The Times Story

I sat and read over this piece from the NYT....'Where Southerners Go to Fill their Tank and Feed the Family'.

I paused for about 10 minutes thinking over this. 

There's typically about three reasons why I don't read the NYT much.  One of those is that you get the feeling....they've NEVER left NYC itself in their life.  Another is that they write about something....trying to suggest they know something, when they don't. The third reason is that most of their 1,000 word stories....probably could be told in 300 words.  Meaning?  They try to say they can write like Hemmingway or Steinbeck....failing.

In my youth, my dad would organize a trip or two yearly (probably 20 of them really), and you left awful early.....then you'd stop at some gas station or grocery operations....buying a loaf of white bread, a fair amount of baloney, some soda, and maybe a couple of bananas.  

In the 1970s...in the south, there were still gas stations that were offering deli-like services.  I will admit throughout the 1980s and 1990s....that kinda went away.  Presently, with the Buc-ees....it's returning.

Just a southern thing like they suggest?  Well....you can go into parts of Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska and Wisconsin, and find this tank-pizza shop-deli situation.   I would imagine in the urbanized areas of Alaska....it exists as well.

In some ways, I feel for the NYT's reporter.  They ought to be forced into a truck and told to spend six weeks a year....touring the nation and getting orientated to reality.

As for those who haven't had the experience of tanking up and eating on the run....maybe the summer of 2024 is a great time to rediscover the heartland...go spend ten days on the road and live like it was 1975 again.  

My Trend Story

 I sat gazing over this chart from yesterday.  What the data shows....of college graduates....not high-school level...that some trend is showing a high level of undergraduates having a diagnosis of 'some' type of mental illness.

It didn't break it down into men versus women.  It didn't say people with electrical engineering degrees versus people with journalism degrees.  It didn't say undergraduates from Portland versus Little Rock.

So yeah, it's just a half-ass study, as far as I'm concerned.

What does bother me...the trend continues upward...meaning that depression-wise, it'll pass the 25-percent point by the end of 2024.  Panic or anxiety?  That will pass 30-percent point by the end of this year.

In both cases....what do you do as a time-limited mental health consultant?  You prescribe happy-pills.

Marvin, in his first year of college....on happy-pills, and working on a teaching degree....probably is going to be blitzed about six hours a day, and graduate from college in four years....being less intelligent  than he was in high school.

Judy?  In her second year of college, will seek help for panic attacks, getting Benzodiazepines.  She'll develop memory loss in the 3rd year of college, and fall asleep in half of the morning classes.  She'll marginally graduate and end up at some school....barely teaching  kids and making $40,000 a year.

All of this brings me to the idea....maybe we were always mentally screwed-up, and prior to 2000....we just sipped through a case of beer each weekend and accepted the fact that life was rather rough.  

I end this discussion with this odd feeling.  If the trend holds....somewhere around 2075 (I will have passed on)....the vast majority of undergraduates will be royally fu**ed-up, and unable to function in a valued way. Other than being a Uber-driver, hauling hay, or being a dim-witted Senator....there's no hope for your work-future.  

Relationships Story

 Yesterday, I watched a podcast, and the main focus was economics/finance...but the guy got onto the topic of dating, and if you should develop a relationship with a heavily-in-debt person.  

Generally, the question is....if you were around age 25-to-30....having met up with a gal graduate of some college and working, would it be a no-go situation if you figured out her debt is $80,000 (and it's not a house debt)?

Today versus 1980s? That's really the discussion.  

I might have had two or three filters in the 1980s for dating.  In the 2024 era....if I were 25....there's going to be twenty-odd filters.

Yeah, I'm likely crossing off some gal with a college debt of $50,000 or more. 

Yeah, I'm likely crossing off the extreme view of reality gal.

Yeah, I'm crossing off someone who bought a $75,000 new car last year, and has a 8-year payment plan.

Yeah, I'm crossing off the gal who spends four hours a day on social media.

This brings me the consequence....where there might be twenty-million men and women in America today who are ill-prepared for any relationship. They'd be better off to say....'hook-ups' are the way to go and just prepare never to have long-term relationships.

More guys than women on this path?  Yeah, it might be that way....but no one is collecting this type of data to tell a story.