Something Good

1. 3 Causes Of INFJ Burnout (And How To Get Relief).

2. Horse Goes On A Walk Alone Every Day For 14 Years, Receives Pets And Treats From Residents.

3. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: The Invisible Majority, You Already Have What You’re Looking For, and Impermanence is Buddha Nature.

4. US Airline Customer of Size Policies. This is a really good resource for anyone flying in a bigger body.

5. This Queer Ballet Company Is Putting Their Classes Online For Everyone. “Ballez is a ballet company opening dance to people of all gender expressions. Starting today, you can join their movement wherever you are in the world.”

6. How We Can Save the Honeybees. “A professional beekeeper shares some ideas for preventing the insect apocalypse.” In related news, Morgan Freeman Converted His 124-Acre Ranch Into A Giant Honeybee Sanctuary To Save The Bees.

7. 15-Year-Old Alabama Boy Commits Suicide After Enduring Anti-Gay Bullying.

8. Prince Memoir The Beautiful Ones to Arrive in October.

9. Lavina Gray Funding for SFAI Summer Program. She’s amazingly talented — can you help her? Every bit helps.

10. What Happened When the Dean’s Office Stopped Sending Emails After-Hours.

11. For Sri Lanka, a Long History of Violence on The New York Times. “After a civil war that dragged on for nearly three decades, Sri Lanka had been enjoying a decade of relative calm. That was shattered on Sunday when a coordinated bombing attack killed more than 200 people. Here is some context to help you understand the latest events in the small island nation.”

12. Go Green but Buy Black: 10 Black-Owned Cannabis Companies For 4/20.

13. Wisconsin coffee chain will change its name, apologizes to Native American tribes.

14. Mozambique starts the long process of rebuilding after cyclone Idai ravaged the country.

15. Another Warning Sign. “The Mueller report is of course about Russian interference in the 2016 election and about the White House’s interference in the resulting investigation. But I couldn’t help also reading the report as a window into the manner of administration that characterizes the Trump era, and therefore as another warning about how fundamentally unprepared our government is for a significant crisis or emergency.” In related news, Highlights From The Mueller Report, Annotated.

16. These seniors are turning to marijuana to treat a host of health conditions. (video)

17. Grown Ass Cop Pepper Spray, Beat and Arrest Black Teen for Allegedly Taking a Defensive Stance.

18. Meet the Buddhist monk leading a double life as a makeup artist.

19. How Tressie McMillan Cottom’s ‘Thick’ Affirmed My Years-Long Refusal Of Body Positivity Language.

20. Before Fisher-Price’s Rock ’n Play Recall, Safety Fears and Dubious Marketing on The New York Times.

21. American History: From Emancipation to the Present, a free video course available on YouTube. “The purpose of this course is to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present.”

22. African American Studies, UCLA, another free video course available on YouTube. “An intensive introduction to African American political thought that focuses on major ideological trends and political philosophies as they have been applied and interpreted by African Americans.”

23. African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle (A Free Course from Stanford). “Taught by historian Clayborne Carson, the editor of the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., this Stanford University course–entitled African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle–provides an introduction to African-American history, ‘with a particular emphasis on the political thought and protest movements of the period after 1930.'”

24. 25 Lakhs From 1.25 Acre: Rajasthan Woman Grows Pomegranates & Apples on Barren Land!

25. How to Survive Being a Teacher as a Highly Sensitive Person.

26. Artist Spends A Year In the Woods Making Magical Sculptures Out Of Natural Materials.

27. How to Lose a Diet in 10 Ways: Don’t Listen to Oprah & Other Good Advice.

28. Roxane Gay and Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom to Release ‘Badass’ Podcast Called Hear to Slay.

29. Aliza Sokolow’s Food Photos Could Change the Way You Think About Farmers. “The L.A.-based photographer has trained her lens on the growers in your local farmers’ market, showcasing the art and beauty of their hard work.”

