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

My friends, Chelsey and Jon, dancing their first dance at their wedding

1. Love. I have a good reason this week for this post being late. I’ve been busy, marrying my friends Chelsey and Jon. It’s the second ceremony I’ve officiated, and just like the last time, I was marrying people I love dearly, who love each other even more. It’s just so great to see people you love so happy together. And, p.s., tomorrow is Eric and I’s 24th anniversary. And, p.s.s., sorry I forgot yours again, Mom and Dad — somehow I always thinks it’s on the 11th, after ours. Hope you had a lovely day even though your kids suck and probably both forgot.

2. Fall in Colorado. I’ve been drinking it in this weekend. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow, and even if we don’t get the full 4-8 inches they are predicting, it will for sure pull a lot of the red, gold, and orange off the trees, fast forwarding us towards winter.

3. A new fence! After a few rain delays, it’s finally done. I will never take having a fence for granted, no matter how run down, because my dogs really really love to go hang out in the back yard, play or lounge around, and it’s so much easier when they can just go out when they need to, instead of needing me to suit them up and take them out. And it doesn’t hurt that our new fence is so nice.

Sam approves

Having to play inside just isn’t the same

4. Walking with the dogs in the morning. It’s so dark we can hardly see anything at first, but it’s so lovely and quiet.

5. Flowers in the bathroom. With the snow coming tomorrow, this will most likely be the last ones from the farmer’s market.

6. My tiny family. There’s nothing I love more, nothing that makes me feel more content, than being with them and knowing they are healthy and happy.

Bonus joy: working out in the pool, taking a long nap, crispy gala apples, dog sighs, clean sheets, good books (just finished Buddha in the Attic, so good!), good TV (lots of my favorites are back on, like Queen Sugar and Superstore and Grey’s Anatomy), computer glasses, getting up and down the mountain safely, going to lunch with Eric at a place we’ve went to for the first time 25 years ago, pancakes and waffles, our new bed, clean water, all the good people working to resist the awful things being done, knee braces, dog toothpaste, our new furnace.

1. We Are the Culture Makers Virtual Symposium.”Eleven culture-changing conversations with leaders who are rewriting the rules on what it means to be in business. This is about showing you how we can use our own lives & platforms as our individual and collective contributions towards a more inclusive and just culture.”

2. Atonement and Action from Jena Schwartz. “They came and built better lives — on land ‘soaked with the blood of Africans.’ Of slaves. Of native people obliterated to make room for our future. These are sins for which we need to be atoning through action for the rest of our lives — whether it was “our” people or not who committed these acts. As people who have benefited in this country, we are…also perpetrators of oppression.”

3. American Black Cross “is a grassroots organization of volunteers that directly engages in rescues, provides relief and actively rebuilds communities in distress.” Check out their wishlist on Amazon. In related news, 10 Ways to Show Puerto Ricans Love, and How to Help Puerto Rico: 12 Effective Ways to Donate Money, and This NFL rookie gave his first ever paycheck to team cafeteria workers affected by Hurricane Harvey, and Here’s How You Can Help These African Countries In the Wake of Recent Natural Disasters.

4. The Japanese concept of Ikigai could be the secret to a long, meaningful life. “While there is no direct English translation, ikigai is thought to combine the Japanese words ikiru, meaning ‘to live,’ and kai, meaning ‘the realization of what one hopes for.’ Together these definitions create the concept of ‘a reason to live’ or the idea of having a purpose in life.”

5. A Message To My Younger Writer Self from Chuck Wendig.

6. How to Protest Without Offending White People. In related news, This video is the best 5 minutes you will see on the NFL protests. Seriously, watch it.

7. Dear Mrs. Trump. A librarian rejects a gift of books, and explains why.

8. What the Data Really Says About Police and Racial Bias. “Eighteen academic studies, legal rulings, and media investigations shed light on the issue roiling America.”

9. America, we need to talk about this ‘police riot’ in a major U.S. city. “We have to care. If anything is fundamental to freedom in America, it is the notion that the streets — and free expression, including dissent — belong to the people, not to a militarized police force. And it’s become increasingly clear — from the asphalt of St. Louis to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — that Americans are going to have to fight to keep it that way.”

10. 3 Reasons Why Being Anti-Racist Isn’t Code for Being Anti-White.

11. Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Making of a Public Intellectual on The New York Times. “Between the World and Me, Coates’s treatise on black male life in America, catapulted him to prominence. Coates spoke to The Times about his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power, his year in Paris and what he’s up to next.”

12. I love this so hard from The Bloggess. “A lot of high school kids do monologues or speeches or interpretive scripts based on my books but I almost never get to see the finished products. This one was online though and I just watched it and it made me (cough) furiously happy.”

13. Suicide Warning Signs Infographic.

14. ‘I started dry retching’: the harrowing world of a trauma cleaner.

15. Bad teeth, bad dogs, bad weeks. And Puerto Rico on Rita’s Notebook.

16. The 21st-Century Fantasy Trilogy That Changed the Game on The New York Times. “Last year she became the first black writer to win the Hugo Award for best novel. This year, she won it again. Now her new novel has arrived.”

17. White Haze on This American Life. I listened to this yesterday as I balanced my checkbook, felt so angry and sad and a little hopeless, and woke up in the morning to this, Las Vegas Shooting Near Mandalay Bay Casino Kills More Than 50 on The New York Times.

So, the rest of the list is cute puppies and yummy food, cause I’d rather end on that note and I can’t quite wrap my head around the rest yet.

18. Please don’t take my sunshine away. (video)

19. The mighty howl of baby beagle. (video)

20. There are two types of sunday-ers. Which one are you? (video)

21. A puppy’s life, one second every day. (video)

22. Dog interrupts orchestra and steals the show. (video)

23. Recipes I want to try: Veggie Rice 4 Ways and Blooming Quesadilla Ring.