Welcome, readers and cheer seekers!  Today we update the 2023 challenges signed up for to date.  After the update, a story about a real-life ghost town for the next Stranger Things show.  A new idea for a black and white checkerboard, journals for mental health, an even more straightforward Less/More idea, new awareness of self-worth, and another nod to our Punk Rock Patron – Joe Strummer. 

This week the Substack pages are being updated, new subscription tiers and opportunities are being added, and the Discord channel will debut.  Exciting times indeed!

Johnny

The good news is that all programs are running; the challenge, in addition to writing and editing the newsletter you will read today, I have a lot more work to do.  The New Year New Year Stoic challenge started to come in last night, and the challenges to date are relatively easy but will take some effort to complete.  The pre-challenge is jumping into that cold water I described a few days ago.  Here is a peek at the calendar for the next 21 days.

No new happiness challenge email has made it through today will have to research that one tonight while I start my new 1-1-1 Nightly journal for mental health.  

A town in Kitsault, British Columbia, CA, is frozen in time.  Mental Floss did a story on this town frozen from the 80s, built to house people who would work in and around a molybdenum mine.  Kitsault is 550 north of Vancouver, and before the town was built in 1980, people would get there by boat.  After the town was built, 1,200 people moved in, and the city began to grow. 

Not two years into the new town, the price of molybdenum crashed, and in 1982 the mine closed.  In 1983 everybody was gone.  Today, there are books in the public library and toys in the daycare.  The video footage is impressive and eerie at the same time.  If you want to know what a real Stranger Things 80s town looks like, see Kitsault.

Checkerboards dominate the write-up in Designboom.  Some floors look more like the floor at a Steak-n-Shake or a 50s-style diner, but black and white checkerboards prevail. 

Here’s another New Year’s Program to review.  Sahil Bloom has a great Twitter Thread on Mental Health.  Our journals start tonight.  It’s called The 1-1-1 Method, and it is as simple as this:

Every single evening, at the end of your work day, open up your journal and write down three simple points:

• 1 win from the day

• 1 point of tension, anxiety, or stress

• 1 point of gratitude

It takes about 5 minutes.

We will report back at the end of January on our mental health.

Susan Jeffers, the late author of several books, has a newsletter that continues posthumously in her name.  Jeffers wrote a book that changed my life in the 90s called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.  At that point in my life and career, I hadn't experienced enough; more things felt as though they could knock me out, and this book helped me put things into a perspective that made sense to me. 

Most Susan Jeffers newsletters tie back to a book she’s written.  This week talks about resolutions and using the Magic Duo technique to help achieve the goal.  Magic one – commit 100% to what you are going to do.  Magic two – act as if you really count.  Magic two holds a lot of meaning; it's obvious but underutilized.  Also, notice that it doesn't say act like you will count; it's a minor change, but will count says you don't count now, and that is important.  Even the person trying to get into shape or change a job needs to know that they count. 

There is a sign in a yard in Lawrence, Kansas, the home of The University of Kansas.  The sign is about the size of a political sign and says, You Matter.  It's small, but it makes me smile every time I drive past it.

Joe Strummer and the clash were a defining punk rock band from the 70s in the UK with the Sex Pistols.  If you put all the piss and vinegar of aggressive youth in a caldron with justice and activism and mixed it with talented songwriters, you would get the perfect punk rock band and the clash.  Joe Strummer died 20 years ago at the age of 50 from a heart attack brought on by an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.  Gone much too young, but he left us with a lifetime of memories and songs we continue to sing and play today.

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

Not what you think.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.