was done in conjunction with the state Department of Health, which cites overall societal improvement on the issue of mental health.
“Overall, we are encouraged by these results after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” shared Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, a pediatrician and Chief Science Officer at the Washington State Department of Health. “We see these as a sign that our state’s system of families, schools, communities, and programs are helping to support youth and make positive change. Adolescent health in Washington is improving in many ways but much work remains to be done. It’s up to us to keep up the momentum and keep things moving in the right direction.”
Turns out this scene in Spider-Man was not CGI and it took 156 takes
John Darnielle on Sleeping with Celebrities
The head Mountain Goat talks you to sleep about tea.
He’s best known as the leader of the popular and influential band the Mountain Goats and as a best-selling author, but John Darnielle should also be recognized for his exhaustive knowledge of tea. You know, the beverage. Tea. John details some of his favorite varieties of teas that you won’t find on the shelf at your local grocer but that you can find if you send away to this one guy on the internet. John also walks us through his process of making tea to ensure maximum flavor and temperature. Listen to John regale you with tea knowledge and lore, steep in it, as you drift off to sleep.