20 Comments
User's avatar
JenZ's avatar

As an only child with the inability to keep my opinions to myself, I absolutely loved this interview. Ethan sounds an awful lot like me with a major dose of skepticism about everything, and I would swear he was a fellow GenX member if he didn’t talk about being in middle school in the 90s. I may just have to subscribe to Ethan’s Substack.

Expand full comment
Terry Freedman's avatar

"So I kind of grew up a lot of the time in libraries after closing time." My idea of heaven!

Expand full comment
Matt Snyder's avatar

His mom DID do "something big." Libraries are in fact one of the most powerful democratic institutions in existence. Do not downplay the positive influence a good librarian has on the library's users of any age.

Expand full comment
ImdaPrincesse's avatar

Not sure why I'm getting notifications for this blog that I don't subscribe to..weird

Expand full comment
Slim_mah's avatar

This is sooh nice

Expand full comment
Daniel Piper's avatar

Lovely stuff. If Ethan ever needs life (or love) (or love life) advice, he can find me at deardante.com

Expand full comment
Daniel Piper's avatar

Great comment.

Expand full comment
Muriel Palmer-Rhea's avatar

Sports 24/7 … I rib my husband about WHEN IS THE SEASON gonna END? (Football, Basketball). Now the TV channels have commentary shows in retrospect, what the teams SHOULD’VE DONE! It’s even getting to him. Because sports are better watching than news , I came in the room recently and found him watching the SEC Equitation championships, and he doesn’t have much interest in horses, or how they’re handled.

Expand full comment
David's avatar

Enjoyable listening

Expand full comment
Kayleen Hunsaker Smith's avatar

I thought, 'well I don't really appreciate sports'...but this was the most interesting podcast to listen to.

It covered a whole different aspect that I knew absolutely nothing about!

...and lots of different personal aspects too.

Expand full comment
Tom Besson's avatar

I hate it when I go to a vending machine for a sardine, and a candy bar pops out.

Expand full comment
Slappy's avatar

To those who’ve been introduced to Ethan for the first time, three words: House of Strauss. Ethan is one of the few public millennials personas who brings instights, intelligent and integrity to everything.

Expand full comment
Lisa Fu's avatar

Fantastic true internal voice

Expand full comment
Franklin O'Kanu's avatar

Interested in listening to the podcast. Sports and culture can say a lot about the society. For example, Kyrie and his stance on being a jew said a lot about a hidden part of african culture, which I detailed in a 3-part analysis here: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-polarizing-complexity-of-the

Didn't know the NBA viewership was declining so that's interesting, and can definitely see the "social justice" moves can tie to that, almost similar w/ Budlight recently. Overall, will be sharing this podcast with NBA fans to get their insight as well. Thanks for this!

Expand full comment
Bonnie J. Toomey's avatar

Ethan gives us a sane and hopeful approach to healing after the national security measures taken on all institutions

Expand full comment
Brad Thomas Parsons's avatar

This: "And so I think the low barrier of entry in sharing opinions has accelerated a kind of overall decline, but at the same time, we can rebuild."

I often feel like I'm aging out of the field I write about as so many not-ready-for-primetime are jumping in and "discovering" everything that's been written about already with such earnestness. But I guess that's the cycle of life.

Expand full comment
Lisa Brunette's avatar

Nice interview!

Expand full comment