Male bumblers, reasons to write, and other things to read.

Greetings and happy Wednesday to you, readers gentle. It's snowy in Madison, and quiet in our house, now that school has opened again and our children—our dear, sweet, magical, loud, energetic children, with so many requests and terrible ideas—are blessedly there instead of here. (It was closed Monday for the federal holiday, and yesterday due to extreme cold.)

As I mentioned a while back, I don't want to hit you with a giant essay every day. So here are a few links I strongly recommend checking out. Maybe you already have a list of things to read on the internet. Well, read these before those. They'll make you wiser and better. That's the Having a Normal One guarantee.

⭐️ The Myth of the Male Bumbler This piece by Lili Loofbourow, for The Week, is from 2017, when the #MeToo movement was all-too-briefly ascendant, and one of the most clarifying things I've read in a while. Nothing in it is surprising; it's just helpful to see someone lay it all out: "The line on men has been that they're the only gender qualified to hold important jobs and too incompetent to be responsible for their conduct."

✍️ The Commitment to Write My best friend has noted more than once that for a writer, I've spent a lot of my life not writing. That's mostly something for me to discuss with a therapist, but part of it, honestly, is that I've always felt there was so much writing out there already, an overwhelming amount, and I was hesitant to add to the deluge. This really lovely post by David Sobotta is a reminder that there are reasons to write regardless.

✍️ Everyone Who Was Supposed to Protect You From This Failed Miserably If you're stopped by Rolling Stone's paywall, you should still be able to read this in your browser's incognito mode. We shouldn't dwell on the past, but Asawin Suebsaeng reminds us that America had safeguards in place, ostensibly to prevent a president who tried to overthrow the government from taking power again, and the folks in charge of those safeguards biffed it over and over again. Remember that when you see Democratic leaders smiling and shaking hands with the people they told us were an existential threat to democracy.

✍️ Welcome to Vichy America And on a related note, this post by John Ganz. "People are quickly discovering what they once professed to find unacceptable might not be so bad." What scares me most about an authoritarian government is that I'm going to see it oppressing people and choose to keep my head down. Because I'm old. Because I'm tired and out of shape. Because I don't want to rock the boat and endanger my kids. Because I'm a bougie white man and have the choice. One reason to write is, I hope, that it keeps me accountable—I can't look you in the eye later and say I didn't know better.

If in your online wanderings you come across an article the readers of this newsletter might enjoy, do not hesitate to send it my way.

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Quick announcement: Having a Normal One has a comment section now. It's at the bottom of each edition on the website, exactly where you'd expect to find it, and is open to subscribers. Congratulations to JoAnne for being the first to use it.

Jump into the comments to ask questions, share suggestions, and exchange thoughtful and witty remarks with fellow readers. (You should continue to send all nudes via email.) The standard rule of internet etiquette applies: Don't be a dick.

😎 The Fun Part

A classic op-ed from The Onion has been circulating again in the wake of Elon Musk's Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration on Monday. Oh, golly gee, I just don't understand why actual neo-Nazis are constantly cheering for us. How does this keep happening? You've quite likely read it before, but it still holds up. (Don't click the link in front of your boss—the headline is not safe for work.)

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