Chop Wood, Carry Water
Mini-Wednesday edition
The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
— Epictetus
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
I know the newsletter is technically off today, but I did just want to encourage you to keep calling your Senators about Pete Hegseth—did you see those hearings yesterday? Wow!
I also want to alert you to an event you’ll want to attend this weekend.
So first, here’s your new Hegseth call script:
Call your two U.S. Senators and say:
I’m calling to express my strong opposition to Pete Hegseth’s confirmation. He is a TV host who lacks the global diplomacy skills and depth of experience needed to lead the strongest military force on Earth. Along with that, allegations of sexual misconduct call into question his ability to keep us safe. Rubber-stamping dangerous nominees isn’t just bad policy—it’s bad politics. Your constituents are watching, and they expect you to take a stand. Thanks.
Remember: Senators’ offices are not tallying how many times YOU call. They’re just recording how many calls they get each day. So call daily!
Next please consider signing up for the below Red, Wine and Blue event with your favorite Substack author,
. You’ll feel so much better after!Keep Calm and Listen to Heather Cox Richardson: Inauguration Eve
Sunday, January 19, at 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
Emotions are running high as January 20th approaches but nobody keeps us calm like Heather Cox Richardson. She is joining us on Inauguration Eve to help put things into perspective and remind us that small groups of people can change history. Now is the time to find your people, connect locally and make a plan for the next few years – so let’s get started. We need togetherness right now, so spend Inauguration Eve with Heather and your friends at Red Wine & Blue.
OK, all. Have a good day, try to take care of yourselves, and remember, as Joyce Vance says, that “we’re all in this together!”
Talk to you tomorrow.
Jess
On Inauguration Day I WILL BE VOLUNTEERING AT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY TO HONOR PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER! I REFUSE TO OBEY IN ADVANCE
Mr. Zuckerberg:
I find your comment as reported in the Wall Street Journal very encouraging.
“I do think a lot of our society has become…kind of like, neutered, or like, emasculated.”
It is rare to find a man as powerful, and obviously in tune with his own masculinity, who would be brave enough to offer this kind of frank self-assessment. Your diagnosis is right on. You and Jeff Bezos and many American males today have been emasculated and are afraid to stand up to the bully in the school yard, even when he poses no real threat to you. You demonstrate that everyday in your craven obeisance to Donald Trump, who fears women, hates perceived weakness (remember when he didn't want to see any injured or disabled veterans), and sees any ambiguity as a threat to his "because I said so" arrogant pseudo-masculinity.
I am so glad you see the problem. The first step to becoming a true man, a mensch, is to recognize that it is difficult. You and Mr. Bezos have abandoned your commitment to equality and diversity showing the particular emasculation s that symptom that arises when you are so afraid of losing power and control, of being questioned, especially by women and people of color that you wish to remove them from your sight.
I wish you well on your road to recovery, which may be long, but be assured it is the way of the future. Real men, as you undoubtedly know, do not fear women or DEI initiatives; and I look forward to seeing you restore your efforts for equality. You probably never heard of me, but I served one of the four remaining all-male colleges in the U.S. as president for seven years and I would welcome the opportunity to work with you as a consultant on your journey. Like anyone who tries to live up to an honorable masculinity, as the gentlemen of Wabash Colleges pledge to do, you are aware that a vision of honorable masculine behavior is not easily achieved or enacted. We are all imperfect, but we are working together. Since I am retired, I will have to charge you a modest consulting fee. Let's just say you offer ten hundred men in your company and your circles paid subscriptions to Robert Hubbell's, Jennifer Rubin's, Simon Rosenberg's, Jess Craven's, and Jess Piper's Substacks. With that I would feel adequately compensated.
Reading these thinkers and their comment sections should also provide some grist for your discussions at your next MOPES (Men-On-Pause Educational Society) meeting. Give me a call. And again congratulations on showing a little bit of self-awareness. We'll get right to work on those pesky humility, courage, intellectual rigor, discipline, and respect issues, qualities that, as you recognize, you lost when you sold your manhood to Donald Trump.
Yours sincerely,
P. White