He Much Prefers the Mundane: hubs.life on TikTok

I'm relatively new to TikTok. One of the creators that comes across my feed is hubs.life (https://www.tiktok.com/@hubs.life), currently close to 500k followers. He's an interesting fella. He highlights his chill life as a daytime office worker. He doesn't complain about work. He's not doing Office Space material. He's actually promoting the pros of working for the man. Slowly he slides his laptop into his bag, and the lean man in nice fitting clothes drives to work in a nice car to a seemingly quiet work environment. Locked in, he does his thing until his one hour lunchtime. Sometimes he goes home for lunch to let his dog out and microwave his lunch. Then he heads back, locks in for a second time, and finishes his work day.

This dude presents as a happy man. He puts in a honest day's work, returns home, sits poolside, drinks a cold one, hangs with his dog, and spends time with family. A lot of the videos I've seen is him, alone, but it's not man against the world, it's not a view of life as nasty, brutish and short. Instead, it's the ordinary benefits or making money as a white-collar worker, and spending post-work hours exercising and enjoying one's castle. 

His easy breezy existence calls to mind a lyric from Courtney Barnett's perfect song Avant Gardener. After a too eventful not ideal day including a trip to the hospital in an ambulance, Barnett reflects "Should've stayed in bed today, I much prefer the mundane." Our friend hubs.life doesn't mind being out in the world. In fact, he embraces it, at least as we see it. He thrives in everyday life, soaking up the pleasures of a mundane existence. 

Skills for Healthy Romantic Relationships

Here's a 16 minute video your students in Psychology, Sociology, and related fields might like. The speaker is Dr. Joanne Davila, Professor of Psychology and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University (my alma mater). 

I showed this in my Sexuality & Gender course and it led to a good discussion. Dr. Davila mentions features of a healthy relationship (security, respect, good communication, feeling of being valued) and explains three skills that form the basis of what she calls "romantic competence": (1) Insight, (2) Mutuality and (3) Emotion Regulation. 

One of my favorite things that Dr. Davila says is “Mind reading is a terrible idea. It never works.” Don't expect your partner to know what you're thinking. Communicate! Mutuality is about communicating needs to each other and supporting each other. 

Dr. Davila also mentions features of unhealthy relationships: fighting so much that you can’t work things out, not being able to go to your partner for support, and contempt, criticism, hostility, violence.

John Sterling Retires

I'm a lifelong Yankees fan. I grew up watching Yankee games on WPIX, loving the banter between Phil Rizzuto and Bill White. I didn't listen to radio broadcasts until adulthood. I found radio broadcasts very comforting during my grad school years at Stony Brook University. There I was, an hour from Yankee Stadium, usually relegated to the library or my apartment studying and writing papers as a grad student in the Sociology Ph.D. program. It was then that I became familiar with the voice of John Sterling, who at that time was paired with Michael Kay. I loved their chemistry and was bummed when Kay switched to the television broadcast. But I continued to listen to the radio because Sterling was so good, and of course I enjoyed his home run calls and how he would call the end of a victory: "Thhhhhheeeeee Yankees Win!" I started listening to Sterling in my 20s and here I am in my 50s, still a huge fan. I went from listening alone to listening with my wife and kids during road trips. I'll miss his enthusiastic calls but just as much I'll miss his humor, his interactions with Suzyn Waldman, and his observations about the game. How do you explain an untimely error or a sudden slump? "That's baseball," as he liked to say. Totally agree. Sometimes you don't need a lofty or elaborate explanation. Sometimes you just express wonder about the game and appreciate what you are seeing. Sterling always conveyed his love and amazement for the game. Thank you, John.