SIGN UP FOR EMAILS
Welcome to the 80th volume of WizeWorld: a collection of stories and sounds to round out your week, pique your curiosity, and widen your wizdom.
This week’s theme is repair.
We all need to find the places where we can make the small improvements needed for our health, happiness, and general wellbeing. This week, we’re looking at the artists, athletes, and more who are doing the same. Including street art that patches up pavements and a furniture maker who’s turned his attention to a supply chain problem in the world of cycling. It’s not just about fixing what’s broken—it’s about taking it to another level.
We’ll be looking at:
- Why melatonin use has risen dramatically
- An interview with Kody Williams, whose injury inspired innovation
- Street art that finds beauty in-between the cracks
- When in Trouble Tuck for Double from Wize Athlete Steve Vanderhoek
- The company making environmentally-friendly wooden bicycles
Learn
Forbes reports on the surprising fact that melatonin use has increased four-fold among Americans in the last 20 years. And, perhaps more worryingly, that we’re not really sure what the long-term effects of taking melatonin truly are. Though they don’t have a lot of concrete answers on what has caused this increased dependance, they do have some tips on how to wean yourself off—including reducing your caffeine intake. Higher and higher amounts of caffeine can lead to your body feeling wired, rather than tired, when you go to bed at the end of the day. Choosing lighter and more sustainable options (like Wize) can help ease the transition.
Connect
This week’s interview is a throwback with Kody Williams: Wize Collective athlete, Burton-sponsored snowboarder, and all-around inspiration. Nearly six years ago, Kody suffered a head injury that put him into a coma and he spent six months relearning to walk, talk, and eat. Now he’s back on the slopes doing what he loves after a successful recovery. But he doesn’t take his experience lightly—Kody is a huge advocate for helmet wearing and launched his safe snowboarding initiative Dome Peace Headwear.
See
Colossal brings us the work of artist Ememem, otherwise known as “the pavement surgeon”. He looks for streets with splintered pavements and fractured sidewalks and gets to work—filling in the gaps with vibrant mosaics of tile and stone. In the last six years, he’s repaired streets across Norway, Scotland, Germany, and Spain. And he’s now launching a residency to teach his methods to other interested street artists who want to make the world a little more beautiful.
Listen
Need extra motivation on the trail? Look no further than Steve Vanderhoek’s When in Trouble Tuck for Double playlist. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off with this mix of metal, rock, and more to get you through every slip, spill, and thrill.
Get inspired
Finally, Positive News brings us the story of Andy Dix: a Welsh furniture maker who’s begun building bikes to solve a problem. During the pandemic, demand for cycling as a less impactful and more enjoyable method of transportation meant that bikes were selling out across the world—with the supply chain scrambling to keep up. But Andy voiced concern with the materials often used to make bikes and the amount of energy that goes into that production in the first place. He uses locally-sourced wood in place of traditional carbon fiber, steel, and aluminum. And for anyone concerned about durability, he points out that wood has a higher weight-to-strength ratio than steel or aluminum.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get these hand-picked gems in your inbox every Friday morning.
