Monthly Archives: April 2016

Something Good

damnsunflowersSo glad to be partnering with Yoganonymous to share this list with a larger audience.

1. Good, important, wise stuff from Patti Digh: I will not be quiet. I am intolerant of your intolerance., and Strong Offer Friday: How to do anything in 11 steps, and This looks really hard. Is there anything I can do to help you?, and the widow maker. Seriously, since her heart attack, every single thing Patti has written has been amazing. Go read these. Read them all.

2. Photographing a Donald Trump Rally — St. Louis, MO. A really great set of pictures, and this: “I learned a lot the day of the Trump rally. I saw the danger from power grown in fear, hate, and ignorance, and how it affects people from all generations. But I also saw the strength of people, who chose to share space and were faced with hate, and did not waver from their mission to show those were not the values that defined their city.”

3. In related news, Trump’s Top Strategist Just Quit And Wrote This Brutal Open Letter To Trump Voters. Oh, snap!

4. Solitude and Solidarity: Creative Artists Need ’Em Both. “But there is a big difference between solitude and isolation. To balance long stretches of unbroken solitude, an artist, especially a developing one, needs like-minded others, people who understand the passion and process of a creative person and who support his efforts, who welcome him when he finally does come out from behind the closed door.” Word.

5. Be a human online. “Empathy isn’t a money maker. It’s not a productivity tip. It’s not a life-hack. It’s a basic requirement for being a decent human being.”

6. Sex And ‘An African City’: A Steamy Ghanaian Show You Don’t Want To Miss. “Imagine Sex and the City, but instead of New York City, the action takes place in Accra, Ghana.” While you are at it, this looks really good too: “What happens when a woman who has been incarcerated most of her adult life is released from prison and must confront her troubled past? Watch SUGAR, a PBS Indies digital series, online now.

7. What Matters Most? Let’s Do That. Just That. from Meg Worden, which includes this good news, “For the record, you are also doing enough. Probably more than enough.”

8. Fuck Your Shit Up With This Ham Tetrazzini, AKA, “Hamtrazzini” from Terrible Minds. I don’t really care about the recipe, but how he introduces its origins is hilarious.

9. Recipes I would like to try: Pistachio-Lemon Bars, and 22 Amazing Asparagus Recipes, and Rhubarb Raspberry Cobbler With Cornmeal Biscuits, and Spinach and Chickpea Spoon Fritters, and 5-Ingredient Zucchini Fritters, and Bouddha bowl, and Chickpea And Black Bean Salad, and Spring Onion Frittata.

10. On the good old days, and being extraordinary from Karen Walrond, in which you get the good news and the bad news.

11. Weight, a really great guest post on The Manifest-Station, a terrible but tender story. In related news, On your concern for your fat friend’s health.

12. Making Food Feel Safe Again with an Eating Disorder Cookbook. “For those who struggle with eating disorders, learning how to enjoy food again can be an emotional and painful process. A new cookbook, edited and written by people in recovery, aims to help with the journey.”

13. Today I found myself the subject of an Internet meme. Not for the first time. A powerful, important post from Wentworth Miller. And in related news, from Dances with Fat, Wentworth Miller’s Fat Shaming Apology Falls Short.

14. Roundtable: Susan Piver & Lodro Rinzler – Part 1 from The Good Life Project. Three of my favorite teachers having a really interesting conversation.

15. How I Got Published in The Sun. “Getting an acceptance from The Sun was about more than writing and submitting that one essay. It took years of developing my writing and gaining not only hard-earned confidence in my work, but also a true familiarity with the magazine itself. In this case, that advice every other writer has heard so many times really is true: Know the market you’re submitting to, and submit your strongest work.” Word.

16. Kids On, a super cute series where Dave Keystone seeks real world advice on love and dating from candid kids.

17. This 37-tweet story explains the barriers faced by black coding students. “What should have been a simple visit to a cash a check turned into a troubling experience for one black coding student.”

18. Jimmy Fallon Got Parents To Share The Weirdest Things Their Kids Have Done. So funny. And in related news, 20+ Hilarious Parenting Tweets That Every Parent Can Relate To.

