You know the guy I'm talking about. He's the brainiac or the walking encyclopedia who recites arcane facts but has no idea what "man-splaining" means. He's the one who knows Albert Einstein's birthday but forgets his own wedding anniversary. He's the "knowledge worker" who desperately could use a "wisdom worker" by his side when it comes to understanding humans.

I learned today that in 1917 the novelist E.M. Forster was in Egypt for the first time. As a conscientious objector in World War I, Forster served as a Chief Searcher (for missing servicemen) for the British Red Cross in Alexandria, Egypt.

What a difference a decade makes. One out of every four American employees aged 50 and older lost their job in the Great Recession in 2008. And, it took older workers two to three times longer to find a new job during the next few years. This sudden reality created a “confidence gap” for many midlife workers.

On the day after America’s Stars and Stripes holiday, we offer this simple, lovely poem from MEA cofounder Jeff Hamaoui, our poet laureate.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” - Mother Teresa

I have a lot of friends enraged and grieving this week: Dobbs, Congressional hearings on January 6, mass shootings. I wanted to offer something I read in journalist Oliver Burkeman’s newsletter:

Mary Oliver’s line “Tell me, what are you planning to do with your one wild and precious life?” always inspires me to grab my pen. I enjoy reflecting on paper with loose morning pages or, best of all, writing from a poetry prompt, a single juicy line of poetry, in community.

I've long enjoyed Pash Pashkow's TEDx talk on why "the midlife crisis needs a rebrand." Is any other life stage saddled with such a rotten narrative as "a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger" (that's the dictionary definition of "crisis")?!

If you’re a last minute vacation planner, we’ll let you in on a secret. MEA’s newly-expanded beachfront Baja campus is open this summer for our DIY programming of Sabbatical Sessions from July 17 through October 2. And, we have quite a line-up of talent that you can tap into.

“Language is the house of Being . . .” - Martin Heidegger