Wednesday Walk: The Bobblehead Poll
Can a shelf in Chinatown predict the president, making honey from honeydew
Welcome to Willoughby Hills!
Every Wednesday, I offer a few short ideas that I hope will inspire you to do some more reading, thinking, and exploring. Let’s take a little walk together and see where the path leads…
Reading the Bobblehead Tea Leaves
As I’ve mentioned, I was in New York City for a few days recently with my family. We ended up doing a good amount of sightseeing, including stopping in Chinatown to do some shopping.
Chinatown has an interesting mix of shops that cater to the Chinese-American community (bakeries, butchers, pharmacies, etc) while also having low-priced souvenir shops targeting tourists. These tourist shops sell T-shirts and hats, but also replica Statue of Liberties in various sizes, yellow cab toys, and assorted bobbleheads.
Most of the stores seemed to have an overwhelming supply of Trump bobbleheads, with the former president giving the thumbs up in a MAGA hat. But one store had an eclectic mix of bobbleheads of politicians including Lincoln, Kennedy, Washington, Obama, Trump, and a not super accurate depiction of Kamala Harris.
I thought it was worth nothing that the Harris bobblehead was not only the tallest of the bunch but she was also positioned most forward on the shelf. This bobblehead poll is completely non-scientific, so read the tea leaves as you will.
As I’ve talked about in this newsletter and even in the intro to my most recent podcast episode, I want to get excited about this political moment, but I’m not ready to jump in feet first yet. Kamala Harris represents something new generationally, racially, and with her gender, but that’s not enough for me. I want to know what do her policies actually say?
Yes, she opted to not go to Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, but she also met with him privately. She has yet to commit to pulling U.S. funding to Israel or to speak out against the genocide in Palestine.
People talk about what she would do for the environment, women's rights, health care, education, the economy, etc, but is she actually telling us what she would do or are we assuming these things because she’s a young(er) female Democrat from California?
It reminds me a bit of when we bought my wife a new car a few years ago. It was at the height of the pandemic and we weren’t eager to shop around much. We knew that we wanted something fuel efficient and that would do well in New England winters. We were both driving Hondas at the time and knew all the service people at the local dealership.
We decided that upgrading to a Honda CRV Hybrid was the best way to go, but it was based on vibes and my own ideas about what Honda represented to us rather than based on what the actual car in front of us was. She had been driving a Honda Insight for many years prior (it was my car before that), which was a small hatchback hybrid.
We were excited that the CRV Hybrid was effectively as fuel efficient as our older Insight but in an SUV package that included all wheel drive. But for all the excitement that this new hybrid represented, it also came with some major compromises. For example, the CRV Hybrid does not have a spare tire because that space is taken up by the hybrid battery and didn’t include integrations like Apple CarPlay at the trim level we purchased.
I don’t mind my wife’s car, but I also wonder if we should have done more homework and looked closer at the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid instead, or maybe even waited a year for something like a Hyundai Kona EV.
We are all in car shopping season right now. This is the time to ask presidential candidates what they actually represent, not make our own assumptions based on slogans or vibes. It’s also the time to negotiate with these candidates and make them earn our vote, much in the same way you negotiate for a lower interest rate, free all weather mats, or a higher trim package at the same price.
Whether it’s Harris, Trump, Kennedy, West, Stein, or somebody else, this is the time to set the tone for the next four years and to ask for what matters to us. If not for the Uncommitted Movement, Biden would likely still be in the race. If not for the student protestors, Walz would likely not have been the choice for VP. Let’s keep pushing this platform and ensure that come next January, we’re not told that the issues that matter to us will need to wait. Instead, let’s push to get the changes we want done right now.
Lanternfly Honey
After I published my piece on Sunday about the Spotted Lanternfly, I heard from several readers who pointed out just how destructive these little insects can be.
I didn’t mean to make light of that at all, but I also have a hard time wrapping my mind around the beauty of the bug and what our role should be in controlling nature (although it’s worth noting of course that it’s human action which caused the spread of Spotted Lanternfly to North America in the first place).
At any rate, one of my favorite messages to read was from Jesse Hirsch, editor at Ambrook Research (who has published my work in the past).
Jesse shared a piece that Ambrook published earlier this year by Amanda Loudin about how the Spotted Lanternfly is causing honeybees to create a unique honey. When the lanternfly feeds on plant, it leaves behind honeydew, which turns into sooty mold that impacts the plant’s ability to photosynthesize.
But, as Loudin points out, honeybees in lanternfly regions have started to feed on this honeydew and produce a smoky flavored honey as a result. The bees also seem to be producing more honey than usual after feeding on the honeydew.
While some beekeepers aren’t explicitly marketing their honeydew honey any differently, at least one producer has gone all in, labelling his honeydew honey “Doom Bloom.” (It appears to be available for sale on this website, although I can’t vouch for the site’s authenticity).
I love this kind of “silver lining” story. In fact, last year I made a video for paying subscribers about making pesto with invasive Garlic Mustard.
Whether it’s invasive plants or invasive insects, I think it’s important to think about how our ecosystem is always evolving and that “nature” is not a fixed concept. It’s a constant battle for which plants and animals can outcompete the others. Humans have thrown the balance of that competition off through development, trade, and more. Because of that, I think we also have a responsibility to help keep the system working as best as we can.
If you’re interested in reading more, check out Amanda’s full piece in Ambrook Research.
I publish new issues every Wednesday and Sunday. Sign up to always receive the latest issue and support my work:
Other Wednesday Walks
If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.