30. Designer Transforms Arabic Words into Illustrations of Their Literal Meanings.

31. These retirees started swimming for the first time in their 50s and 60s. (video)

32. The Unbearable Weight of Fatphobia: A Conversation with Samantha Irby. “I don’t wanna have to teach a lesson on Health At Every Size just to get through every conversation in my day. I’m just trying to live my life.”

33. The Best Eating Disorder Recovery Blogs of 2019.

34. Navajo Nation buys back sacred masks at Paris auction after pleas for their return failed. In related news, Sacred Hopi tribal masks are again sold at auction in Paris.

35. Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind. “In three decades of advocating for prison abolition, the activist and scholar has helped transform how people think about criminal justice.”

36. A white dude’s definition of “ally” made me rethink educating folks.

37. The Health Iceberg, a really great infographic from holisticallygrace on Instagram that I can’t stop thinking about.

38. Flint Receives $77 Million to Fund New Water Projects.

39. This police officer has been fired after body cam footage revealed him abusing a 69-year-old Florida veteran. (video) Our police system is broken, and worse yet it attracts power hungry bullies.

40. We Interviewed 5 Cultural Appropriators at Coachella 2018.

41. One mom in McCall, Idaho posted this video of her kids Brooke and Branson Waite singing while cleaning the bathroom. (video)

42. Nestle Says Requirement to Report Use of Slave Labor Would Cost Consumers More Money. And, so?! Don’t lie, Nestle, you are worried about profits not our feelings about paying more for your crap candy.

43. White People Don’t Live in Flint or Puerto Rico, So President Sends Aid to France.

44. ‘Mama K’s Team 4’: Netflix Announces First African Original Animated Series.

45. The University Is a Ticking Time Bomb. “Treating nearly 75 percent of the professoriate as disposable is not sustainable.”

46. This is so cute! (video) I have watched this video so many times, because it’s ME.

47. An 8-Year-Old Boy’s Bone Marrow Donation Cured His Siblings Of Sickle Cell Disease.

48. Arizona Teachers Can Now Discuss LGBTQ Issues Without Worrying About The Law.

49. Research Shows Entire Black Communities Suffer Trauma After Police Shootings. “Police killings of unarmed African Americans have created a mental health crisis of enormous proportions.”

50. Trump vs. Mother Earth: Indigenous Activist Dallas Goldtooth Slams Trump’s Pipeline Executive Orders.

51. These baby foxes are more than excited about it snowing in April. (video)

Gratitude Friday

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1. Spring. It’s officially here. I looked out into our backyard just the other day, the sliding glass door open because it was nice and sunny outside, and said to Eric, “our yard is so green!”

An older picture of my desk, back when it was a lot cleaner

2. Only 3.5 weeks left at CSU!!! Every once in a while, I catch myself thinking I maybe made a mistake quitting, that maybe I could have made it work, and then I immediately laugh because that’s just ridiculous. And then I have a day like yesterday where I worked SO hard, did so many good things, and then someone was shitty to me, and I thought “May 15th can’t come soon enough.” The only other time in my life when I gave myself permission to do what was absolutely right for me no matter what other people thought or whether or not it even made sense was when I moved to Colorado to be with Eric, so I think it’s safe to trust myself this time too. Can you imagine how awesome it will be if this turns out as good as my marriage?!

3. My last module of my 500 hour yoga teacher certification. It’s the vinyasa module, which everyone had told me was hard, but I’m really loving it so far. If you don’t know, to become certified to teach you do a 200 hour training, which is like getting your undergraduate degree. Then, if you want to keep going, you can do the next 300 hours and become 500 hour certified, which is like having your Master’s degree. You can go on to do another 200 and become 700 hour certified, but most people I know get 500 hour certified and then specialize in something. For me, that’s yoga for people in bigger bodies, adaptive yoga, and restorative yoga. I’ll have to teach a capstone at the end of this module that incorporates something from all the modules for this 300 hours, and I’m actually looking forward to it even though it’s a lot. During this session, I am obsessed with taking myself out to lunch at Slyce Pizza Co.

The ducks are easier to spot, but can you find the heron?

