By Brett
Some of you might not have known this, but we have a YouTube channel. We’ve just posted to it very irregularly over the past five years. Lots of you have requested that we do more videos, but I’ve put off doing them because of time constraints, my lack of video-making knowledge, and my slight discomfort in front of the camera. But this year I’ve decided to get out of my comfort zone and make it a goal to finally start making AoM videos on a regular basis. To that end, I’m teaming up with AoM reader and filmmaker, Jordan Crowder. Jordan created and starred in the fun, vintage-inspired “Do It Now” instructional video we did for our Heading Out On Your Own Series. Jordan and I will be working together to put out at least one AoM video each week. What sort of videos should you expect from the Art of Manliness? We’ll be doing a lot of how-to stuff: how to tie a bow tie, how to change the oil on your car, how to make introductions, etc. Some of them will be straightforward and some of them will be styled in that endearing vintage-instructional video vein. I’ll also be taking some of our more philosophical content on what it means to be a man and turning those into videos. I plan on doing some interviews with people who are doing things that an AoM Man might be interested in. Jordan’s going to do a fun “man on the street” feature, where he’ll ask guys who are out and about questions about manliness. And who knows? Maybe we’ll bring back our “Man to Man” Q&A feature or even do some live Google Hangouts where we discuss a virile topic. I’ll be honest with you all. This is a learning process for me. I’m still learning how to work the camera (the fact that I sounded like I was in a tin can in the above video is a result of my novice status) and I might be a little awkward in front of the camera for a bit. So don’t expect awesomeness right out of the gate, but I promise it will get better. If you ever have suggestions, please reach out to us via our YouTube Channel. Subscribe! Speaking of our YouTube Channel, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the AoM YouTube channel. That way all our videos will come right to you. Thanks for your continued support of The Art of Manliness. We hope the addition of regular videos will make your experience more enjoyable and useful. Stay manly! 
  
By Brett & Kate McKay
This article concludes a series that studied the life of Jack London, and especially his display of the Ancient Greek concept of thumos. We hope you enjoyed our ten-part series on the life and thumos of Jack London. I know we enjoyed researching and writing it. I've never found another man's story so fascinating and compelling. I've learned a lot about Jack and still want to learn more! I'd love to someday make a pilgrimage out to London's former home in Glen Ellen, California (which is now a state park). That a man's thumos can continue to burn and touch people well beyond the grave is truly a testament to the power of this force of soul. Pondering the life of Jack London brings up many deep and interesting questions. Is a man with such high-pitched thumos almost destined to burn out (it's hard to imagine Jack as a 70-year-old man, isn't it)? Is it better to burn out than fade out? Is burning out selfish (Jack after all left behind a widow and two daughters)? If you're going to burn out, would it better to do so in a more glorious way than poisoning your body (an unofficial motto of the Navy SEALs is to "live fast, die hard, and leave a good-looking corpse")? Is ignorance really bliss or is it possible to attain vast knowledge and still retain your ideals? Would you rather experience all London did and die at 40, or double your lifespan but live a much more staid and mediocre life? Every man will have different answers to these questions. I can only tell you of several of the takeaways I've personally gotten from tracing the ups and downs of Jack London's life and the arc of his thumos. Do more and be more. When reading London's biographies and books, something deep within me, a hunger for something more, is greatly stirred – I just want to get out and explore! Jack described this stirring in himself as a voice at the back of his consciousness –"a curiosity, desire to know, an unrest and a seeking for things wonderful that I seemed somehow to have glimpsed or guessed." By harkening to this call, Jack had some pretty amazing adventures and was able to commit with superhuman discipline to self-education and honing his craft as a writer. But even he himself said the voice came in a whisper to him, and I think oftentimes we have a hard time hearing it – and answering it — in our own lives. I know I do. Responsibilities pile up, fear gets in the way, we rationalize away our dreams and desires as silly or impossible to fulfill, and content ourselves with the ordinary. "Such has been for me the best education in the world, and I look for it more and more. Man must have better men to measure himself against, else his advance will be nil, or if at all, one-sided and whimsical." – Jack London
