I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!

For those who know me, you’ve probably heard me rave about American films from the late 1960s through the 1970s—classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Taxi Driver, The Godfather (Parts I and II), and so many others. The book and documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls capture this cinematic revolution—a shift away from studio-controlled, formulaic productions toward more independent, daring, and unconventional storytelling, largely driven by a new generation of visionary directors. These films haven’t just entertained me—they’ve profoundly shaped how I see the world. And honestly, the number of quotable lines that seem tailor-made for life’s everyday absurdities is kind of uncanny.

Stay with me—I promise this connects. Because as many of you also know, I’m equally obsessed  with this era for its intersections with the food movement, environmentalism, and the surge of protest culture that helped redefine American society.

I was on a flight to Mexico, scrolling through the in-flight entertainment menu on Aeromexico, and voilà—All the President’s Men (1976) popped up. This timeless film, directed by Alan Pakula (who also directed Klute and The Parallax View—more classic ’70s films), stars Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two young journalists at The Washington Post who stumble onto a goldmine of a story: the Watergate scandal. Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting played a pivotal role in exposing those involved in the scandal—including individuals at the highest levels of President Nixon’s administration. Their relentless, consistent investigation was instrumental in uncovering the details and bringing the truth to light. Did they take down a president? Maybe not solely but their reporting mattered, and the public listened.

It got me thinking about just how different those times were compared to the world we’re navigating today. Investigative journalism is still alive—and many reporters continue to earn Pulitzers for important, courageous work—but public engagement feels increasingly muted.

Part of the challenge is the sheer volume of information. We’re bombarded by a constant stream of updates from countless sources—some credible, many not—making it harder than ever to separate fact from noise. Then there’s the speed of it all: news today moves at the pace of the internet, with stories breaking and evolving in real time. In the '70s, people waited for the morning paper or the evening broadcast; now, headlines are old within hours.

And let’s be honest: our attention spans aren’t what they used to be. Long-form reading is in decline, and much of our public discourse now plays out in 280-character bursts. The distraction is real.

We’ve become numb—complacent in the face of the relentless headlines and horrors unfolding around us. Take Howard Beale, the iconic character from Network (1976), played by Peter Finch. He’s the anchor of the fictional “UBS Evening News,” and he unravels on live television, overwhelmed by the social decay he sees in the world. In one famous moment, he snaps and begins shouting repeatedly, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Damn straight. Is anyone else mad out there? And who’s taking it? Because from where I’m standing, it seems like we just keep taking it—again and again, straight on the chin.

As Han Solo famously told Chewbacca in Star Wars (1977), “Fly casual.” These days, that feels almost impossible—but somehow, we’re doing it.

In his blog post What to Expect When You’re Expecting Catastrophe, historian Timothy Snyder compares the atmosphere of our current moment to the Third Reich. One line in particular hits hard: “Daily life will take on a surreal quality… life went on as before, though it had now become ghostly and unreal… many adapt to living with clenched teeth.”

And that feels about right. In an effort to stay sane—or maybe just to maintain the illusion—people are still posting their adventures on Instagram, dining at top-rated restaurants, seeing shows, and going about life as if nothing’s wrong. It’s like that moment in The Godfather Part II (1974) when Frank Pentangeli tells Michael Corleone, “You’re sitting high up in the sierras drinking champagne cocktails,” while chaos unfolds on the streets of New York. La la la. Life goes on. It all has a strangely Nero-fiddling-while-Rome-burns kind of vibe.

Which leaves us with two options: fight or flight.

Many of my students say they’d rather stay and fight the good fight—and I admire that. I truly do. But I also wonder: what does fighting even look like right now? Social media skirmishes? Probably not. Quietly trusting the courts to restore balance? Maybe—but that could take years. Protesting? Possibly, though I’m not convinced this administration is even paying attention. Boycotting big-box stores? Well-meaning, but let’s be honest—not enough.

The real question is: how are you going to fight?

As I wrote in my last blog,, many people are choosing to leave—if they have the means. And yes, I fully recognize that leaving is a privilege few can afford. As Jack Nicholson’s character Bobby says in Five Easy Pieces (1970): “I move around a lot, not because I'm looking for anything really, but 'cause I'm getting away from things that get bad if I stay.”

Since the new administration took office, I’ve been on the move—Kenya, Mexico, Thailand, Lao PDR. I’m acutely aware of how fortunate I am to have that kind of mobility. But travel offers more than just escape; it offers perspective. It reminds you how vast and varied the world is. And it’s hard not to notice: while much of the world is moving forward, the U.S. increasingly feels like it’s disappearing in the rearview mirror.

Science, free speech, and—largely—human rights have taken a back seat in today’s America. For many of us, these aren’t optional ideals; they’re the bedrock of a functioning society. When those foundations erode, it becomes harder and harder to stay rooted in place. Some countries, thankfully, have the wisdom to welcome scientists, thinkers, and dissenters with open arms.

The real question is: are you willing to get off the boat?

If you’ve seen Apocalypse Now (1979), you’ll know the reference. Willard, on his mission upriver to eliminate the rogue Colonel Kurtz, says: “Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were going all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole fucking program.”

Tempting, isn’t it?