4. Morning walks. It’s getting so light so early again. On Thursday morning, I only had to have my headlamp on for about 30 minutes, probably didn’t really even need it, and the sky was amazing. We’ve been seeing the heron fishing in the river almost every morning, and the ducks and geese are busy getting ready for babies. Every once in a while we see raccoons and foxes or a beaver, and the herd of white tailed deer are always around even if we don’t run directly into them.

Heron fishing. Can you see it?

I tried to get a picture of the moon, but the camera on my phone doesn’t capture low light shots very well

5. My three boys. The two with four legs who are covered in fur, and the one who leaves me love notes on the kitchen counter.

Sam taking a nap with me

Bonus joy: lunch with Aramati, coffee with Carrie, aqua aerobics, sitting in the sauna, sunshine, people saying nice things about me, good TV (this week it’s a season of Fixer Upper I hadn’t seen yet), good books, sort of new to me music (Sol Rising, whose tracks I’d heard before, but I didn’t realize how many full albums he had that I’d like and would make really good music for yoga classes), bran muffins with dried raspberries, getting the laundry done on Friday morning, physical therapy, robins hopping around on the ground, bird song in the morning, things turning green, a new puppy, saying goodbye to an old puppy — the way he stood there wagging his tail with a toy in his mouth before he gave up and got on his bed and insisted I pet his head for the entire hour long visit, how happy Ringo is when he finds something he can pick up and carry for part of the walk (this week it was an adult sized single ski glove and a stick), the way Sam always wants to be right where I am, how Eric gets mad when someone is mean to me, how good he is at cheering me up.

Something Good

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From our walk this morning

1. Healing Crayon’s Art Store. “I combine protest, play and self care to make art that helps people find their happy place in their body. I have recovered from an eating disorder and am a parent, social worker, artist and intersectional feminist. All profits from this site are donated to the Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association in Newton, Massachusetts.” She also has a really great Instagram account.

2. Set up a day that works and do it over and over again from Austin Kleon. He just released another book — his books on creativity are the BEST.

3. Dear Friends, I Love You, But I Just Can’t Go Out Tonight. Sincerely, An HSP.\

4. Cognitive load is real from Seth Godin. I feel the truth of this so hard.

5. To Know Yourself is to Forget Yourself. “According to Pema Chödrön, we might think that knowing ourselves is a very ego-centered thing, but by beginning to look clearly and honestly at ourselves, we begin to dissolve the walls that separate us from others.”

6. 10 Great Buddhist Books, Recommended by 10 Buddhist Teachers.

7. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach In Shadow Of Border Crossing.

8. This Vermont High School Is Recognizing The History Of Slavery By Raising BLM Flag For 400 Days.

9. 10 Tips on Receiving Critical Feedback: A Guide for Activists.

10. Learning to Let Go and Live.

11. 40 Acres and a Mule Would Be at Least $6.4 Trillion Today—What the U.S. Really Owes Black America, a very interesting infographic.

12. Saskatoon family loses everything in house fire.

13. The Pine Ridge Reservation is one of the most economically impoverished parts of the U.S. Weeks after major flooding, hundreds of its residents remained displaced. (video) In related news, Still reeling from massive flooding and without federal assistance, the Pine Ridge Reservation braces for another major storm.

14. Trump Assails Ilhan Omar With Video of 9/11 Attacks on The New York Times. In related news, Democrats Rally Behind Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Defense In Wake Of Trump’s Latest Attack On The Freshman Lawmaker, and Twitter Urged to Suspend Donald Trump After President Accused of ‘Sharing Propaganda Videos Trafficking in Hate Speech’ Over Omar Attack.

15. The naked truth about Jonatha Brooke’s new made-in-Minnesota record.

16. Author Damon Young’s Black Survival Glossary.

17. A South Carolina firefighter reunites with a puppy he rescued trapped beneath a pile of rocks, and gives his new best friend—Rocky—a forever home. (video)

18. This Border Collie saw a car coming straight for her Chihuahua friend. (video) “She bolted forward and grabbed the Chihuahua by the neck and ran out of the way of the car.”

