Too Healthy For Our Own Good

Good afternoon, everyone.

A few years ago, I got invited to a birthday dinner for a friend. The venue was one of those new restaurants on First Avenue overlooking the river. As we took our seats, the conversation immediately turned to posture and what we understood to be good posture as we nestled in for dinner. I chimed in about how sitting in an office all day is probably awful for you. Nothing revolutionary, nothing particularly insightful, just a snide remark to keep the conversation going.

To the right, I could sense my elderly seatmate’s ears tune into the conversation as it advanced. At just the right moment, he cut in. “You know, when I was y’all’s age, I don’t think I ever thought about my posture, or my health, or whatever it is y’all are talking about,” he added before taking a long draw from his drink and considering the menu. I noticed he smelled of cigarettes. That was the last time I discussed posture openly at dinner.

For some reason, that remark bounces around in my head from time to time. It is odd that a group of people in their 20s would sit down at a table and immediately begin talking about posture and more generalized health concerns instead of just imbibing, eating, and enjoying each other’s company in the prime of their lives.

Yes, this is anecdotal, but I don’t think it's unusual, and I expect that many of you have had similar discussions over dinner or wherever you congregate with friends and family. Social media is replete with health influencers talking about everything from diet to fitness routines. There is a massive audience for health content and it seems to only be growing. 

In light of the fact that the US uniquely sees higher rates of chronic illness and obesity, it does make sense though. There is something in the environment or the water or the food or whatever that has saddled the American people with very serious health concerns, so it is wholly rational to be vigilant about one’s own health beyond the fact of mere survival. The safety net in the US is so well-resourced that you can safely cross “starving to death” or “dying of malnourishment” off your list of concerns.

But it is possible to take your health concerns too far, as my seatmate so eloquently reminded me. I can think of no better figure of this variety of “over concern” than podcaster Andrew Huberman whose metrics-driven approach feels to me like a coping mechanism during a prolonged prison sentence. There’s also Bryan Johnson, the successful tech entrepreneur who has lately turned his energies to reversing his biological age through an arcane fixation on diet, exercise, and carefully managed sun exposure.

The kind of health neurosis promoted by Huberman and Johnson evokes French sociologist Jean Baudrillard’s comments on Americans’ obsession with jogging. “Nothing evokes the apocalypse more than a man running straight ahead on a beach,” he writes in America, “swathed in the sounds of his walkman, cocooned in the solitary sacrifice of his energy, indifferent even to catastrophes since he expects destruction to come only as the fruit of his own efforts, from exhausting the energy of a body that has in his own eyes become useless.”

If you hold this quote up against the figures of Huberman and Johnson who seek to control their bodies and their health so intimately that it’s become all consuming, you can get a better sense of what Baudrillard means. In a world where our bodies are no longer as necessary and against a culture that is increasingly chaotic, Godless, and paranoid, it makes some amount of sense that one would turn towards his body in order to regain a sense of control and tune out the world.

I was thinking about all this at a pig roast this weekend when it occurred to me, as it has before, that you could probably sell “farm work” to fitness aficionados as an exercise routine. “Holistic, free-range, human exercise in the service of food production” or something like that. Imagine if farmers could get paid to have people work for them. There’s probably a market for this.

In any event, it’s good to be healthy, just don’t be so insane about it that you end up paying someone to do manual labor on their farm.

Onward.

🚍 Rapid Q&A A month ago, members from three local advocacy groups—EquityAlliance, Stand Up Nashville, and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition— came together to form a new coalition called Shift Nashville to support Mayor O’Connell’s transit plan.

Last Thursday, we spoke with the Advocacy Manager of Equity Alliance Kalen Russell before the group hosted a transit conversation alongside Young Gifted and Black PAC at Watson Grove Baptist Church.

What does Equity Alliance hope to accomplish if Mayor O’Connell’s transit plan passes?

If it passes, we're thinking of a long-term community engagement strategy. When we think about transit, it's not literally just transit getting from one place to the next, it's the infrastructure for transit: like our increased bus routes, like the North Nashville hub, the sidewalks, and more green lights. There's going to be people needed to build those things. We're hoping that those jobs could be union jobs so that people living in Nashville have the opportunity to have a livable wage, and enjoy so many of the city's amenities that they've been pushed out from. 

