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Things Worth Learning This July

Jul 15
3 min read

New Music, New Skills, New Ideas: A Summer Curriculum For You


Your kid doesn't need a full summer education plan. You do.

Not because you're behind or deficient. Because you're an adult and learning new things keeps you sharp, interested, and less resentful about life.


Here's a summer curriculum designed for a working single mom with limited time but genuine curiosity. I'm making this one for the month of July to follow this issue, so we can all be accountable and check in, in August!


Nothing that requires hours of uninterrupted focus. Nothing that feels like homework. Just things worth your time.


Music To Actually Listen To (Not Just Background)


Pick one new artist or album per week. Listen all the way through once. Then listen again when you have five minutes.


Suggestions:

  • Cleo Sol, "Heart Eyes" (start here, this whole album is a mood)

  • Fiona Apple, "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" (if you haven't, it's essential)

  • Pip Millett, "Coping Mechanisms"

  • Yazmin Lacey, "Voice Notes"

  • Lianne La Havas, self-titled

  • Jorja Smith, "Falling or Flying"

  • Sault, "Untitled (Rise)"

  • Emily King, "Special Occasion"

  • Rhye, "Home"

  • Sampha, "Process"


Podcast/listening alternative: Get a subscription to an audiobook service and listen to one nonfiction book this summer. Something you're curious about, not something you "should" read.


Podcasts Worth Your Five Minutes


Pick one to have going during commutes, chores, or that alone time you're protecting:

  • Dear Media's "Almost 30" (culture, growth, guest interviews, not preachy)

  • "Articles of Interest" (Avery Trufelman — short, smart, design/culture history)

  • "History of Rap" / "Switched on Pop" (music nerdery, easy to dip in and out of)

  • "Longform" (writers and journalists on how they actually work)

  • "Death, Sex & Money" (WNYC — honest conversations about the stuff people don't usually talk about)

  • "Normal Gossip" (pure low-stakes fun, zero self-improvement pressure)

  • "We Can Do Hard Things" (Glennon Doyle — resonates with the single-mom, permission-to-rest tone of this essay)

  • "Ten Percent Happier" (meditation/mental health without the toxic positivity)


Skills Worth Developing (Or Revisiting)


Pick one. Commit to thirty minutes a week.


  • Writing: Use Substack or Medium to start writing regularly. Doesn't have to be published. Just practice.

  • Photography: Learn actual settings on a camera (yours or borrowed). Take one intentional photo a week.

  • Cooking: Pick one cuisine you don't know and make it twice this summer. Actually learn the technique, not just follow a recipe.

  • Drawing: Free classes on YouTube (Skillshare has cheap trials). Thirty minutes a week.

  • Guitar/instrument: If you played before, pick it back up. If you didn't, start ukulele (easier entry point).

  • Coding: Free resources exist (CodeAcademy, freeCodeCamp). One small project this summer.

  • Speaking: Toastmasters exists in Portland. Seriously, it's a community and people are nice.


Ideas And Concepts Actually Worth Understanding


Read one article or essay a week on something that interests you. Don't doom-scroll news. Pick a real piece.


Places to find good writing:

  • The Believer Magazine

  • Brain Pickings

  • LitHub

  • Medium's curated stuff

  • The New Yorker (essays and profiles, skip the politics if it exhausts you)

  • Longreads (aggregates the best essays)


Topics worth exploring:

  • How your brain actually works (neuroscience but readable)

  • Something about history you've always been vague on, I love reading about Cleopatra, Athena, and Medusa.

  • A political concept you don't fully understand

  • A cultural moment or movement you want to get, understand

  • How something you use every day actually works

  • A social issue with some depth, not hot takes


Portland-Specific Learning (Underrated)


Actually learn something about the city you live in.

  • Read a book about Portland history (there are good ones, ask your library)

  • Learn about the neighborhoods you don't go to

  • Find out what's actually happening at Powell's beyond browsing

  • Take one new route through the city you don't know

  • Research one Portland artist you haven't heard of

  • Learn about the parks you use (history, design, wildlife)

  • Understand what's actually going on with housing in Portland (it's complicated and worth knowing)

  • Take a free walking tour (Portland has lots, very good)


The Non-Negotiable: Reading (Something, Anything)


Not for productivity. Not for self-improvement. For actual enjoyment.

One book this summer. Fiction. Something people actually like, not something that feels like homework.


If you hate reading, try:

  • Short story collections (they're faster)

  • Mystery or thriller (actual page-turners exist)

  • Memoir (not self-help, actual stories)


If you like reading, lean into what you like. Don't feel obligated to read literary fiction if you love romance or sci-fi. Good stories are everywhere.


The Actual Assignment


Pick three things from this list. Three. Not five, not all of them. Three.

  1. One new artist/album or audiobook

  2. One skill or new idea

  3. Something Portland-specific


That's your summer curriculum. Do it for yourself, not your kid. Prove to yourself that you can still learn and grow and be interested in things.

That matters more than you think.



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