That I hate television and actually enjoy working. Jobs suck, “work” sucks, but getting things done around the house or finishing a project or even just getting into a flow on a task is rewarding. 10 year old me would ask, “What happened to us?!” But I guess I enjoyed it then, too. I just defined it differently. Building with Lego for hours in my room, being creative. I didn’t define that as work until my adult hobbies expanded into making things with my hands and I had real world job experience.

Bravo!

Although it’s been sporadic for him as he is no professional, my dad has always sculpted as his creative outlet. His best work being from the time period after we lost my mom. His chosen medium are various woods, but when I had an interest myself, he would show me carving techniques in soap bars and create initial sculpture(s) in clay before attempting to remove material on the final workpiece. I only made a couple things in wood, but I got more into charcoal drawing and music and didn’t explore the third dimension much more (until I got into modeling on the computer for practical/machining purposes). I imagine CAD design and 3d modeling programs likely had an impact on the interest in physical sculpture in general.

Wood shakes Wood(s).

It was similar in my school, I mean aside from objective textbooks like in science or history. Apart from a couple stories, I’ve never really enjoyed reading fiction, and as a result, I struggled in school as that was the focus for gauging reading comprehension and other metrics.

Where I lacked in desire to read fiction, I was obsessed with poring through the encyclopedias we had at home. I would read ahead in history and math and science. I had no problems grasping the material and applying what I’d learned. In many ways, I feel this was not recognized by teachers and that the education system failed me in this regard.

I love reading to learn about the world, and I understand fiction can provide insight into other people’s perspectives, but it is still difficult for me to engage with fiction. It just doesn’t interest me the same way.

This isn’t to say we should change how we impart the joy of reading to kids. I’m not sure how I’d deal with my case, even if I could go back in time. There’s a good fiction plot somewhere in here, I guess. “Man goes back in time to spark new interest in himself to read fiction, ultimately fails, but the child reflects on it later in life and continues the time loop.”

To truly answer your question, I feel like I need to read about child development and the education system in general.

I’ve always understood SoaD to be overtly political, with songs like Prison Song, Attack, BYOB, A.D.D., and on and on… I listened to them for a long time because I enjoyed the music, but when I gave more than two seconds to think about the lyrics, I immediately understood them to be political in nature (which I actually enjoyed and appreciated more).

When I want non-political music, I almost avoid lyrics entirely, or listen to old-timey songs about broken hearts and love. I particularly enjoy early jazz guitar like Billy Banks, or The Ink Spots. Or some good EDM like Jaded and Noizu.

There’s a bit of politics in so much lyrical music, even if it is less transparent, seemingly nonsensical stuff. I do enjoy a good revelation about some bands, though. Like the amount of veterans my age that listen to Lamb of God but are very enthusiastic about military service and God and country types, or as has been mentioned in the thread already, that whole thing with Rage Against the Machine. I feel like SoaD falls into this category a lot too, with these particular people.

There are certainly moments of social commentary in RHCP songs, but I do enjoy Frusciante’s and Flea’s musical prowess to a degree that I don’t care at all what they’re saying at times, and just very much enjoy the tunes.

Edit: After reading replies in here, I oughta mention I’m wrong and political music doesn’t actually exist.

Not to mention corporate news. It’s impossible to find anyone else discussing particular events or raw video or even live streams without wading through what seems like thousands of every damn news channel with their talking heads and editors about any topic. I certainly understand why it’s important to have news easily accessible, but it kills me that I used to be able to find news media critique and videos of happenings from everyday people, and I just can’t anymore, at least not without serious digging. Obviously the rise of other video platforms plays a role, as does the need to ensure accurate information for specific things, like a pandemic or climate change, but I can’t help but see just how homogenized and corporatized it’s all become.

This isn’t to say there aren’t great channels out there that meet my needs, I just miss being able to type a keyword in and finding regular people, not trying to game the algorithm, not trying to make youtube a career, just getting their voices out there.