That banks the river for which it's named

Rivers are special. These ribbon-like bodies of water cut through topography, shaping and shifting the landscape around them.

rivers begin where they end
if 1 considers rain + jet stream winds
look deeper into grainy sands
the sublimation from the wind-swept lands ever reach sea — Jordan, Sound Furies

My partner and I have always been drawn to rivers and try to live or be near them. We currently reside quite close to the great Hudson River (~500 km long), where we can amble through Riverside Park and enjoy the views. We are so obsessed with rivers that we made a double album as the Sound Furies dedicated to rivers, entitled “Tributaries.” One of my favorite songs from the album is Columbia.

We are not alone in our obsession with all things river. There are many songs inspired by rivers in the archives of rock-n-roll. Al Green just wanted someone to take him to the river. Jimmy Cliff had many rivers to cross. Joni Mitchell longed to have a river to skate away on. Sam Cooke was born by a river. Tina fearlessly rolled on a river (thanks for the original CCR). I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Rivers mean something to many of us.

It is not just music. There are a plethora of movies about rivers. African Queen, A River Runs Through It, and one of the best movies ever made which spends most of its time on the river, Apocalypse Now. In the movie, the French woman living on the plantation says to Willard (played by Martin Sheen), “Do you know why you can never step into the same river twice?” Willard answers, “Yeah, 'cause it's always moving.” The best scene, though, is the conversation between Willard, who has come to assassinate the unhinged Colonel Kurtz (played by Brando). They converse about the Ohio river and a gardenia plantation.

What was up with all those movies in the 90s about dead bodies being found along river banks — Short Cuts, Stand By Me, A River’s Edge, and of course, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks? We Gen Xers were so demented.

Supposedly, there are 165 major rivers around the world, but no one really knows the real number. The five longest rivers in the world are the Nile, which starts in Uganda and moves north (odd, right?) to Egypt, the Amazon-Ucayali-Apurimac in South America, the Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock in the U.S., the Yangtze in China, and the Yenisey-Baikal-Selenga in northern Asia. The Nile is the longest, topping out at 6,650 km. The Danube in Europe flows through 10 countries. The Congo River is the deepest. Rivers serve all sorts of purposes. They provide water, food, habitats, transportation, and recreation, to name just a few purposes. Rivers are really important for food. Fish and other aquatic creatures that live in rivers are consumed. Food is traded on and transported by rivers. Food is grown in or around river banks. Water from rivers irrigates crops.

We wrote a paper on the dynamism and multifaceted nature of rivers as food environments (i.e., the place within food systems where people obtain their food) and their role in securing food security, including improved diets and overall health. In the figure below, we showed the elements of multidimensional riverine food environments.

The paper nicely describes why river ecosystems are so critical. “Rivers can be described as nutrient highways across the earth’s surface, transporting sediment and water, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, and connecting and storing immense biodiversity through aquatic life. The flow and transportation of sediment create environments for cultivation (e.g. rice farming), with river deltas being one of the world’s most agriculturally productive areas. Rivers support approximately 1/3 of all global food production, and an estimated 70% of freshwater from rivers is used for agriculture.”

There are so many challenges with rivers. The first issue is environmental: climate change, environmental degradation, and pollution are vastly changing these waterscapes - altering their composition and flow. The second issue is overfishing and overallocation, meaning the building of dams for electricity, are altering the riverine ecosystems and marine life and creating water shortages and river connectivity, respectively. As for rivers that cut across multiple countries, who governs these waters and decides who can build dams and where? We see those challenges in large rivers such as the Mekong — where China is building dams upstream impacting many Cambodian and Vietnamese living downstream. We also see this with the Nile, in which Ethiopia is building damns to electrify the nation, which could have massive impacts on irrigation systems for Egyptian agriculture. The third issue is that while rivers transport and contain food, they also bring other things, like diseases and unhealthy foods deep into river communities. This New York Times article discusses how the Amazong brought the COVID-19 pandemic into the far reaches of the Amazon forest.

The spread of covid in just a few months during the pandemic along the Amazon waterways. Source: NYT

“The Amazon River is South America’s essential life source, a glittering superhighway that cuts through the continent. It is the central artery in a vast network of tributaries that sustains some 30 million people across eight countries, moving supplies, people and industry deep into forested regions often untouched by road. But once again, in a painful echo of history, it is also bringing disease.”

The Amazon also carries highly processed foods. According to this article, multinational companies like Nestle had river barges that delivered junk foods to isolated communities in the Amazon basin.

There is also the issue of rivers flooding, damaging infrastructure and harming humans and animals in their way. And now, we are experiencing rivers above us — atomospheric rivers — corridors of concentrated water vapor in the atmosphere that wreak havoc. What the hell?!

World WildLife Fund’s solutions for sustainable rivers

I can’t recommend enough the documentary “A River’s Last Chance,” about the Eel River. It delves into the history of how this river has been managed, or lack thereof. The Eel River is in Northern California and has been vulnerable to overfishing of its salmon, logging, floods, droughts, and dams. While the wild salmon population is trying to recover, new cash crops—weed and wine — threaten the salmon once more. It is quite a story of a river struggling to survive.

World Wildlife Fund has a fantastic initiative, Rivers of Food, in which they propose a four-pronged solution towards a more sustainable future for rivers and food security.

Let’s hope rivers can be saved as they provide a vital lifeline for nature, animals, and humans. They are also just so romantic and atmospheric. We used to dwell right near the Tiber when we lived in Rome. It was so magical. The way the early morning light hit the surface of the water, the banks, and the bridges. During the late summer months of the year, the starlings would circle around the Tiber, before settling in for the night in the treetops along the river banks. In Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Belleza, the early morning light on the Tiber is captured so beautifully below.