Summer Break is Too Long
Also, we used to organize the season around a movie release and it's a shame that we don't anymore.
Sorry, I haven’t written anything in a minute. Aside from a quick, but great, trip out west to Los Angeles I haven’t been anywhere. I’ve been here. The thing is, so have my kids, because they are out of school for the summer.
Summer break is far too long. If you look at the kids, all kids really, you can see it. They are getting bored and restless. We do out best as parents with camps and what not, but it’s not enough. Summer break is too long and there isn’t enough to do.
I’ll leave it to others to debate about what it does to students academically and there is certainly a case to be made about how it is not great for students that rely on things like school lunches. I’m here to propose a new school year calendar.
Give kids 4 weeks of summer vacation. Let’s do it from July 4th to the first Monday in August. Then, let’s give them 3 weeks of holiday vacation starting with the final Friday before Christmas and ending the first Monday after New year’s Day. Then we can have one week of fall vacation and one week of Spring Break.
Doesn’t that sound good? I think it sounds great!
One more thing about summer…
Do you remember when we, as a culture, used to organize our entire summers around a movie release? You would have fast food tie-ins, toy commercials, t-shirts, and everything else based around a movie release.
In the summer of 1992 you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing something for Batman Returns. McDonald’s organized their whole menu around it. It’s really quite beautiful.
Now, I’m mostly kidding…kind of, but not really. If I’m being totally serious though I think this is a small example of how we are losing things that culturally connect us. I think that is one of the reasons why Top Gun: Maverick is doing so well. It is something that people can go see and be part of the cultural conversation.
We need things to unite us, because there are so many things that divide us. Those things that divide us can see smaller if we are sharing a Thor McRib with a side of lightning-sized Thunder fries at McDonald’s. Or, you know, something like it.
What I’m Watching:
Man, there is so much to watch this summer. I’ve really been digging For All Mankind season 3, Only Murders in the Building season 2, and The Bear.
Also, Stranger Things 4 might be the show of the summer. I really didn’t get into it during the first watch of Volume 1. I think it had been too long between seasons. So I went back and watch seasons 2 and 3 before a season 4 rewatch and I was all in. It’s really a great show. Also, it might be the only original IP to become a massive phenomenon in a long while.
What I’ve Read:
Why We Did It by Tim Miller is basically confession from a former Republican operative in which Miller takes full responsibility for everything he did that lead to Trump. It’s painfully honest at times, but a great read.
Sonny Bunch writes here about how both our politicians and celebrities are very old, and why that is an issue.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/14/tom-cruise-nancy-pelosi-gerontocracy-rules/
What I’ve Heard:
The January 6th Committee Hearings are impressive. They are an incredibly well run bipartisan effort. I also noticed they pretty much have a podcast format. The hosts, Rep Bennie Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney, introduce the days hearing before handing off to other members. They rely on both pre-taped testimonies and live interviews. Then at the end, Cheney teases what’s to come.
If you haven’t watched/listen to them you can catch them all here.
I’ll try and write again before Labor Day.