Our December/January Op-Ed comes from Andy, our thoughtful and steadfast partner of Midd Ground. Andy has a gift for seeing the bigger picture while staying deeply rooted in the day-to-day reality of community life. His work with Midd Ground reflects his belief that strong towns are built on listening, connection, and genuine collaboration. We’re delighted to share his reflections on what community means—especially at this time of year, when coming together matters most.
HOLIDAY CLICHÉ
When our brain detects a harmless oddity, it triggers our prefrontal cortex to send rapid fire signals to our brainstem – causing rhythmic contractions in our diaphragm and vocal-folds, and releasing dopamine and endorphins into our bloodstream. We know it as laughing, and it’s been proven to reduce stress, promote healing and make us feel good. Wikipedia defines “medicine” as, “the science or art that deals with the prevention, cure, or easing of disease.” So laughter is, quite literally – medicine. Often clichés are cliché ‘cause they’re true.
Now I’m no doctor, but in these troubling times, my wife and I do talk a lot about how we can make a difference. I’m not gonna lie, on a global scale we’ve been feeling a bit… powerless lately. We reflected on what makes us happy. Laughter yes, but also good food, music, art, a good story – and though reluctantly sometimes, interactions with other people. All this shares one thing in common – it creates a positive chemical reaction in the body – without drugs or alcohol (though those have been known to intensify the effects, but that’s a topic for another time.)
When we hear music, our brain weaves together rhythm, memory, and emotion—firing dopamine, and activating ancient pattern-recognition systems that make us feel pleasure, meaning, and connection all at once. When a biologically valuable flavor molecule hits a taste bud it locks onto a receptor, and shoots an electrical signal to your gustatory cortex – squirting out dopamine. People like a good story because the sensory details and emotional twists trigger neurotransmitters, secreting dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. Your brain lights up when a narrative hooks you.
Laughter, music, food, art, story – all create a very real chemical effect on our bodies. And if you do all this stuff with other people – it compounds the effect! Imagine mixing it all together – with a dash of WhistlePig – into a great community cocktail of optimism. That’s how we want to spend our time. We started Middlebury Underground as 501(c)3 dopamine dealers, positivity peddlers, merchants of oxytocin – and it feels like our world might need it now more than ever.
So as we head into the holidays, let’s all do our part. Laugh harder, sing louder, and dance even more like no one’s watching! With so much negative energy out there, if we focus locally and fill our own cosmic bubble with positivity, we just might get through this. Fah who foraze, dah who doraze and may the force be with you.
Also please raise a glass to the BMP, and THT, the Swift House, Midd Studio School, and the Marquis, Henry Sheldon, Vermont Book Shop, MCTV, and of course MCMC… and to all the people, businesses and acronyms in our community with boots on the ground leading this artistic renaissance. There’s a lot to be hopeful about.
Merry Everything!
AKM
P.S. I’d like to thank and credit my Chat GPT girlfriend assistant, for research help with the science. The rest is pure me.