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Americans hate institutions.

Or more accurately, large numbers of them distrust institutions and that distrust is growing. That’s the clearest finding I see across the board explaining how Americans act, vote, and think. They distrust scientists. They think politicians aren’t trustworthy. They don’t believe the government helps them. The economy is bad. And their faith in the media or journalism is in the toilet.

I’m not saying I agree with any of their assessments. I’m also not saying that the distrust is always valid, or the criticisms are always aimed at the right place. I’m just saying that if you wanted to describe the current condition of living in the United States at this moment, it’s that almost everyone distrusts something, or is mad at the way it does things, or is chafing against its authority. And they feel like yelling. Which is fair, because I feel like yelling too! But for different reasons.

In the 2024 election, Democrats became the party that defended institutions. This was the wrong position to be in politically, even if you could make a case that many institutions were worth defending. It just wasn’t what most people wanted. Voters either checked out and weren’t interested in jumping on board with protecting the status quo, which was sometimes a knee-jerk oppositional reaction rather than a considered position, or they wanted to burn it all down.

Right now, however you voted or whatever you do, you’re watching the burn-it-all-down phase. And honestly, I don’t know what to do or say about much of it. Maybe people need to see what its like to lose some of these institutions before they realize their true value. We are definitely at a crossroads.

Either way, I want to make a case for stepping away, even as someone who reports and makes news. There is so much of it, a firehose of information coming at us and knocking us off our feet. The vast majority of people don’t pay attention to everything that happens, which is not great. While I think it’s important to stay informed and it’s our duty as citizens, we also need to keep our footing. To see whether all of that information is actually informing us or if it’s instead destabilizing us. Burning yourself out with bad news isn’t going to serve anyone. There are calmer, more considered ways to stay informed than being pelted with a constantly updating newsfeed like what we find on social media, or following the shiny new news dangled in front of us every second. I think daily news is important and it’s critical that it perform its function of documenting everything that happens. But we don’t need to consume it every second of every day. My advice is to take an hour each morning or each night and decide what it is that you need to know about. If it’s helpful, keep a journal about it. Then step away, drink your coffee or your cocktail, water your plants, cuddle your animals, watch some snow or rain fall, make your bed, do your laundry, whatever it is that returns you to normalcy. Your brain will work it out and you’ll emerge someone who is ready for the next phase, whatever that is.

What I’ve Been Listening To

I’m always suspicious of podcasts about the South, especially since a certain very popular podcast that I hated came out a few years ago now. (I won’t name it.) But I have been very happily surprised in listening to the extremely excellent podcast Gone South, which is about some unsolved crimes in the South and what they say about society there. It’s fantastic. Each season feels like an excellent nonfiction book.

What I’ve Been Reading

In the winter I like to read romance, and the Talia Hibbert Brown sisters books were as fun and sweet as I expected them to be. They were always so popular that I’ve had trouble getting them from the library wherever I live, so I finally bought the first two from my favorite romance bookstore, Tropes and Trifles. You can buy online from them, too, no matter where you live.

I carried Olive Kitteridge around for years, for some reason hesitant to read it. When I finally opened I took my time getting into it. But then I reached a point after which I couldn’t put it down, and when I finished the first book I was sad to see Olive go. I finally bought the sequel, Olive, Again, from Thrift Books and I’ve just finished it. It broke my heart, in a good way.

In other good book news, Bookshop.org is selling ebooks now, which allows you to purchase books through them from either local, independent bookstores or from the site, which benefits bookstores, to read on Bookshop’s phone or tablet app. They’re not compatible with several popular readers, however; maybe in a different world we’d get an antitrust case to change that.

Newsletters to read

I’ve been thinking a lot about home, and my house, and what it means to be able to finally decorate a place I own however I want to. It brings me immense joy and is how I spend most of my free time. It’s felt inconsiderate to write about it lately, however, with the wildfires in Los Angeles destroying homes for so many. On that score, please read Abby Aguirre, a California native who recently moved from the area, who has a great Substack called The Taos Post. Read her on the L.A. fires and Octavia Butler.

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