Parenting in the era of Air Force 1s

also, so much rice

ROCK PAPER RADIO is a dispatch for misfits & unlikely optimists by your favorite hapa haole, beet-pickling, public radio nerd. It’s a weekly email newsletter and podcast that shares three curiosities every Thursday - something to hold on to (that’s the ‘rock’), something to read (that’s the ‘paper‘), and something to listen to (you guessed it, that’s the ‘radio’). Themes include but are not limited to: rebel violinists, immortal jellyfish, revolution. Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. Learn more at RockPaperRadio.com

I’m not sure how or why, but this photo exactly captures what it feels like to parent a teenager in 2022. Photo credit: Tom Roberts

SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO

Lately I’ve been hanging out a lot with little buddies. Last weekend I spent Saturday talking things over with my three-year-old nephew who informed me that the appropriate outfit to wear to a birthday party is an octopus costume (correct).

All of this kid time has me thinking a lot about parenting and how grateful I am do be doing it with a person who’s like, oh, you’re organizing a student-led, SEL-centered call with all of the boys and their parents from The Teenager’s group text because THINGS were texted that should not have been texted??? Send me the Zoom link. How does my hair look? Keri is the best.

That’s all to say, parenting is really hard and really amazing, and I never could have imagined any of this life before becoming a mom. And! It’s also really hard to be a kid! Especially since you have no idea that the adults in charge of you are absolutely making everything up as they go along. (Don’t tell The Teenager.)

It’s with these recent family-focused vibes that I loved this 11-minute story by Edgar Ruiz Jr. for The Moth: Knock Offs.

And don’t worry. This isn’t some cheeseball love letter. It’s as much an ode to Nike Air Force 1s as it is an offering to imperfect parents.

SOMETHING TO READ

Okay, I should warn you that if you have also been having great convos with toddlers lately while pining away for the days before your own kid discovered exasperation, you might want to skip over this Pigeonholes piece by transmasc parent Krys Malcolm Belc because it could break you right in half: After along day, we sat down to talk about my diminished ovarian reserve, and just then you found a lump in your breast.

I read every word looking exactly like the pleading face emoji.

Here’s the moment where the memory of the Would You Rather era of my household’s timeline swelled up and hit me like a wave:

“Did you know, he says, before asking us a question we could never know the answer to because animals are not our thing, like, collectively. We agree on this: he should just tell us the fact. What is parenting together if not a search for a few things two adults can agree on? This week we are all out of language to explain anything to each other, let alone to him, and we will not be taking questions.”

Tread carefully, parents. And make sure the tissues are close by.

SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO

Let’s hear it for the nerds who live right at the center of the math geek/visual learner Venn Diagram who make our (literally) awesome world just a little more digestible. Like Humphrey Yang, the e-commerce consultant who picked up a few bags of rice and took to TikTok to illustrate the obscenity of billionaires.

Yang uses Jeff Bezos as his example, but since Grimes’ ex-boyfriend just bought Twitter for FORTY-FOUR BILLION DOLLARS, I thought this video plus the reminder that the median household income in the U.S. is around $67,521, might be just what we need to give us a little perspective.

BuzzFeed has the story featuring Yang’s excellent work: A Man's TikTok Visualizing The Wealth Of Jeff Bezos By Using Grains Of Rice Has Gone Viral.

ALL ABOUT THOSE NICE ROUND NUMBERS

That’s a wrap on issue 80(!), friends. Thanks for reading, listening, holding on.

I can’t believe in just 20 more issues we’ll be landing at the big 100. I’m looking at our Spring RPR Subscriber Survey responses again as I dream up a little misfit celebration for us. (If you were the one who suggested an RPR tattoo party, get ready.)

Want to be part of the planning crew? Have weird ideas for ways to mark the occasion? Reach out by replying to this email, or post your RPR party fantasies in the comments below so everyone can start rallying together as the countdown begins.

See you next Thursday.

K.

You can find ROCK PAPER RADIO on Instagram and Twitter @RockPaperRadio. You can find Kristin on Instagram @leongstagram and on Twitter @kristinleong. You can find our ODD ONE IN podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your audio storytelling.

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