Human First: A Book for Staying Connected in a Divided World
Human First sits at the center of my work, because everything I write circles back to one question: how do we stay human when the world pulls us apart?
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Older essays from the archive. Page 2 of 4.
Man vs. Menopause: A Husband’s Guide to Perimenopause
A lot of men get blindsided by perimenopause because nobody handed them a map. This is the map, and a warning against taking any of it personally.
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Believe Her the First Time: A Book for Families Who Love Someone
Endometriosis is personal in my family. My wife and my daughter have both lived with it, and this book is for the families standing next to them.
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Beautifully Unfocused: A Book for People Whose Brains Never Stop
ADHD usually gets described by what it disrupts. I wrote this for the adults who spent years believing they were lazy, scattered, or simply too much.
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Still My Mom: A Book for Families Facing Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s changes more than memory. It changes the rhythm of a family — conversations, holidays, roles, and the way love has to keep adapting.
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Start Here: A Guide to Mike Baker’s Books
A lot of books in a short time, and yes, I know how that sounds. Here is where to start, depending on what you happen to be carrying right now.
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Before You Ask for Custom Art, Know What You’re Really Asking For
What to work out before you commission a piece: what it is really for, what you are asking someone to make, and what makes the answer good.
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What Are We Doing With the Life We Still Have?
Memorial Day, a hockey net, a sore body convinced it had one more save left, and the ordinary joy most of us manage to miss almost entirely.
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The Middle Has to Move
Fifty episodes in. On public ugliness, women's health, and the work of staying human when the middle is the hardest place left to keep standing.
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Don’t Lose Your Smile
Some songs start with a plan. This one started with a phone call, and it is the first song I have ever made completely from scratch, by hand.
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What Could We Build If We Got Serious About the Future?
We are wasting too much of what makes us human. The future gets better when we stop feeding division, stop fearing every tool, and start building with purpose.
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Still Here, Still Trying: Why Season 2 Starts Now
Season 2 of Still Here, Still Trying starts now. If this is the first you are hearing of it, you are coming in at a genuinely good moment.
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Which Future Are We Building?
The future gets shaped by what we build, what we fund, what we normalize, and whether we choose fear or shared humanity. You can feel it already.
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Standing on the Edge
One night, five songs, and a whole lifetime in fifteen minutes. Just the hot tub, the stars, and this EP playing straight through with no phone.
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What Happens When Everyone Finally Shows Up
Writing this from the Endometriosis Summit with Kellie beside me, still taking in conversations that stick and stories that refuse to leave.
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The Pressure to Be Okay
Someone asks how you are doing and you hand back the version that keeps things moving. Doing good. Busy, but good. On the habit of being fine.
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The AI But Human Manifesto
Why the Tools Changed But the Voice Is Still Mine Mike Baker There’s a lot of noise right now about artificial intelligence and art.
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After the Show: From Shedding to Motion
The show is over and the walls are quiet again. This piece lives in the space between, between the Year of the Snake and the coming Year of the Horse.
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The Power of an Image
Millions filled the streets under one banner. Not for chaos, not for attention, but for truth. A note about the image I made and called Resist.
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Human First: The Middle Still Matters
October 18, 2025 | General | Liberty in the Static, by Mike Baker A Note Before You Read This reflection was written with care, not judgment.
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I named this place after the days nobody circles, so I’m not going to pretend a newsletter is an event. It’s just the next ordinary Tuesday, sent to you instead of sitting here waiting to be found. Essays mostly, and now and then something from the books, music, podcast, art, or advocacy work.
I aim for Tuesdays, twice a month or so, and I don’t always make it. Your address stays private, and leaving is always easy.