I know I'll never be one-tenth as cool as Jack London – he was a one-of-a-kind character even in his own time – and his life honestly makes me feel pretty boring and inadequate! But in the best possible way. Measuring yourself against someone great doesn't mean you'll necessarily ever reach their level, but it can inspire you do better in your own place in the world – to make the most of whatever situation you are in. Jack London inspires me to read more, to work harder, and to figure out how I – a dad with plenty of obligations — can add more adventure to my own life. Keep challenging yourself. London found that reaching the heights of success felt empty; his real joy came in the midst of his adventures and the godlike act of creating. His life really demonstrated to me how the journey and struggle is far more satisfying than the destination. Yeah, sounds like a bumper sticker, I know, but it's truth. The recognition, fame, and money you get from reaching a high achievement does not bring lasting fulfillment. The reward is really in the striving – in the satisfaction that comes with stretching your mental and physical abilities to their limit, in having experiences that expand your soul, and in sensing yourself transform into a better man. Once you finish one challenge, you have to find a new one – even if it's of a much different variety than the last. Keep pushing. Like many success stories, London’s hardly moved in a straight line. He’d be stuck working in a factory, and then have a seemingly life-changing adventure, and then be back working at a factory, and then off on another adventure, only to return to the assembly-line once again. He received tons of rejections before magazines and publishers accepted his writing. But he always saw these setbacks as temporary. Instead of being discouraged, he kept looking for new opportunities and constantly worked to improve himself until he finally took off once and for all. Take time to recharge. Another thing I gleaned from Jack is a greater understanding of the fact that while the white horse of thumos can certainly lead to greatness and success, if driven too hard and for too long, you risk weakening it and letting the dark horse of your appetites take control. I'm a huge proponent of working like hell to reach your goals and find success, and I'm happy when I'm hustling. But I have a really hard time knocking off and taking time to recharge – there's no clear quitting time or hours at this kind of job and I could keep at it 24/7 if I wanted. Boy, did Jack and Charmian's last conversation hit too close to home for me. Jack showed me that such a full-speed-ahead approach may work in the short-term, but you've got to pace yourself if you want to stick with something for the long haul. It's all about the 20-Mile March! Hold onto your ideals. As Jack got older, he lost faith in the ideals that had fired his youth and animated his spirit. He felt that he knew too much, and by the end of his life he had become hollow and jaded. I do think that the more educated you become, the harder it gets not to fall victim to a deeply cynical outlook about people and life. Cynicism is like a cancer that starts small and then spreads to devour every bit of awe and sparkle and magic threaded throughout our existence. But I do think it’s possible to hold onto your ideals without burying your head in the sand. And not simply possible, but necessary. Every man needs a purpose – a set of beliefs rooted in his very core that he can full-throatily, wholeheartedly endorse – without apology, or wink, wink irony, or an endless list of caveats. Heeding the seasons of thumos. One of the most interesting things to come out of studying Jack London's life was reflecting on the way the "lifecycle" of thumos really mirrors that of the development of the brain. A few months ago we did a two-part series on the importance of not wasting your twenties. We first talked about the unique powers and opportunities of the twentysomething brain, which include a propensity for deep passion, a keen curiosity about others and the world, and fearlessness in the face of risk (remind you of anything?). We explored the way these propensities mellow as your brain finishes developing and "setting up" in your mid-twenties, but explained that while your intensity dims, you become better able to plan, make decisions, process probability, set goals, and handle uncertainty. As you move into your thirties, the passionate part of your brain mellows while its executive functions strengthen. That series has come to mind frequently as I've studied thumos and Jack London's life, and it seems to me that the development of the brain and the nature of thumos are connected. The latter may not solely be a philosophical, metaphysical concept, but a neurological one as well. Just as your brain has seasons, your