19. Anybody want my job?

20. Kittens are so funny. (video)

21. MAGA-Loving, Colin Kaepernick-Hating Top NFL Draft Prospect Seems to Hate Everything Black.

22. Screaming off silence: Andrea Gibson, an interview with one of my favorite poets.

23. [White] Son of a Deputy Sheriff Is Charged in 3 Black Church Fires on The New York Times.

24. This 112-pound eastern black rhino was born on Friday in Des Moines, Iowa. (video)

25. Dumpster Diving Reveals U.S. Food Waste Crisis. (video)

26. Settlers destroy 2,000+ Palestinian-owned trees and vines, backed by Israeli authorities.

27. 18-Year-Old Starts Having A Seizure On The Train, Receives Help From Total Stranger That Later Shares The Whole Story On Twitter.

28. Washington State Bans Free Books to Prisoners for No Logical Reason.

29. 11-Year-Old’s Gives ‘Blessing Bags’ to Homeless Population and Catches Obama’s Attention. (video)

30. The key to glorifying a questionable diet? Be a tech bro and call it ‘biohacking.’

31. ‘Shrill,’ Starring Aidy Bryant, Renewed for Season 2 at Hulu. Yay!

32. Gavin is 25. Julie is 76. They met by chance in a market four years ago and they’ve had each other’s backs since. (video)

Gratitude Friday

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1. I’m still here. Which means I can keep trying, which means things can always get better.

2. Blooms. In the bathroom and on the streets.

3. 4.5 more weeks at CSU!!! It is getting really close, going really quickly now.

4. Snow. We got another “bomb cyclone” which led to another half day off work. We got about a foot of really wet snow that’s almost all melted already.

My view for another 4.5 weeks.

5. My tiny family. Eric was gone last night, went to Lamar, Colorado to give a presentation, but he’ll be home tonight. The boys have been really good for me while he’s been gone, are such good company.

From our walk this morning

6. It’s my mom’s birthday today! I’m pretty lucky to be in my 50s and still have both my parents still around, (all four, if you count Eric’s parents, which after 25 years are really mine too). This is one of my favorite pictures of us. I’m going to publish this post and try to call her. Neither one of us really likes talking on the phone, but we like talking to each other.

Bonus joy: the heron who has been fishing the same spot of the river most mornings, orange juice, going out to breakfast with Eric before he had to leave, aqua aerobics, sitting in the sauna, sitting on the couch in my pjs watching good TV, going to bed early so I can stay up late reading a good book, Eric being able to figure out a fix for our refrigerator so we didn’t have to buy a whole new one, my three interns and in particular their sense of humor, getting the laundry done on Friday, laughing during Pilates, yoga teacher training. friends who try so hard to be better people, marionberry jam, breakfast for dinner, being able to video chat with Eric.

Something Good

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1. New Music: Sarah Bareilles Amidst the Chaos. There’s a song on it, “No Such Thing,” that is breaking my heart because it’s so true, about loving someone and losing them, about grief and the way it doesn’t really ever go away, but neither does the love. I have listened to this at least 30 times this morning.

2. #The100DayProject. I love this, and someday when I have more time, I plan on trying it out. “#The100DayProject is a free art project that takes place online. Every spring, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of exploring their creativity. Anyone can join (yes, that means you!). The idea is simple: choose a project, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process on Instagram with the hashtag #The100DayProject.”

3. When you see your hero’s fat phobic blind-spots. “Like so many of us in the early, vulnerable stages of recovery and intuitive eating, it matters so much what we read and who we listen to.”

4. A Guide To Creating Your Own Writing Retreat.

5. On Narcissism and Healing from Narcissistic Abuse.

6. Goals are weird, Paul Jarvis’s latest newsletter. Because this,

People that don’t have big goals are thought of as a not being very driven. It’s thought of as a bad thing, in life and in business. But why? Why, if a lot of goals past our human needs, are completely artificial and made up for the sake of setting something to run towards?