19. This NSFW Photo Series Is Allowing People to Love Their Bodies Again. What’s so important about projects like these is that the naked bodies we typically see and measure ourselves against are from a media committed to presenting the most unrealistic version of human bodies possible.

20. She gave up her corporate job to save these rescue dogs. My only issue with this video is that they gloss over the fact that she HAD to work that corporate job first in order to afford to be able to quit and do this instead.

21. When an Indiana eighth-grader was asked about BMI in class, she took her teacher to school. I love this so much, that she stuck up for herself and she’s so right.

22. A dog with a job, returning lost items to airline passengers, and looks so happy doing it.

23. How the beauty industry convinced women to shave their legs. And in related news, An Open Letter To the Three Women Who Were Pointing and Laughing At My Hairy Legs on the Subway. Bottom line: we should be able to shave if we want to, but shouldn’t be shamed if we choose not to.

24. Wise Body, Wise Hungers: Yoga and Coming Home to Your Desires, an amazing retreat offered by two of my favorite teachers.

25. How I became homeless. “One mistake (not mine), and I’m inside a nightmare. Three kids, no house and too many nights on borrowed mattresses.” So many people are one bad choice, one accident, just the tiniest bit of bad luck away from the same.

26. What I Learned From Seeing Mike Birbiglia’s ‘Thank God For Jokes’ Three Times. Still one of my favorite shows of all time.

27. More powerful than you know from Seth Godin, who suggests that “we live in a moment where each of us has the power of influence.”

28. The Roar Sessions: Maya Stein + Amy Tingle, from Jena Schwartz — two of my favorite poets hosted by another of my favorite poets.

29. Fear Is Why We Have Too Much Stuff from Zen Habits. Ugh, so right…

30. Instagram and the Cult of the Attention Web: How the Free Internet is Eating Itself. “Our current version of the internet lives and breaths off a currency of human attention…In exchange for a ‘free’ web, we give you our time. Unfortunately, this structure is unsustainable and is compromising both our experience of the web and the quality of the things we consume.”

31. How to pick a good nutritionist, therapist, or other wellness professional, really great advice from Isabel Foxen Duke.

32. Six Stretches for People Who Sit at Desks. If you are sitting reading this list, stop now and try these. You’re welcome.

Guilty Pleasure(s)

junkdrawer

Closing my office door to write something of my own
Those damn chocolate coconut almonds from Trader Joe’s that I can’t stop eating
My candy drawer at work
Taking a break from working to visit People.com, because when September 11th happened I had a job that I hated but I made good money so I subscribed to the magazine and that was the only news I kept up with for almost two years after the Twin Towers fell, but after two years I couldn’t stomach it anymore, but still sometimes when things get too real and I feel like I can’t handle it, I open up a browser tab and read
Taking off my bra as soon as I get home
Changing my underwear and bra and socks as many times as I want during the day
Changing my clothes as often as I want
Watching TV
Having subscriptions to three different on demand TV options so there’s always something to watch
That big TV we finally bought, and the computer we hooked up to it so we could watch those on demand things
Turning the heat up
Standing in the shower under the warm water even though I’m done, even though I’m already clean
Sleeping in
Being home alone
Talking naps
Buying my dogs really high quality food
Talking my dogs to the vet when they are probably fine but I know it will make me feel better, comforted
Going to physical therapy even though I probably don’t need to anymore just because I like my therapist so much
Going to my massage therapist because she touches me for a whole hour and a half, makes me feel better, and I don’t have to do the same for her
Demanding that my husband “tell me something good”
Always asking him “Why now, exactly? What made you say it right now?” every time he randomly tells me he loves me
Letting him clean up my dirty dishes
Leaving all of my shoes out
Staying up late to read even though I know it bugs him
Not answering the phone when she calls because I know she’ll be drunk and won’t even remember talking to me
Driving instead of walking
Taking myself out to breakfast or lunch
Eating whatever I want, when I want, as much as I want
Unfriending or blocking people on social media
A new car
New running shoes, three pairs in different colors
Staying in my pajamas all day
Not going to work, even though I was supposed to
Blogging at work
Doing a different pose than my yoga teacher told us to do
Skipping yoga
Closing my office door

*Another response to a prompt from Jena Schwartz’s two week group.