thumos does too, and it's important to understand and take advantage of those seasons in their proper time. What we said about the brain is that it develops in such a way that the twenties are the ideal time for launching your passions, while the subsequent decades are best for then building what you launched. Or another way of looking at it is to say that the elements of drive, fight, and emotion of thumos are pitched highest in your youth, while its elements of decision-making, judgment, and steadfastness emerge more strongly as you age. The different elements of thumos come to the forefront at different times in your life, and they emerge precisely when you need them most. The ancient Greeks recognized these different seasons of a man's thumos. They associated thumos most strongly with youth, but felt it operated throughout a man's life. A perfect example of the different seasons of thumos can be seen in comparing Achilles in the Iliad and Odysseus in the Odyssey. Achilles was a young man, probably no older than 18 or 19, and was filled with fierce thumic anger and drive. He sought glory and honor above all else. And he got it. He just had to die in the prime of his life to obtain it. Odysseus, on the other hand, was older. He had a family and kingdom back at home waiting for him. He didn't care as much about glory as he did about getting back to his beloved Ithaca alive. Odysseus still had thumos; it just didn't burn as white-hot as Achilles', and he used it in a different way. It was with his thumic cunning and wiles that he was able to make wise decisions, outwit his foes, and return home to live a long and peaceful life. If you were to ask me whom I identified with more 10 years ago, I would have told you Achilles. I was fiercely driven to reach my goals and become a success. But now that I'm 30, and have a family and a mortgage, I find myself relating to the man of many wiles more and more. My passion and drive for success have dimmed, while my desire to be a wise steward over what I have already gained has grown. First a man becomes a warrior; then, if he survives the battle, he becomes a king. First thumos drives one to conquer, then it aids him in managing and growing what he has attained. Thumos is needed in each season, but in different ways. I don't think Jack London understood this. Or if he did understand it, he didn't accept it. He kept flogging the drive component of this thumos that had pushed him to success in his twenties, well into his thirties, but to increasingly diminished returns. And he neglected to harness and train the wise decision-making and judgment elements of his thumos, letting what he had already gained slip away. His thumos was operating out of season – failing to harvest in the fall and planting fruitless seeds in the winter. He had thrived as the warrior, but could not transition into being the king. Be a man. Manliness can be tough to define. But boy, we sure know it when we see it. It's something easier to feel than to articulate. Despite his flaws, Jack London's manliness leapt off every page he wrote, and that others wrote about him, with palpable force. Simply learning about him makes me want to be more of a man. Would we all be so privileged as to receive the kind of succinct tribute an old sourdough offered to London upon his death: “I loved the man because—because he was a man; By the Turtles of Tasman, He was a man!”
 Farewell, Jack. Thanks for everything. We'd like to end this series with our favorite piece of Jack's writing, the one that perhaps best sums up the feeling of thumos that blazed through his life. The selection comes from London’s fictional novel, The Iron Heel, published in 1908. The narrator, Avis Everhard, describes her husband Ernest, and shares his favorite poem, one which speaks to the infinite power and potential of man and the desire to live life to the fullest: But he had pride. How could he have been an eagle and not have pride? His contention was that it was finer for a finite mortal speck of life to feel Godlike, than for a god to feel godlike; and so it was that he exalted what he deemed his mortality. He was fond of quoting a fragment from a certain poem. He had never seen the whole poem, and he had tried vainly to learn its authorship. I here give the fragment, not alone because he loved it, but because it epitomized the paradox that he was in the spirit of him, and his conception of his spirit. For how can a man, with thrilling, and burning, and exaltation, recite the following and still be mere mortal earth, a bit of fugitive force, an evanescent form? Here it is: Joy upon joy and gain upon gain
Are the destined rights of my birth,
And I shout the praise of my endless days
To the echoing edge of the earth.
Though I suffer all deaths that a man can die
To the uttermost end of time,
I have deep-drained this, my cup of bliss,
In every age and clime— The froth of Pride, the tang of Power,
The sweet of Womanhood!
