In each edition of this newsletter, I will share some 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. I will continue to write about education and learning as well and hope to be more consistent with the publication of this newsletter this year. Please subscribe to this newsletter if you enjoyed reading this edition. We are now 89 subscribers strong!
1. Learning from People
Michael Stevens the persona behind the YouTube sensation Vsauce, is an online personality with an entertaining approach to explaining the science behind seemingly ordinary, everyday phenomena. Michael's videos have been watched over 400 million times and Vsauce's 21.5 million subscribers continues to add an astonishing 15 thousand subscribers each day. Vsauce was created by Michael in the summer of 2010 and has an amazing collection of unanswered questions in their Youtube archive. He is an online creator that inspires me to share my videos and get better everyday. In this TED Talk, he talks about the role of questions in our life as human beings.
2. Learning from Ideas
Resilience is the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity. In a human context, Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis and move ahead with your best foot forward. We will all face difficult times and we need to find ways to be resilient in those times. Dr Lucy Hone is a resilience expert who thought she found her calling supporting people to recover following the Christchurch earthquake. She had no idea that her personal journey was about to take her to a far darker place. Five years ago, the sudden death of Lucy’s 12-year-old daughter Abi forced Lucy to turn her academic training and professional practice to foster resilience in very personal circumstances. The blog she wrote in the aftermath of Abi’s death attracted international attention and resulted in the best-selling non-fiction title, What Abi Taught Us, Strategies for Resilient Grieving (Allen & Unwin, 2016), now available as Resilient Grieving in the US, UK and NZ. In this powerful and courageous talk, she shares the three strategies (accept suffering, focus your attention on what you can control, do things that help you move ahead and not back) that got her through an unimaginable tragedy—and offers a profound insight on human suffering.
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
Anxious People by Fredrick Backman was my favorite fiction book of 2023. Here are my notes on why I loved this book and why I recommend it for your next fiction read.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
I binge watched season 1 of The Bear this weekend. This show is amazing. It is a show about a sandwich shop and the people that run it. This season had 7 episodes and several amazing characters all with a singular purpose to make this restaurant work. It has several long takes and monologues that are masterpieces in editing, sound and camera work. As someone that spent sometime in the food service industry, I feel that this show captures the intensity, pressure and fast pace of that work environment really well. Here is a show description
A young chef from the fine dining world comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after a heartbreaking death in his family. A world away from what he's used to, Carmy must balance the soul-crushing realities of small business ownership, his strong-willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother's suicide. As Carmy fights to transform both the shop and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges kitchen crew that ultimately reveals itself as his chosen family.
My understanding of this show was enhanced by videos from Thomas Flight (Why the Bear Gets in Your Head) and The Nerdwriter (The Bear’s Best Ingredient is Tenderness). Here are some things this show taught me about being human:
Give people the space to work on things that bring them alive (like Marcus and his passion for making the perfect donut).
Be gentle with people’s emotions and feelings because sometimes there is an unknown backstory to how we react to different situations (like Sydney and her ability to be gentle with her team even in pressure situations).
Learn from your mistakes and don’t let past mistakes affect your next step (like Carmen and Sydney who work hard to start over and rebuild the Beef and the Bear).
Constantly improve and become better everyday (like Ebrahiem and Tina who are open to feedback even though they are the most experienced people on the team).
Jump in when your peer or colleague is struggling and do what you can to help them navigate the challenging situation without any judgement (like Richie and Neil who jump in whenever members of the staff struggle).
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
I love the music band, Kodaline. I am a big fan of their music and their music videos. They tell beautiful stories and have a unique style of articulating human emotions in a musical way. Here is a music video of the song, Saving Grace from their 2020 album, One Day at a Time that was released during the pandemic. This video is a collection of short videos sent by their fans about how they navigated the pandemic by saving grace for each other.
My favorite line from this song was,
When you're scared and you're lonely
When there's no one to hold you
I just want you to know that
I'll be by your side
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. Thank you for subscribing to Education Coffee. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (38 past newsletters).
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below.
I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty