May | 2017 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

This is happening in my garden right now

1. 23 ‘Small’ Signs That You’re A Highly Sensitive Person, alternatively titled “Everything You Need to Know About Me.”

2. Recipes I want to try: Bob Armstrong Chile Con Queso Dip and Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Also, I need to go buy some tortillas here, Stop at this Fort Collins bakery for authentic Mexican food.

3. Salon talk. A mom and her wee one are impossibly cute.

4. Sarah Silverman breaks down why she stopped calling things “gay.”

5. The Borrowed Words of Ivanka Trump. “The ‘inspirational quotes’ of her new book, Women Who Work, function as their own, tidy versions of the alternative fact.”

6. This Emotional Wedding Photo Is Bringing The Internet To Tears. So beautiful.

7. Wisdom from Elizabeth J. Andrew, “The ‘Who cares?’ question assumes writing to be a product, valuable inasmuch as others are willing to consume it. But writing is a product only at the tail end of a long and arduous process. The writing process, like any spiritual journey, is worthwhile for its own sake. The only answer to the ‘Who cares?’ question that really matters is whether or not you care.”

8. What you need to know about the House vote to repeal Obamacare. In related news, Republicans Celebrate Taking Healthcare Away from Millions, and In Rare Unity, Hospitals, Doctors and Insurers Criticize Health Bill, and See the full clip of Jimmy Kimmel’s powerful opening from last night, where he wasn’t just a TV host, but a father and a citizen.

9. Artist Creates Giant Wood Sculptures and Hides Them in Copenhagen Forests.

10. Powerful Comic Perfectly Captures the Hypocrisy of White Feminism.

11. Save the Holiday Twin Drive-In. “Re-new the drive in infrastructure to preserve this Fort Collins treasure for generations to come.”

12. Illustrator Draws Queer People of Color Doing Everyday Things.

13. Help save Everyday Feminism. It’s such a great resource.

14. W. Kamau Bell Unmasks Industry Racism in This Excerpt From His New Book. “In this excerpt from his new book, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell, the comedian describes a White show business figure’s duplicitious and patronizing treatment.”

15. Trump supporters forced this man out of a rally — after mistaking him for a protester. In related news, A Woman Is On Trial For Laughing During A Congressional Hearing, (but also this I’m facing jail time after laughing at Jeff Sessions. I regret nothing.) And, something else you might need, How to Stay Sane if Trump is Driving You Insane: Advice From a Therapist.

16. The Eating Disorder Community Has A Fat Phobia Problem. Because this, “A thin-obsessed world perpetuates eating disorders and fat phobia. A world that acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of body sizes, and that focuses on access to weight-neutral mental and physical healthcare for people of all sizes (rather than focusing on trying to make everyone the same size) is better for everyone’s health.”

17. Bodhi Hanna Kistner (88): “Only After Sixty My True Life Began.” Stories like this are such a relief to me, to know that there is still time, as long as I get to stick around for awhile.

18. These Los Angeles dancers are changing the way people protest.

19. We Belong to a Planet That Bends Towards Healing from Adreanna Limbach.

20. What is Cultural Appropriation? In related news, What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm.

21. In one powerful tweetstorm, this woman demolishes the hypocrisy of fat shaming.

22. Maria Bamford Wants You to Know You’re Doing Great.

23. Pink’s IG Picture is Not Body Positive from Dances with Fat.

24. Wisdom from Tulku Thondup, “Every mother-being wants to be happy, just as a thirst-tormented person wants water. Most beings, however, have no idea how to secure happiness. Confused, they grasp at anything that they think will be rewarding. But they go about it in the wrong way—through grasping, attachment, obsession, or aggression. At best, they are chasing rainbows. At worst, they end up hurting themselves, like someone who tries to lick honey off the sharp edge of a knife.”

25. A New Map on Allowing Myself. Justine is writing some really amazing stuff about being a new mom, when she gets the time and space to write, cause you know — new mom.

26. There’s No Such Thing as “Good Police.”

27. Outdoor Recreation Isn’t Free – Why We Need to Stop Pretending It Is.

28. One Strike, You’re Out: Fucking It Up With Your Friend of Color.

29. Neil deGrasse Tyson Warns: America ‘Is Already Kind Of Fading.’ “The famed astrophysicist says “there’s no future” for a country that ignores science.”

30. Why White Lady Sisterhood Needs to Evolve.

31. Advice for the recent graduate from Austin Kleon. I would argue that this is good advice for anyone, at any time.

32. 100 questions to spark conversation & connection, an oldie but a goody from Alexandra Franzen.

33. Avoiding Activism Burnout from Dances with Fat.

34. (It’s Great to) Suck at Something.

35. Guardians of the Planet:12 Women Environmentalists You Should Know.

36. Aimee Mann Tiny Desk Concert.

37. Guy Hides Camera In Bucket Of Water To See Who Comes To Drink, And Result Doesn’t Disappoint.

1. Morning walks with the dogs. It’s light so early now, and everything is that particular bright early spring green. There are even baby geese in the ponds and news of baby foxes.

Not a great picture, but since the dogs were with me I couldn’t get too close

2. An award. I was joking at our English department awards ceremony last week that I wanted my friend Aparna to give me an award. A few days later, this lamp that used to belong to my friend Leslee was presented to me in a sweet little unofficial ceremony, and is now officially the weirdest thing in my office, (title previously held by me).

3. Ringo and Sam. With Burg being sick (the final diagnosis is an aggressive type of leukemia, with a prognosis of two weeks to three months), and Dexter’s birthday being this week (he would have been 14!), I am appreciating even more than usual the company and good health of these two goofballs.

4. Women who are creative, smart, kind, and funny. The ones who came to my Storybowl, the ones who couldn’t, the ones who make music and poetry, the ones who write with me, the teachers and the moms and the artists, the ones trying so hard to heal and make things better.

My living room waiting for Storybowl to start. Some day we really will get our floors refinished.

5. Eric. Always my date, making me dinner, walking the dogs, sharing private jokes with me that no one else would understand or probably think were funny, laughing with me, itching that spot I can’t reach, letting me rant about the same thing for the millionth time, helping me clean the house and then leaving so other people could come over and enjoy it, texting me in the middle of the day to see how it’s going, leaving love notes for me on the kitchen counter.

Bonus joy: flowers in the bathroom, lilacs, fresh chives, clean laundry, clean sheets on the bed, Aimee Mann’s new album, good TV, so many good books, poetry, Wild Writing, yoga, physical therapy, the internet, a cold glass of clean water, how green everything is right now, blooms and birds, clean sheets (just noticed I put this on the list twice — I must really really like clean sheets), getting the laundry done on Friday, sleeping in, taking naps, crunchy apples and crunchy peanut butter.