I drain the lees upon my knees,
For oh, the draught is good;
I drink to Life, I drink to Death,
And smack my lips with song,
For when I die, another ‘I’ shall pass the cup along. The man you drove from Eden's grove
Was I, my Lord, was I,
And I shall be there when the earth and the air
Are rent from sea to sky;
For it is my world, my gorgeous world,
The world of my dearest woes,
From the first faint cry of the newborn
To the rack of the woman's throes. Packed with the pulse of an unborn race,
Torn with a world's desire,
The surging flood of my wild young blood
Would quench the judgment fire.
I am Man, Man, Man, from the tingling flesh
To the dust of my earthly goal,
From the nestling gloom of the pregnant womb
To the sheen of my naked soul.
Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh
The whole world leaps to my will,
And the unslaked thirst of an Eden cursed
Shall harrow the earth for its fill.
Almighty God, when I drain life's glass
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hapless plight of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams. The man you drove from Eden's grove
Was I, my Lord, was I,
And I shall be there when the earth and the air
Are rent from sea to sky;
For it is my world, my gorgeous world,
The world of my dear delight,
From the brightest gleam of the Arctic stream
To the dusk of my own love-night.
What did you take from learning about the life of Jack London? Share your thoughts with us in the comments! 
  
By A Manly Guest Contributor
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from John Porter. With warm weather upon us and summer just around the corner, it's time to think about gardening. "Gardening?" you say. Yes, gardening. If the mention of it has you thinking of aged ladies in big hats and frilly gloves gently nipping blooms from their roses, then you have the wrong picture. If you aren't already gardening, there are plenty of reasons to be doing so. It's time to lay down your gardening misconceptions and pick up a shovel and a hoe. Manly Horticulturalists in History Gardening goes way back and has a good deal of manly history. Thousands and thousands of years ago, the planting of crops led to the creation of what would eventually be modern culture. The first crops were grains, as in wheat, barley, and the like. But don't think that agriculture began just so that everyone could eat bread. On the contrary, modern theories of early agriculture show that the practice started so that the Neolithic nomads could get their homebrew on. That's right – early agriculture was driven to produce beer. You can't get any manlier a start than that. Fast-forward several thousand years and you find that some of the most celebrated gardeners of our time have been men. Perhaps one of the most prolific and adventurous of them was the third president of our country – Thomas Jefferson. During his time, he was known far and wide for his gardening prowess. He would even compete with his friends to see who could harvest the first peas in the spring (manly competition has obviously changed with the invention of football and video games). He kept journal after journal of his trials and errors in the garden and has passed down a legacy that lives still today. The gardens at his home, Monticello, still function much as they did when he was gardener-in-chief. There's even a Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants. Aside from Jefferson, we find garden pioneers like Luther Burbank, who developed more than 800 varieties of plants throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s and is the father of the Russet Burbank potato. It was his unorthodox and untidy tinkering that led the horticultural industry for decades and ultimately culminated in Congress passing the 1930 Plant Patent Act. Since he had passed away four years earlier, he was posthumously awarded 16 patents. Burbank's contemporary and competitor was W. Atlee Burpee, who had the largest seed company in the world when he died in 1915. The company distributed over 1 million catalogs annually and took over 10,000 orders per day. The company is still in operation as Burpee Seeds. Of course, the one horticultural hero celebrated in both song and story is Johnny Appleseed. No, he's not just a legend of frontier America; he really did exist. Despite living as a pauper, John Chapman (his real name) became a legend during his own lifetime. He traveled westward ahead of the expansion of the growing United States, introducing apples to much of the frontier of Ohio and Illinois. This itinerant farmer wasn't planting apples so that people could get all their fruits and veggies, however. Back in those days, apples weren't for eating – they were for cider; as in hard cider and applejack. He also sold trees to pioneers, who were required to plant fruit trees as a symbol of their ties to the land given to them by the government. In The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World, Michael Pollan writes: “Really, what Johnny Appleseed was doing and the reason he was welcome in every cabin in Ohio and Indiana was he was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier. He was our American Dionysus." 7 Reasons You Should Be Gardening Now, at this point you might be asking, "Why do your examples of a bunch of dead, manly gardeners mean that I should be gardening?" I would have to say that you're right – it doesn't mean a thing. But, there are plenty of reasons you should be gardening. I'll go over a few of them right now: 
Reason #1: You know what you are eating. There are an increasing number of people who focus on eating organically or naturally produced food. That's well and good, but just because it says organic doesn't mean that it's any healthier. Organic food produced on a large scale can still have issues. Just look at the food biosecurity issues with tainted produce over the last several years. Plus, the rules for "certified organic" might not be as stringent as you think. 
