Top Reads, Listens, Follows & Takeaways of the week
Dignity
Takeaways:
My favorite writer right now is Chris Arnade. He’s a former Goldman Sachs trader, has a PhD in Particle Physics, and wrote Dignity: Seeking Respect in Backrow America in 2019 (I highly recommend). During his time as a trader he started walking throughout NYC, interested in observing the places people warn you not to go. Hunts Point in the Bronx, NY was the first “bad” area he started spending a lot of time in, where he eventually formed meaningful relationships with many residents. Through his subsequent travels on foot in similar areas he developed simple framework of America that is powerful and explains a lot of the tension that has emerged around politics in recent years, coming to a peak during the ‘20 election and COVID.
Chris describes America as having a front row and a back row. In general terms, the members of the front row are inclined towards educational achievement, resumes, financial pursuits, science, data, political correctness, and geographic flexibility. The members of the back row are inclined to prioritize family, hometown (place), faith, religion, and tradition. These distinctions drive significant cultural divisions that have been exacerbated over time and can be observed throughout America.
Often I think that the front and back rows have no understanding of one another, and likely never will unless they luckily or intentionally break outside of their respective tracks. As a kid I thought that the people of New Milford, CT and Noble Avenue in the Bronx, where I split my time growing up, occupied different planets. Chris does a great job bridging this gap through his Substack and in his book. Often people from the front row share high-brow opinions about how to “fix” the left behind areas of America and the people that occupy those areas while never having spent a minute there. Chris walks the walk, literally, and has a real perspective. Check him out.
Reads:
The Demise of Silicon Valley Bank (here) and a great thread about it (here)
Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S. (here)
Chris Arnade on America's homelessness and loneliness (here)
Michael Green on on the feedback loops of human innovation (here)
The NCAA Needs to Fix Its Own Athlete-Compensation Problems (here)
Listens:
How I Built This: Politico & Axios, Jim VandeHei (here)
USNA alum & Marine Phillip Jones on becoming the youngest Mayor in Virginia history (here)
Meb Faber advocating for foreign equity and trend following exposure (here)
Follow, Watch & Other great content:
Chris Arnade Walks the World Substack (here)
Bridgewater co-CIO Karen Karniol-Tambour on the “Next Big Risk” (here)
How Venture Capital is Inflating Valuations w/ Josh Wolfe and Mike Green (here)