Eric Wenninger

YouTube video by NPR Music 31 Minutos: Tiny Desk Concert

This is like the best thing right now. If you don’t know about 31 minutos, it’s about time you check it out.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...

I’ve always marveled at this.

Eric Wenninger (@ericwenninger) In his book Improbable Mentors & Happy Tangents, Michael Perry writes about author Jim Harrison, a mentor he’s never met. Harisson helped Perry find his voice—to not make his writing sing but rather l...

substack.com/@ericwenning...

Holy Equation

This line from Anna Tivel’s song, “Holy Equation,” is a searingly acute commentary on where we are at right now:

“Good luck to the lucky few and God bless the rest of us fools.”

open.spotify.com/track/4MIA8S...

21 Ways People Are Using A.I. at Work Yes, it still makes plenty of mistakes, but it has become part of the job for many.

21 Ways People Are Using AI at Work. A high school music teacher used the prompt “make it more Gen X” for helping her write rejection letters that were direct and “thoughtful, but didn’t sound like Mr. Rogers on molly”. 😂 [nytimes.com]

James Gleick on How Our Cultural Fascination with Time Travel Illuminates Memory, the Nature of Time, and the Central Mystery of Human Consciousness “Every moment alters what came before. We reach across layers of time for the memories of our memories.”

I was introduced to James Gleick’s book Time Travel via this article from The Marginalian. I was finally able to check it out and it’s been a fascinating read so far.

www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/27/j...

Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.

The MAGA movement is focused on touting only the exceptional parts of our past “because having to look too closely at the disturbing parts of American history would mean having to look closely at the disturbing parts of themselves,” Clint Smith argues:

Simple Syrup Including third options, if it were easy, past victories, the asshole in your head, and uncut wood

When things seem difficult, add a little simple syrup. Check out the latest from An Uncommon Commute.
#anxiety #depression #wisdom #taoism #jung #music

open.substack.com/pub/ericwenn...

PBS accounts for nearly half of first graders’ most frequently watched educational TV and video programs PBS KIDS produces popular age-appropriate programs. It also has a website and multiple apps with games and activities.

Where first graders watch educational media, before the impact of eliminating federal funds:
* PBS - 45%
* Nickelodeon - 14%
* YouTube - 9%
(from a 2025 study by child development researchers)

Silence, Solitude, and the Art of Surrender: Pico Iyer on Finding the World in a Benedictine Monastery “Such a simple revolution: Yesterday I thought myself at the center of the world. Now the world seems to sit at the center of me.”

Silence, solitude, and the art of surrender – Pico Iyer on finding the world in a Benedictine monastery www.themarginalian.org/2025/06/12/p...

Dicing an Onion, the Mathematically Optimal Way There is more than one way to dice an onion…

Can’t say enough about The Pudding. These people amaze me. If you like math, funny fonts, and the creative process that is cutting an onion, you’ll love this:

pudding.cool/2025/08/onio...

#onions #cooking #math

I love the simple and profound bits of wisdom sprinkled throughout Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea—like this one:

“Have you never thought how danger must surround power as shadow does light?”

#light #shadow #power

From Ursula K. Le Guin’s version of the Tao Te Ching:

“What works reliably is to know the raw silk, hold the uncut wood. Need little, want less. Forget the rules. Be untroubled.”

#wisdom #education #literature

If you’re consumed with the virtual, maybe it’s time to dissolve back into the real.
#technology #art #nature #evolution

ericwenninger.com/dissolve-int...

We All Become Crabs Also, discover mode, outdoor kids, what makes us human, and paper

Are you becoming more like a crab? Read the latest from An Uncommon Commute to find out:
#technology #education #music

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Eric Wenninger (@ericwenninger) Last June my wife and I camped at Newport State Park in Door County. It’s Wisconsin’s only internationally certified dark sky park. A good place to go to find space outside of you.

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Will Euskara survive?

“I say yes, because I’m an optimist,” Errekatxo said. “Basque has its ups and downs, it evolves forward and backward, like life itself.”

The mysterious origins of Europe’s oldest language When Gen Francisco Franco banned the use of the ancient Euskara language, residents of the Basque Country fought to keep it alive.

Wish I knew Euskara.
#language

www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...

Blind Spots Also, paired, teaching hard history, reconciliation, and proximity to difference

Check out the latest from An Uncommon Commute: Blind Spots
#music #history #education

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It’s Never Too Late…

ericwenninger.com/its-never-to...

Alan Sparhawk on not being broken…

ericwenninger.com/not-broken/

Are humans destined to evolve into crabs? | Aeon Essays ‘Everything becomes crab’ is more than an absurd meme. The crab is a deep symbol of our devil’s bargain with technology

Fascinating article on a lot of levels.

aeon.co/essays/are-h...

YouTube video by BruceSpringsteenVEVO Bruce Springsteen - Blind Spot (Official Lyric Video)

I’m loving this song from Bruce’s Tracks II: The Lost Albums

m.youtube.com/watch?v=55xR...

Things as They Are Also, first steps, the seeds you sow, the flowers you plant, and paying it forward

Check out the latest from An Uncommon Commute: Things as They Are
#gardens #news #uruguay #community #fear #anxiety #summer #ocean

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Defensa de la alegría - por Mario Benedetti

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve6-...

Incredible.

Right on @annkpowers.bsky.social

It Comes in Waves Also, a TED interview on creativity and loss, a refuge in grief, the shadow elephant, and "Not Broken"

Check out the latest from An Uncommon Commute: It Comes in Waves
#grief #life #death #loss #music #books #support #water #art

open.substack.com/pub/ericwenn...

Grief, "It Comes in Waves" - Here's how you can respond:
#grief #loss #love #death #life

ericwenninger.com/it-comes-in-...

YouTube video by Great Art Explained The Great Wave by Hokusai: Great Art Explained

Wonderfully insightful:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=IBcB...