Reason #2: You can save money on food. There’s a reason that after the economic collapse in 2008, home food gardening increased by over 30% by some estimates. Growing your own fruits and veggies can not only put more green in your fridge and your diet, it can also put more green in your wallet. It is much more economical to grow a hundred heads of lettuce from a seed packet that costs $2 than it is to buy one head of lettuce for $2. Some gardeners might argue that home-grown food really isn't cheaper, but you have to resist the urge to buy all of the latest gizmos, fancy equipment, expensive tools, and overpriced fertilizer. You can maintain your garden without breaking the bank by being thrifty and wise. It gets even cheaper when you use recycled materials, make your own compost, and bargain shop. Reason #3: It can attract/impress a mate. Invite your "someone special" over for a romantic, home-cooked candlelight dinner, and you are sure to impress. Tell your date that you grew the tomato and herbs in the pasta sauce and it will be the icing on the cake. Finish dinner with some home-grown strawberries and you've hit the ball out of the park. Gardening demonstrates skill and dedication, and shows that you’ll be able to provide for your future family beyond simply bringing home the bacon. 
Reason #4: It can make you more self-sufficient.
Sure, right now obtaining food is as easy as going down to the big box store and grabbing whatever you want off the shelf. But what if some kind catastrophe cut off that steady food supply? Would you have even the foggiest idea as to how to start growing your own grub? Even if the zombie apocalypse is a ways off, it is really satisfying to know that you don’t have to totally rely on distant producers for your food, and that you have the skill-set to turn seeds into sustenance. Reason #5: Gardening is great exercise. Perhaps the closest you've come to gardening is being a couch potato. Or maybe your idea of health is working on your six-pack abs. Either way, gardening can be a fun way to get in some exercise. Planting, cultivating, harvesting, and lifting are all activities that give you a moderate amount of exercise. You can burn off pounds and increase your health all while growing some tasty grub. Reason #6: Gardening works as therapy/meditation. Does life wear you down? Are you stressed? Gardening can be a great way to find inner peace and concentration, clearing out all of the competing thoughts that life brings us. Plus, there's no better cure for frustration than digging holes or destroying weeds. Reason #7: Gardening will reconnect you to nature. No, we are not talking Kumbaya and sharing circles here. We are talking actually getting out of the house/office/parent's basement and experiencing the great outdoors. Really getting down in the dirt. It used to be that humans functioned with the natural seasonal cycles, especially when it came to food. Since we have access to fresh produce the whole year at the grocery store, we've lost some connection to the seasons and the natural flow of the earth. How Do I Start Gardening? 
Well, the simple answer is: plant something! Even if it is in a pot in your apartment window, get growing. Visit a local garden center or retailer and see what is available in your area. You can also check online for mail-order garden companies. If you are completely confused or need help, contact your local extension agent. These folks (myself included) are paid to connect you with the information you need and often offer workshops for beginning gardeners. If you feel a little more confident in your gardening skill, the extension service also offers the Master Gardener program, which is an intensive training and volunteer service program. If you are unsure where to find your extension agent, contact your nearest land-grant university or go to www.extension.org. There, you can find lots of information, a connection to your state's extension service, and even a box where you can type in a question to be answered by an extension expert. Who knows, maybe one day your horticultural skills will be the stuff of legend and stories of your garden will be told in history books. ____________________________ John Porter is a West Virginia University Extension agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Charleston, WV. He is a native of Wayne County, WV, where he grew up on his family farm. He currently resides in Kanawha City, where he is transforming his home's small landscape into an edible homestead. 
