I wasn't sure how best to title this post. I would say it's a collection of articles but that doesn't quite do justice to the diversity in the list.
Before university the majority of my reading was books, supplemented by articles and blog posts. Since University started however I have had no time or perhaps more accurately no energy to read anything outside of my course material except articles and blogs that don't take too much of my time. Having read literally hundreds and hundreds of articles this year I have decided to make a list of the articles I have enjoyed the most and the reasons they have ended up on my list.
1. David Spiegelhalter: "I’ve been meeting with the same group of men for 36 years – here’s what they’ve taught me"
The first on my list was a surprising one, and a enjoyable read. Having come across David Spiegelhalter as a respected statistician during Covid, an article about mens mental and social health was not on my radar but I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the title suggests, Spiegelhalter describes his experience, a notably unique one, of being a part of a "mens group", a self-help group that met fortnightly whose aim was, in the words of one of the participants, "of becoming a man I was proud of".
A number of things endeared me to the article: firstly, the nature of the group as supportive rather than against feminism, secondly, the commitment the group has shown in lasting this long, and thirdly, perhaps most importantly, how much I wish I was a part of a group like this. In fact not long after reading this article I researched mens groups in the UK and in my local area to see if I could find something similar.
Reflecting on this article I cannot think of anything that would be more beneficial to men today than groups such as these that seek to help men be better men, not by indulging their grudges against women but by examining themselves, and having compassionate ears listen to the real challenges and calamities of their lives. I cannot think of a better cure for both the challenges that men face today and the woeful celebrity gurus who claim to be able to help them.
A final thought about the article is the fact that a lot of the groups attention and a lot of the articles seemed to focus on the men's challenges of being parents, especially single parents. This is, I think, one of the most important functions a mens group could serve for society today. For women, there are countless influencers, facebook groups, mummy blogs, youtubers etc, whole hosts of communities for women to get advice, share stories and altogether share the burden and responsibility of being a parent. Whilst I am sure there are some such groups and individuals for men I know that they are few and far between, and the majority of dads go through the challenges of parenting without them, to their shame.
2. Taylor O'Higgins: "10 Days In Havana"
10 Days In Havana — THE FIGHT SITE (thefight-site.com)
If anything, I hope these articles show my eclectic taste and interests! This article encapsulates so much of what I love about sports and especially the sport of boxing. The article/blog post is written by Taylor O'Higgins, a young amateur boxer/coach/analyst who writes for The Fight Site, and who happens to be roughly the same age as me, and who writ s beautifully about time spent in Cuba, perhaps the most formidable boxing environment (especially Amateur) anywhere on the planet.
For the uninitiated there is an important elephant in the room that follows the article: Cuba is a socialist state that does not allow for professional boxing, as well as curtailing the freedoms of its inhabitants quite severely. Thus any standout amateur wishing to prove themselves in the professional ranks must defect from Cuba, often leaving family and friends behind. Such is or was the case for one of the main subjects of the article, Andy Cruz, who at the time of writing is banned from boxing due to his failed attempts to defect, despite being one of the best amateur boxers in the world and one of the greatest of all time.
O'Higgins brilliance comes out especially when he is discussing boxing. His ability to break down a fighters strengths and weaknesses, describe a sparring session and analyse a fighters nuisances, alongside his sheer depth of knowledge of amateur boxing make him one of my go to people to understand boxing. Yet outside of the pure boxing is the sense of Cuba and its people that comes out in the short time he is there. The hospitality, the poverty, the sense of missed opportunity and the sense of defiance and pride in Cuba, all critical ingredients for it's people and its boxing team
A particularly favourite part comes when O'Higgins has the chance to show Andy Cruz his Olympic gold medal bout against Keyshawn Davis from the Tokyo Olmypics:
" I ask him about Tokyo as well as his rivalry with Keyshawn Davis, but Andy quickly corrects me. ‘There is no rivalry campeón. I beat him four times.’ He pretends to rock a baby in his arms and says that Davis is his son, which draws laughter from the table. ‘They were great fights. I rewatch the Olympic final pretty often’ I tell him. Andy’s playful expression turns serious all of a sudden. ‘Do you have it on your phone?’ he asks, and I load the fight up from my YouTube channel to show him. ‘I haven’t watched this back before. There is no way to see it in Cuba.’ His eyes are glued to the screen like a captivated child, pausing the video every now and then to play a particular sequence back, and when the decision is announced Andy lets out a smile as the elation of winning gold comes flooding back to him. ‘Thank you, hermano. Muy appreciado.’ "
3. Joshua Rothman: "Are you the same person you used to be?"
It is perhaps solipsistic of me to admit, but some of my favourite articles are a detailed exploration of questions or topics I have also thought long about, and this is definitely one of those. Recently I've been especially interested in the concept of change, and whether people really can change, which dovetails nicely with this article.
