#135 - Notes on Wrexham, Concerts and Buttons
Education Coffee is 2xWeekly Newsletter on People, Ideas and Culture.
In this newsletter, I share five inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts.
1. Learning from People
Adam M. Grant is an American popular science author, and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania specializing in organizational psychology. I really enjoy how he shares insights about how to work better from academic research. He has a unique skill to combine research studies in creative ways to bring something new into the world including the ideas of givers and takers, rethinking and hidden potential. You can review his articles and books on his website and social media accounts. Here is a talk about one such idea he has conducted some research on which is a few surprising habits of original thinkers.
2. Learning from Ideas and Questions
Who knew? Buttons changed fashion in more ways than one. Also no one knows who invented the button. Here is a deep dive on buttons from the graphic designer, Isaac Mizrahi.
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blog
Here is a short video about working as a Bookseller in a small town bookshop by the team at TheCottageFairy. Most readers have a closet dream to open their own store someday and this video gives you a glimpse of that world and life.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
I just finished watching Season 3 of Welcome to Wrexham. The series documents the events of Welsh association football club Wrexham A.F.C., as told by the club's owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Here is the trailer for Season 3.
In September 2020, American actor Rob McElhenney and Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds announced their intention to buy Wrexham A.F.C., a Welsh professional association football club based in the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, North East Wales in the United Kingdom. The deal was completed in February 2021. As of the purchase, Wrexham A.F.C. played in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, below the Premier League and the three tiers of the English Football League. In 2025, Wrexham AFC has been promoted to League One and is currently working towards being promoted to the Championship. It takes significant investment and capability to move from a lower league to a higher league.
Welcome to Wrexham (2022 to 2024) showed me how sports can be used to build a strong sense of community in a small town. It reminded me that when we love something deeply we often try to see the best in other people that love the same thing. We stop looking for the differences in class, ability and achievements. We start looking for the little things that bring the other person joy and find ways to accentuate the same in every way possible in our daily interaction with them. It also gives a large group of people a sense of hope and a deeper connection to something larger than themselves. It also threw light on the economics of sport because the global popularity of the club brought tourism and new business to the city. It reinvigorated the spirit and lives of the people in this small Welsh town. My favourite part of the show was how it profiled the vulnerable lives of professional athletes and the persistent love of doting fans. Athletes have a lot of insecurities about performing at the highest level and life after retiring from the sport in their 30’s. We only hear of the lives of the top 1% of professional athletes in the world. There is a large group of people that make a living from sports that don’t have as glamorous lives and struggle significantly after they retire from a sport. It profiles the lives of fans that support the club no matter what including a local business owner that makes sauces, a local photographer that struggles with anxiety and depression and a local pub owner that hosts live screenings of each game for 100’s of people every week. There was also the touching story of Arthur Massey, a 100 year old fan who has seen the club through several highs and lows since the early 1900’s. It is a documentary that represents hope, love and community in a small Welsh mining town in the middle of nowhere.
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
I love live music concerts and was looking for videos on the logistics of these massive events and tours. Here is one interesting breakdown from the team at Wendover Productions. It throws light on artists involved, financial costs, travel itineraries, stage setup, equipment transfer, driver schedules and more. There is a lot of work, people and effort involved in bringing a live act to your city.
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (100+ newsletters here). You can email your thoughts, feedback or recommendations to abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com. I love connecting with other writers and learners on the Internet.
Abhishek