  
By Brett
Welcome to Day #5 of the AoM sandwich project. Last month we asked readers for their best sandwich recommendations. Out of 483 submissions, we picked 20 to highlight here on the site each weekday during the month of April. At the end, we'll publish all the entries into an epic man-sandwich cookbook. Enjoy. Today's Sandwich: The Drunken Steak Sandwich by Adam
Adam submitted an interesting take on the traditional steak sandwich, and by interesting, I mean all the ingredients are saturated with Rickard’s beer. This looked a bit more challenging to make than the other sandwiches on the list, so I thought it would be fun to highlight a more complex creation. And since I’m actually a teetotaler myself, I figured it would be humorously ironic to cook with more beer than I’ll drink in a lifetime. Will inebriating the ingredients make a ho hum steak sandwich really hum? Let’s find out. Ingredients 
- Rickard’s Red (or any amber ale. I couldn’t find Rickard’s here in Tulsa, so I went with Full Sail Amber.)
- Rickard’s Dark (or any dark ale. I used Claymore’s Scotch Ale from Great Divide Brewing in Denver, CO.)
- Rickard’s White (or any citrus ale. I used a Pale Ale from Marshall’s here in Tulsa.)
- Steak (I went to the grocery store at a weird time. Only thing they had was strip steak and filet mignon. I bought the strip.)
- White onion (not pictured)
- Red Pepper
- Chipotle peppers
- Lime (not pictured)
- Mayo
- Soy sauce (not pictured)
- Cilantro paste (I didn’t use this ingredient as I’m not a huge fan of cilantro)
- Baguette (couldn’t find a baguette, so I substituted a sausage roll)
Step 1: Marinate Steak  Marinate steak in amber ale and a bit of soy sauce for a few hours. I goofed here. You were supposed to use the amber ale for the steak marinade, but I used the darker stuff. Crap.  Add a bit of soy sauce to the mix. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Step 2: Prepare Chipotle Mayo  Chop up some chipotle peppers.  Mix chopped chipotle peppers with a scoop of mayo.  ¡Eso! (That’s what I’m talking about!)  Add some lime to the mayo. Step 3: Cook Onions in Dark Ale  Chop up a white onion.  Cook onions in dark ale until onions are reduced and very sloppy. Because of my goof with the marinade, I used the amber ale here.  Beautiful. Step 4: Cook Red Peppers in Citrus/White Ale  Slice up your red pepper.  Douse red peppers with your white ale. I used a pale ale instead. Cook until the peppers are nice and soft. Step 5: Grill Steak  Remove steak from marinade and grill on high heat for 8 minutes. Go for medium-rare doneness. Step 6: Slice Steak  Cut steak into thin slices. Step 7: Slather Chipotle Mayo on Roll or Baguette  Slather a generous helping of your chipotle mayo on roll. Step 8: Stack on Steak, Onions, & Peppers Add steak, onion, and peppers. Can’t wait to eat this thing. Taster’s Notes  Somebody grab this sandwich’s keys before it does something crazy! This was a great sandwich. So much going on here flavor-wise. The smoky spiciness of the chipotle mayo went wonderfully with the beer-accented meat, onions, and peppers. I think if I were to make it again, I would have used flank steak instead of strip. I also think it would have been better with a baguette as called for in the original recipe. The only downside to this sandwich is the length of time it takes to create. Not counting the few hours I marinated the steak, total prep time was about 40 minutes. Of course, things always take longer the first time you make them, so I’m sure I could reduce the time with practice. Nevertheless, as I typically turn to sandwiches as utilitarian, quick-to-assemble lunchtime grub, this would be one I’d personally save for dinner. A side of steak fries would go well with this sandwich. Natch. 
  
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