Trump Election Field Day for Social Scientists

This election has turned out to be a field day for social scientists. Examples:

First, I'm currently reading "Strangers in Their Own Land" by Arlie Hochschild, about how working class whites are supporting Republican candidates who really do very little to help them out, at least in the terms that liberals mostly think in.

Then, this morning on NPR, social scientist Shannon Monnat, an assistant professor of rural sociology and demography at Penn State University, has been studying drug and alcohol mortality rates: "Well, so this was part of a larger project where I've been trying to understand the common characteristics of places with high rates of mortality from drugs, alcohol and suicide - these kinds of deaths of despair....So I started looking at the data, especially within regions of the country where the opiate epidemic has received a lot of attention. And what I found was that Trump outperformed the previous Republican candidate Mitt Romney the most in counties with the highest drug, alcohol and suicide mortality rates."

It seems that no detail is going unexamined.

Money versus Time

When I was younger, I had all the time in the world, but not enough money, or so I thought.
Now, I have enough money, but not enough time to do all the things I would like to do.

Slowing Down

There are a lot of disadvantages to getting older.  But I am discovering some advantages as well.  

My natural mode of being has typically been to keep activity lists (either written or mental), and to race thru the day trying to get as many items on the list done as possible.

I just turned 80 last month (December, 2015).  I have been meditating on a somewhat regular basis for about three years.  This was brought on by my friend Blanche telling me about a free, weekly meditation class led by Diana Winston at the Hammer Museum every Thursday, which is now a high priority on my weekly schedule.

I am trying to "slow down" in life.  Being aware thru meditation of how much of my mental activity is naturally in the past or in the future.  Go more slowly, be present, "smell the roses", notice more fully the things and people and nature that surround me at all times.

This relatively new desire, to slow down, is now aided by the natural aging process of my body (and mind).  I just can't move as fast or as far as I once did.  To a certain extent, my aging body must slow down.  So, my conscious new direction is in tune with the unconscious aging process.  Like it or not, I must slow down.  So far, I like it.