Monthly Archives: September 2021

Something Good

1. New Miniature Hand-Thrown Ceramics and Equipment by Jon Almeda.

2. Insights at the Edge: The Core of Belonging a podcast interview with Rev. angel Kyodo williams. “Tami Simon speaks with Rev. angel about how society shapes our sense of belonging, and what it means to take back our power to belong. They discuss how embodied belonging transcends that which our entire sense of self and reality is based upon, and offers us a deep awareness of our essential truth. Tami and Rev. angel also touch on: forgiveness as a healing self-practice, the meaning of true community, and how growing comfortable in our own skin gives us the capacity to heal, enact conscious change, and belong in any environment.”

3. Good stuff from Seth Godin: The programmatic ask and The simple market.

4. Good people we are losing to COVID-19: Adalberto Álvarez, Latin Dance Music Maestro, Is Dead at 72 and Bennie Pete, Bandleader Who Kept the Beat After Katrina, Dies at 45 on The New York Times.

5. Colson Whitehead: Why a Heist Novel Was the Best Way to Tell the Story of New York. In related news, How Colson Whitehead Writes About Our ‘Big Wild Country’ on The Ezra Klein Show podcast at The New York Times.

6. Meet Neffy, The Winner Of The 2021 Tiny Desk Contest.

7. Tarana Burke Bares It All In New ‘Unbound’ Memoir.

8. A.O.C.’s Met Gala Designer Explains Her ‘Tax the Rich’ Dress on The New York Times.

9. LulaRoe Has Taken Over My Local Thrift Store. In related news, What Got Left Out of LuLaRich: An interview with Meg Conley.

10. Resilience: Self-Care for Tough Times on Lion’s Roar. “Shauna Shapiro explains how to face difficult emotions, re-center, and find calm.”

11. Managing Climate Panic After the IPCC Report.

12. I Photographed The Abandoned Home Of A WWII Veteran And It’s Like A Time Capsule.

13. In Memoriam, Finn Thilo Trommer, September 11, 2004-August 14, 2021.

14. No more white saviours, thanks: how to be a true anti-racist ally.

15. Pfizer Announces Its COVID-19 Vaccine Works for Children Ages 5 to 11.

16. Miriam Margolyes: ‘Writing my memoir was terrifying. It’s quite revealing’. “Gleefully outspoken and bursting with hilarious anecdotes, Miriam Margolyes is gloriously larger than life. As her memoir is published, she tells Eva Wiseman about settling scores, her one regret and why for her nothing is taboo.”

17. Nabisco Workers End Weekslong Strike After Reaching New Contract on The New York Times.

Gratitude Friday

1. Morning walks. Sometimes, if I beg and beg, Ringo will even look at the camera and let me take a picture. This week we had some foggy mornings and saw a heron, a few deer, a beaver and a fox. It really and truly is full on fall now, and I love it. The rabbit brush in bloom is one of my favorite things about this season.

2. A “new” tiny family. I haven’t been allowed to write about it here for legal reasons, but now I’m allowed to say something: yesterday one of my best friends officially adopted her baby. It’s been a long time coming and much of the process was so hard, heartbreaking, but he’s here, to stay, for good. I’m so grateful to get to be part of the village that raises and loves him.

3. Practice. I’ve had a consistent meditation practice for over 10 years, and this week I decided to add another 10 minutes to my morning sit. It was time.

4. Good food. This week was also my same friend’s birthday, so I made her some zucchini breads and she gave me some peaches from her garden that I used to make compote to spoon on my oatmeal in the morning.

5. My tiny family. Ringo had various vet appointments this week, for his chronic wonky belly and his arthritic elbows, and even when he had to have blood drawn, he did SO good. I love getting to spend lazy days at home with him, hanging out and playing and “singing” and cuddling and napping. And Eric, well, he’s my favorite.

Bonus joy: good health practitioners to support both me and Ringo — wise and kind and funny, clean laundry, cooler weather, chrysanthemums, other people’s dogs, good TV (especially DCI Banks), podcasts (in particular My Favorite Murder), good books (too many to list), good music, masks and vaccines, a clean desk to work on, bare feet on soft green grass, good neighbors, naps, aqua aerobics, sitting in the sauna, training with Shelby, hanging out with Calyx, texting with Mom and Chris and Carrie, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.