I think goals are weird because I don’t want or need them. Of course I want to cover my bases and live comfortably, but past that? I don’t need to 10X anything. I don’t want the stress, anxiety, or responsibility of having to work towards something monumental like that. I don’t need to crush my competition because they’re friends of mine.

There’s enough for everyone if no one person sets goals to take more than their share. Which doesn’t seem weird at all.

7. This Company Turns Children’s Drawings Into Cuddly Plush Toys.

8. Wolf pack living west of Cascade Mountains for first time in decades.

9. Oglala Sioux Tribal President’s Call for Flood Relief Needs. Help if you can, please.

10. They Push. They Protest. And Many Activists, Privately, Suffer as a Result. on The New York Times.

11. Mama dog gives birth to litter of puppies and just wants to share them with her human. (video)

12. 30 Adorable Baby Beavers To Celebrate International Beaver Day.

13. How a simple act of kindness transformed a boy’s birthday.

14. A newspaper that only reports happy stories. (video). I need a subscription to this!

15. What if All I Want is a Mediocre Life? I probably shared this when it was first published, but it’s making the rounds again, and it’s still true.

16. Here are extraordinary fruits from around the world. (video)

17. His Blog Explored Notions of Black Masculinity. His Memoir Explodes Them. on The New York Times. In related news, Damon Young of Very Smart Brothas worries about everything. A lot.

18. Help Lavina Gray with Funding for her SFAI Summer Program.

19. National Poetry Month: Favorite Poems and Poets, because sometimes I get to do good stuff at work.

20. The Rev. Tammy Garrett-Williams, fierce Colorado civil rights activist, dies.

21. The Study Group Bringing bell hooks to Prisons.

22. Tennessee Social Justice Center Where MLK Trained Burned Down And Defaced With White Power Propaganda.

23. How Museums and Historical Spaces Disrespect Native American History. “In this op-ed, LGBTQ and Native American activist Somáh Haaland explains the importance of accurate and respectful Native American representation in historical spaces.”

24. List: Grimm’s Fairy Tale, Zen Koan, or Academic Job Market Advice?

25. I am not always very attached to being alive. “Chronic, passive suicidal ideation is like living in the ocean. Let’s start talking about how to tread water.”

26. ‘Frankly, I feel white men have done a lot for this country.’ (video) “This lawmaker thanked white men for their work before voting against a resolution condemning the gender wage gap.” So gross.

27. This baby Asian elephant was born at Pairi Daiza zoo in Belgium on Tuesday. (video) “A zookeeper says there are only about 38,000 Asian elephants left in the world – making each birth very important to help the species survive.”

28. Ads Written By the Guy From Your Poetry MFA Who’s In Marketing Now.

29. Kia Patterson Opens Compton’s First Black-Owned Grocery Store.

30. Body Cam Footage Shows Willie McCoy Was Asleep When Cops Shot Him.

Gratitude Friday

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1. 5.5 weeks left at CSU!!! They still haven’t even advertised the position, so there won’t be anyone for me to train directly because they won’t have even hired them yet, and my supervisor is officially starting to freak out that this is really happening, but I am feeling lighter by the day. I’m still showing up, still doing good work, but all the while I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s been making me reconsider platitudes and affirmations I’ve heard in the past, things like “bloom where you are planted” or “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” To the first, I respond, “Bloom where you are planted. Unless there isn’t enough moisture or sunlight and the soil is bad. Then pick up and plant yourself somewhere better.”

To the second, I say: you know that saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? That’s usually a good strategy, unless the lemons are poison. Then you need to burn those lemons and get yourself some strawberries because you like those better and why have you been denying yourself what you really want for all these years anyway?

2. Eating what I want without guilt. Seriously, screw diet culture. It almost killed me, had me living in a state of self-hatred and dissatisfaction for years. I’m so done, and with that comes a mix of grief and rage, which are really just two sides of the same coin.