In addition to that, a lot of our transit projects are touching public lands that are being underutilized. We think that land could be better utilized to meet public needs. With the transit conversation also comes a continuous conversation of the need for affordable housing. As these hubs continue to develop in these prioritized routes, we hope we can have more affordable housing so that Nashvillians can stay in Nashville. At this point in time, we’re hoping to get people involved and engaged in the process. We know that this work will continue past the election.

Do you expect that this coalition, or perhaps just Equity Alliance, would still go forward and try to advocate for change even if this transit initiative does not pass?

Yes, if the transit initiative doesn't pass, there's still so many changes. Even with this referendum, it's not like we're sprinting. I'm hoping it's a continuous effort. This is a marathon. So, with or without the referendum passing, there's continuous work we want to do to improve the quality of life of people that live in Nashville so they're not outpriced and pushed out. We want sustainable development for the people of Nashville to be able to thrive, live, and work in Nashville.

Do you see any other ways, besides this transit package, to achieve some of the things you’ve mentioned? Especially working towards that attainability, where people can move from renting to home ownership?

I think that's where there’s room for imagination. Some of what I would consider very innovative ideas that are… embedded and optional as part of our coalition strategy are things like how we can utilize public lands. That's kind of mixed-use development. So, suppose we make the next transit hub and on the second floor is a daycare, and on the third floor is a coffee shop or a library. People who are still having to commute far from home to work can…drop off [their] kid and maybe…have something to drink in a nice environment. You don't have to travel and commute miles and miles to do your daily errands. 

Another thing, in terms of moving from renting and then home ownership, people need to earn more wages. Our tagline is: “Rent too high, wages too low.” So, if we secure some union jobs with some of this infrastructure and [these] federal dollars we're hoping to bring in, people will have the financial capital to be homeowners. It's not for lack of wanting to or desire, it's lack of financial ability.

🏈 Moving The Goal Posts For the first time in program history, Vanderbilt took down an AP top-five opponent on Saturday in a stunning upset of the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. Until the upset, Vanderbilt had gone 0-60 against top-five foes. Towards the end of the third quarter, a gutsy, all-or-nothing call on 4th & 1 set the tone for the game as Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia connected with an extended Junior Sherril who brought the ball in with his fingertips for a 36-yard touchdown putting the Dores up 29-21. 

Following the victory, the SEC slapped Vanderbilt with a $100,000 fine after fans rushed the field to celebrate. The crowd toppled a goalpost and marched it three miles down Broadway before chucking it in the Cumberland River. Go Dores!

🌊 The Haunting Of Helene On Thursday, Governor Lee told local media that reports of “misinformation” regarding the federal response to Helene may be foreign interference. “I understand that FEMA has shared information with members of Congress that foreign sources may be involved,” Lee told Six Rivers Media. “I can’t verify that.” 

According to the Johnson City Press, the governor was “disheartened” to hear of false rumors about FEMA intercepting and diverting supply lines. The "disinformation" aims to “create chaos on the ground,” he explained. Washington County Mayor Joe Grandy has also dismissed the “wild and inaccurate” information on social media about FEMA, TEMA, and the American Red Cross.

Meanwhile, Representative Justin Jones hopped on a helicopter with the Tennessee National Guard and FEMA to survey the damage around Unicoi County. “They have been using this Black Hawk helicopter to make multiple drops to communities still inaccessible because of the devastating flooding,” he posted on X.

DEVELOPMENT

• BNA, Aer Lingus launch new nonstop service to Dublin starting next year (Channel5)
• Update to historic Morris building lands Metro approval (Post)
• Ex-Starwood site could land mixed-use development (Post)

THINGS TO DO

View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.

📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.

🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.

👨🏻‍🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide and yearly festival guide.

TONIGHT

🪕 Bronwyn Keith-Hynes @ Dee's Lounge, 6p, $10, Info

🪕 Val Storey, Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle & New Monday @ Station Inn, 8p, $20, Info

💀 Grateful Monday @ Acme Feed & Seed, 8p, Free, Info

🕺 Motown Monday @ The 5 Spot, 9p, $5, Info

📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.