Foraging in the Suburbs

James Robinson • July 18, 2024

Save time, money, and build confidence by searching inside ...

Three weeks ago, I had my chance to do some domestic foraging.


Having the house to myself,  I decided not to go shopping during the week, opting to search the territory of my house for sustenance. Whatever lurked in the pantry, the freezer and fridge would be fair game. If I turned over a tub of ice cream and found a whole frozen chicken, I’d thaw it, then separate the bird into grillable parts before dooming the rest of the carcass to a pot for soup stock.  If there were a bundle of buckwheat noodles tied into a neat cylindrical bale, I could figure something out– but it would take imagination.   And if all we had was ketchup and oatmeal, I’d find a way to put the ingredients to use until I could no longer do so.


Of course, I had some cravings and wanted certain meals, but I stayed committed although initially bored with the options. Then, after stewing a bit, solutions became clearer. 


There’s a ton of ingredients in the house– some I haven’t seen in months or ever. All I needed was a little imagination and a few minutes to look.

I found some wings, thawed them, air fried them and had a variety of sauces and spices to experiment with. Then I looked deeper in the chest freezer and found three varieties of dumplings– so I made a simple dipping sauce of chives, sesame oil and soy sauce. Lastly, there was a NY Strip steak, soba and salad. I cut the steak into sushi-thin slices, and savored it more with just a dash of sesame oil and sea salt. 


It would have been easier to go shopping, to add to our pantry and fridge, but the satisfaction of putting a meal together based on subtraction , imagination and domestic foraging was too delightful–  more economical, too. I saved time and money. Going to the store takes 30 minutes to an hour, and the cost of food is outrageous.


But imagine if we committed ourselves to internal foraging when stuck in life. Instead of adding on and looking for solutions outside of ourselves, why not take a deep inventory of our own inner resources, then make something with what we already have. It saves time and  creates more value.  We’re bigger and have more inside ourselves than we want to know, and that's the problem . Knowing what strengths and attributes are on the inside is scary because knowing is responsibility. Jungian Coaching at MINING and SHINING IDEA LAB, LLC,  is here to help. Use this link to book your 20 minute complimentary “Internal Foraging Session” today.

A Swarm of Lemmings:Writers' Passive Suicide and the Crisis in K-12 Literacy – Implications for Western Civilization

By James Robinson • March 7, 2026
A swarm of lemmings continues their march to the proverbial sea, attracted by a temporary vision of sun and beauty, but ultimately distracted by that vision—thus, they fall off the cliff in a passive suicide. It wasn’t a conscious decision. Their deaths were the consequence of distraction alone. In this allegory, the lemmings are writers (and many in publishing) who ignore the erosion in elementary schools and K-12 education. Writers may create brilliant work, but if students graduate without the skills to engage deeply, our audience vanishes. From a cultural perspective, this is alarming—and the stakes extend to the health of Western civilization itself. In my day job, as Executive Director of a small non-profit, I oversee a pre-K program, a charter school, and our efforts to revitalize a publishing company re-dedicated to high-quality children's books, which we're strongly considering. These trends hit close to home: we're building foundations early because the data shows the stakes are high—not just for individuals, but for the shared knowledge, critical reasoning, and civic discourse that have sustained Western democratic traditions for centuries. Key trends: Average Grade Level of Books Sold Now vs. 1950: Decline Toward Grade 5–7 Bestsellers today often score 5th–7th grade on Flesch-Kincaid (many 4th–6th for broad appeal), with simpler sentences and vocabulary to match declining adult reading stamina. Mid-20th-century works frequently demanded more (closer to 7th–9th in analyses), reflecting a market shift toward accessibility amid falling literacy. Didactic vs. Non-Didactic vs. Classics: Effects on Brain Development Narrative-driven reading (non-didactic stories or classics) sustains broader brain activation—engaging language, empathy, memory, and connectivity regions more effectively than passive or overly didactic methods. Neuroscience shows immersive storytelling promotes neuroplasticity and deeper neural pathways, while fragmented/instructional approaches may limit sustained engagement and cognitive depth needed for complex literature. If Trends Continue: What Will Texts Look Like in the Future—4th Grade? Pleasure reading has plummeted ~40% over 20 years (daily readers from 28% peak in 2004 to 16% in 2023); adult literacy scores dropped sharply (many below 6th grade); NAEP reading scores remain at historic lows. Unchecked, popular texts could simplify to 4th-grade or lower: basic vocabulary, short sentences, reduced nuance—eroding space for sophisticated writing. These declines threaten more than literacy: they undermine the foundations of Western civilization. Deep reading fosters critical thinking, empathy, and shared cultural references essential to informed citizenship and democratic debate. As reading wanes, societies risk shallower discourse, greater susceptibility to manipulation, weakened civic engagement, and a fraying of the reflective reasoning that has driven progress, innovation, and self-governance in the West. This isn't inevitable. Writers and creators bring storytelling, imagination, and engagement that schools and early programs need most. Call to Action: Get involved in schools and early education. Ask kids about the books you remember reading when you were a kid– The Oddyssey, Of Mice and Men, Leaves of Grass. Advocate for narrative-rich curricula, or support initiatives like ours in pre-K and charter settings. Or send me an email, I'd love to chat. When we relaunch our website in the summer, we'll have some exciting news. We have a lot of work to do-- and we're all learning from it.

Venturing into the Courage Gap, #1

By James Robinson • February 21, 2026
Pushing and Pulling The "push" connotes aggression whereas the "pull" connotes invitation. The "push" is a criticism, and the "pull" is coffee and advice at a nice cafe selected just for the advisee. Both are needed in different measures, at different times and often towards the same ends. In 2024, I engaged in a sabbatical to step back, read, study, think, and reflect about schools and leading through the pandemic. It was a very prolific period. However, what made it prolific was the "push"-- spending days reviewing data and learning to criticize the sector I worked in. The Courage Gap Talks document those learnings, in the most lo-fi way. They're ugly, but they inform the work and solutions we're imlpementing at the park, where our goal is to "pull" folks into a transformative educational envioronment. Originally, they were called "Career-Suicide Notebooks", the original plan being to walk away from education all together. Instead, what I learned will inform my work for years. It's been said that Buddhist monks can see the world in a grain of rice. After being immersed in education for several years, I see the world in a school ecosystem. Thus, schools enter my creative work and the way I think about creativity enters my work in schools. The first video is called 33% and it looks at the proficiency scores of 4th grade students on the NAEP Assessment. Additionally, it looks at the broad economy that works to maintain the status quo.