3. Health insurance, and being able to afford to pay what they won’t cover. I got an MRI on my knee yesterday to finally get a more accurate assessment of what’s going on “in there.” In a few weeks, I’ll get the results and know if surgical intervention would help or if I’m going back to physical therapy. I had anxiety about the MRI, as I do anytime I get a medical procedure, go somewhere new to do something I’ve never done with people I don’t know. It went okay though. I was only in there for about 20 minutes. I got a warm blanket, ear plugs, headphones playing the music of my choice, and I only had to be in the tube up to my waist. Also, the person doing the procedure was a fat woman, and as soon as I saw her, I knew it was going to be okay. And, apparently, I look like a hobbit in hospital scrubs.

4. Morning walks. The most important reason to get my knee sorted.

5. My tiny family. Eric is busy with a lot of extra stuff this week and next, so we haven’t seen each other nearly enough. When we got in bed Monday night, I told him, “see you in two weeks,” and we both laughed, but only because it’s sort of true. Sam is doing so good. We had a scare a few days ago when he slipped and fell in the kitchen and seemed to be limping when he first got back up, but it didn’t stick and he went on a five mile run/walk the next morning. I’m so glad he’s got his quality of life back. Ringo is five years old and all grown up, but I realized the other day I still think of him as a puppy – maybe because he acts like one.

A boy and his stick, a love story

Bonus joy: writing with Mikalina and Chloe’, circus animal cookies, a crunchy Gala apple, good TV (just finished a French show on Netflix, Osmosis, that was really good), good books (I’m slowly working my way through Ross Gay’s Book of Delights, savoring it, and I just got Austin Kleon’s new book, Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, and can’t wait to devour it), getting paid to teach yoga, pay day, naps, lunch with Aramati, finishing my second to last yoga teacher training module, internet, clean sheets, getting all the laundry done and put away on a Friday (which probably isn’t going to happen this week), meditating and writing in the morning, taking myself out to lunch, reading in bed at night in the dark while Eric and the dogs sleep.

Something Good

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1. April is National Poetry Month. Poets.org has some really great resources for celebrating this month, or to simply get more poetry into your life. Some of my current favorite poems are Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limón and Meeting the Buddha by Craig van Rooyen.

2. Advice To Writers. This series continues to be really good.

3. How Shrill Made Its Dream ‘Fat Babe Pool Party’ a Reality “I almost cried because it was so beautiful.” And if you’ve been following the controversy around this episode, you might be interested in this “sorry, not sorry” apology from Virgie Tovar.

5. Gather – Art, Friends and Road Trip | Performative Documentary. “As four art instructors set out on a cross-country trip to teach workshops, they discover stark truths about themselves and their friendships. GATHER blurs the lines between documentary film and fiction, as individuals – appearing as themselves – use stories loosely based on real life events to create an intimate portrait of adult friendship. This bold experiment in narrative realism invites us to examine the heart-wrenching, invisible kind of loss that’s surely touched all of our lives–the moment right before everything shifts and threatens the longevity of a cherished friendship. GATHER is both a penetrating look at what holds us back from reaching out and connecting with one another and a beautiful reminder of what’s possible when we do.”

6. Be a Librarian to Your Readers: An Interview with Austin Kleon. Also from Austin Kleon, The page is a place.

7. Project 1, 2, 3: A Daily Creativity Journal for Expressing Yourself in Lists of Three by Paris Rosenthal, Amy Krouse Rosenthal‘s daughter.

8. April Love 2019, another great Instagram photo challenge from Susannah Conway.

9. From a Viral Tweet to a Dedicated Community: “Fatventure Mag” Celebrates Joyful Movement beyond the Bounds of Diet Culture. “Samantha Puc and Alice Lesperance founded ‘Fatventure’ to celebrate fat folks who ‘love joyful movement, but don’t love toxic diet culture.’ The second issue will expand that concept to the theme of home and belonging.”

10. Top 10 Reasons Why INFJs Are Walking Paradoxes.

11. Guy Biking Across The World Picks Up A Stray Kitten. (video)

12. Find the Poem: the full trailer. (video) “Getting close to finishing this project with 30 of the country’s most awesome poets giving their insight on writing, performance, business and everything else that makes up this world we call ‘spoken word poetry.'”

