According to 2024 GSS data from @norc.org, social trust among Americans has dropped 5-6 percentage points in the 2020s.

Only 1 in 4 Americans now say "Most people can be trusted."

Race continues to be the most significant factor, with White trust declining and non-White trust even more rare.

We shouldn’t need to supplement our social safety nets with things like Little Free Pantries, but here we are. Alex Forsythe, who stewards these pantries, sees a world where everyone has their needs met. We all rely on people like her to catch us when we fall through society’s cracks.

I've been writing an encyclopedia of American social issues because I haven't seen one written since the 1990s. I'm up to 420 (heh) social issues affecting Americans and have written entries for about a third of them.

Below is a preview of my list, broken into 11 categories.

@roderickstruth.bsky.social isn't just wise. He's also humble, especially when talking about his book. 😅 You can hear the whole conversation this month on The Plural of You.

@roderickstruth.bsky.social is a wise person. Being prepared doesn’t mean giving up all of your comforts to be an activist. It means starting with what you have to help the people around you, especially your loved ones and neighbors.

Roderick’s book, Starting Somewhere, is full of wisdom like this.

“We all have privilege,” @melaniehood-wilson.bsky.social told me. She said it is the “height of arrogance” to assume we don’t.

Some have labelled privilege a dirty word. For us as empathetic people, it shouldn’t be.

Being aware of what advantages you may have can help you help others.

My old USB mic of 10 years died. Time for an upgrade.

A sacred place in Memphis and my favorite museum. I wish it wasn't necessary, but I hope America will preserve it through these dark times.

Checking out ice cream, I mean Memphis.

Humankind: A Hopeful History by @rutgerbregman.com dismantles the conventional wisdom that humans are all selfish first and foremost. It confirms a lot of my values—and my biases—about people with evidence. It's going to be one of my favorite books for years to come.

“‘Nice’ doesn’t sell ads,” writes Rutger Bregman, Dutch journalist, author, and historian. Yes, it’s good to be informed, but the news is like sugar: we have to be cautious about over-indulging.

This year, I’m going on a news diet. I hope you’ll give it a try with me.

Here's my favorite quote from this month's episode of The Plural of You. Thanks to Laura Hale of the ONE Good Deed Fund for coming on again.

"[Our lack of care for others] has never been a deficit of information. It's a deficit of empathy."

My Spotify Wrapped was a little goth clubby this year. Also, my theme for the year was "Tapestry from an Asteroid" by Sun Ra.

Moving back to Alabama, the state where I grew up, was one of my biggest fears. I know now that, despite my disagreements with the people here, I was resisting a more loving environment. Being around family again, both mine and my in-laws, has been worth the difficult tradeoffs I made to come back.

My Pavlovian response is always Unlearn by Psykosonik. It's one of my favorite audio journeys.

One day I aspire to be as wise a writer as Robin Wall Kimmerer. The Serviceberry defends the natural world and praises gift economies, and it makes me long to be a better person.

The world sucks right now, but don't give up yet.

This is one of my favorite quotes from @meganpsyd.bsky.social this month. She's a psychologist and applied game master who runs games like D&D as therapy tools. Fantasy worlds in games have something in common with the real world: we can redesign both to be more considerate and more inclusive.

Trust among Americans has declined since the late 1960s. Over half of Americans then agreed "most people" can be trusted. It was 1 in 4 in 2022. See my chart below.

Some people guess political/religious affiliations are correlated, but they aren't. Education & race are most significant in the US.