Rothman, surveying some of the literature on the topic seeks to know whether we should treat our self as a continuous entity, or a series of entities, i.e. whether we can say we are the same person at 6 as at 16 and 46 and 86, or whether those people at those ages are as or almost as distinct from one another as another person is from us. Some of us Rothman suggests, are continuers, those who feel broadly the same person as they were as a child, and others are dividers, those who feel that their past self is more of a stranger. However, as Rothman goes on to say, it is not a simple binary: He gives an example of his friend Tim who is constantly changing his life in drastic ways; residence, appearance, occupation etc., yet this constant changing is just that: constant. In a way then, constantly changing is what makes Tim, Tim, and is a sign of his continuing personality.
For myself, I think I am more of a continuer, with memories of childhood still seared in my brain as me. The things I loved growing up: playing games, reading books, playing sports, are still things I love today, and things that people who know me remember. I tend to get very loud when I get excited, which I've been told all my life. It is certainly true that I am different than I was as a child but only in scale or extent, not so much in categories. For example I am very interested in politics now, whereas growing up or as a teenager I was not at all interested in politics. Yet I don't see this as a change but growth. I was also interested in history, I have always cared about justice and fairness, and I was very interested in the civil rights movement growing up, thus an interest in politics to me seemed to organically spring from this disposition.
Yet even I can recognise a disconnection between my past self and my current self, habits and behaviours, perspectives and opinions that are quite different, and priorities that might surprise my younger self. All of us I think are some mix of both, with some people probably more of one than another. I would hypothesise that those who have had a more varied life, living in different places, married to multiple people, different occupations etc. probably feel they have changed more than someone who has lived a relatively repetitive if not predictable life.
Overall I think the article has made me question how much I perceive my life as a narrative, and how much this might obscure the changes I have gone through. I read one of my books from primary school recently and I had no memory of the stories or things I had written and couldn't remember my grammar being so bad. Of course I had learnt grammar but my current self cannot remember this and so I felt a distinct split between me now and me then, despite the similarities that persist. But we all, or some of us especially, tell ourselves a story of our lives that make the disparate chapters part of a complete whole, and constantly revise that story as the circumstances and thus story of our lives changes.
5. Jonathan Liew: The Sydney Project: how elite athletics traps McLaughlin but also sets her free
Sydney McLaughlin's 400m hurdles run at the 2022 World Athletics Championships might be the greatest athletic feat I have ever seen. The idea of running the 400m first of all is borderline sadistic. To do so in 50.68 seconds is remarkable. To do so while jumping over ten evenly spaced hurdles is incomprehensible. The fact that 13 months prior to this run, the record was 52.16 makes this one of the most astonishing world records in athletic history, along with the astonishing fact that she would have come 7th in the 400m race at the very same championships. All this at 22 years old.
It is interesting that for myself, and clearly Jonathan Liew, what immediately followed immense admiration and jealousy for her achievements quickly became a source of worry and borderline pity: imagine achieving what may be your career if not life goal at 23 years old: how does one handle such monumental success so early?
This article is much shorter and of a very different style but earns its entry due to one line/paragraph that has seared itself into my memory since reading it:
"The thing that traps you also sets you free. The thing that sets you free also traps you. The path that led Sydney to the start line at Eugene was not entirely of her choosing. Her talent she owes to God. Her athletic genes she owes to her parents. Her technique and consistency she owes to her coaches. Her career and mission she owes to all of them. This is what she wants. This is what makes her happy. But she knows too that she is a project, a plan, a figment of the ambition of others. So she runs. She runs faster and more perfectly than anyone who has ever run before her."
6. Jeffrey Rouff- Between not wanting to live and not wanting to die
The Mystery and Agony of Chronic Depression - The Atlantic
I found this article to be deeply profound, moving, and very relatable. Though I would never say I have had suicidal thoughts, and no intentions of acting on suicidal thoughts, I have had thoughts that I wished I was not alive, or no longer alive, or wishing, as many of us do, that life could simply slow down or be paused. This article expressed so many things I have not always found the words or the emotions for, and I found myself smiling at the uncanny details that I related to.
There are so many lines that I related to or touched me but here are a few:
When well, I could barely imagine being depressed, and when depressed, I couldn’t remember ever feeling well.
Between not wanting to live and not wanting to die, there is a tiny platform, just big enough to stand on. But it’s like standing on burning coals.
A perfectionist, I was appalled by my failure to get healthy.
As with childbirth, chronic depression can only be experienced, not explained. Dante’s description of the “dark wood” grazes it: “It is so bitter death is scarcely more.” Scarcely more, but more.
Mental illness robbed me of years of my life and conferred no particular wisdom or virtue.
I do not have chronic depression and I have never even once seriously contemplated suicide but I relate to the feeling of life as an anchor that exerts a serious drag. I also appreciate the honest reflection that mental illness 'conferred no particular wisdom or virtue'. It is sometimes considered important by those going through a hard time and to those who are not that there be some reason, some salvageable silver lining or pithy motivational quote, but for someone suffering and knowing they are unable to live their life to the fullest I cannot think of a worse retort.
I am grateful for the honesty of people like Jeff and the amazing courage they have to try to live when living itself feels much more of a burden than a blessing.
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