13. “You want to tell people that their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist?” (video) “Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave an impassioned speech during a committee hearing in response to Republicans push-back on her climate change policy, the Green New Deal.” She gives me such hope that we might be able to turn this around.

14. Them: A Fake Yet Relevant Film About the White Men Pissed at Jordan Peele for Saying He Won’t Make a Film Starring a ‘White Dude.’

15. Black Farmers to buy from instead of Whole Foods.

16. Intricate Golden Labyrinths Created From Fallen Leaves of a Gingko Tree.

17. This Woman Was Fat-Shamed While Running A Marathon. (video). “Latoya Shauntay Snell (Running Fat Chef) has experienced fat-shaming her whole life — by friends, family and doctors, and even by spectators watching her as she ran the New York City Marathon. Latoya’s response? ‘Fat-shaming can go f**k itself.'”

18. Dancing family. (video) “My wife is Pakistani & loves to watch hip hop dance. She asked me to dance to music from her culture…so last Sunday I got our 3 children together to perform to a song that I felt represented apart of my culture(hip hop) & her culture as well….We love you mom!!!”

19. Instead of hiding rips and tears, the visible mending movement turns them into art. “Born from the Japanese art of sashiko, visible mending enables crafters to eschew fast fashion and make mistakes beautiful.”

20. Little girl believes she’s hula hooping all by herself, but she’s actually got some help. (video)

21. Yoga, Race, and Culture by Dianne Bondy.

22. In Praise of bell hooks from The New York Times.

23. “Gentleman Jack”: 9 Facts About Lesbian Legend Anne Lister to Know Before HBO’s Miniseries.

24. A Dad Painted His Daughter as Mona Lisa and Her Reaction is Priceless.

25. Woman Gives Birth To Twins 1 Month After Giving Birth To Baby Boy. Surprise!

26. Japanese Illustrator Imagines A World Where Humans Live Among Giant Animals. I love these, but let’s be honest: cats that big would totally murder us all.

27. African Elephants Are Evolving Without Tusks Due To Extreme Poaching On The Continent.

28. 19-Year-Old Omarian Banks Shot After Knocking on Wrong Door.

29. Confronting racism is not about the needs and feelings of white people by Ijeoma Oluo.

30. On eve of execution, Texas prisoner denied right to have Buddhist priest present while he dies.

31. Add a Blurred Background to Your Photo with PicMonkey.

32. This Native American reservation has been inundated with floods for two weeks, leaving 80,000 people without drinking water, (video) “and the help they desperately need has been slow to arrive.”

33. Lawyering While Black: Cop Detains Attorney in Courthouse, Accuses Him of Impersonating a Lawyer.

34. After Cyclone Idai, bodies litter Mozambique’s fields, and the true death toll may never be known. In related news, Death Toll For Cyclone Idai, Which Struck Mozambique, Zimbabwe And Malawi, Reaches 750.

35. 31 Must-Read Stories For Every Day Of Women’s History Month.

36. Facebook Announces New Policy to Ban White Nationalist Content on The New York Times.

37. Meet the 14-year-old who wants to be the Colombian Billy Elliot. (video) “Sometimes it helps me when I’m sad or angry. I dance and everything goes away.”

38. Boxer reincarnated as a cat? (video)

39. Russell Brand does Great British Bake Off. (video)

40. Why Do Narcissists Make Positive First Impressions?

41. This citizen stopped ICE from arresting 2 undocumented immigrants because he knew his rights. (video)

42. NASA Scraps First All-Female Spacewalk For Want Of A Medium-Size Spacesuit. Must be the same reason I can’t find a decent bra that fits.

43. Damon Young on the ‘Absurdity’ of Being Black on The New York Times. “The co-founder of the cultural criticism website Very Smart Brothas mines his experiences in a new memoir, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker.”

44. Morgan Freeman converts his Mississippi ranch into a honeybee sanctuary.

45. Listen to this interview with Roxane Gay: ‘We have so much work still to do’, says feminist Roxane Gay. In related news, Roxane Gay was an oasis of calm on last night’s Q&A.

46. The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement.