September | 2021 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

Today is my blogiversary. Ten years ago today, I published my first post, titled simply, “Beginning.” At first, only a few people knew I was blogging. I needed there to at least be the possibility someone might read what I posted, something to keep me accountable. I’d tried blogging before but had never stuck with it, never had a good enough reason for it, certainly not one that was sustainable. I’d get bored, run out of gas, forget why I started in the first place, and I’d quit, give up.

Over time, I told more people about my blog and even more people found it on their own. I was experiencing big shifts in my life and I wanted to write about them, process them for myself but also share what I was going through, the ways I was struggling and the ways I was figuring it out, in the hopes it might be helpful to someone else. Every post I made eased my suffering, kept me from giving up, and I hoped that it might do the same for anyone reading.

Since then, I’ve published 2263 posts. At various times, I’ve blogged for 30 days straight, taking part in various challenges. I came up with some regular features and special projects for myself as well. Other times, like recently, I haven’t posted as much, have posted more pictures and links to all the other good stuff and hard things humans are doing. And yet the intention has always been the same: ease suffering, don’t give up.

Honestly, it’s been hard this past year to keep my focus, in particular on the book I’m writing. I’m so tempted as I work on it to post what I’m writing here, to share it with you in pieces instead of waiting until it’s finished. Not posting as much here makes me miss you, feels a little lonely sometimes. But this book carries the same message: Being human is hard, (“life is beautiful and brutal, tender and terrible — keep your heart open”), but please don’t give up.

Eric and I did some calculations using my total word count here and figured out I’ve shared the equivalent of at least 12 books, (I wish writing the “real” one I’m working on came as easy to me as writing here). What I’ve written about has stayed consistent with who I am and what I’m experiencing, AND both have changed over time.

In a post on my fifth blogiversary, I wrote something that is still just as true now:

I’ve learned so much, cried so much, laughed so hard, and shared so much good stuff. This practice, this space, my kind and gentle readers, is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, one of the best things I’ve ever made happen.

Thank you so much for showing up, kind and gentle reader. I’m so grateful for your compassion, your curiosity, your company. We are still here, together. We haven’t given up, and that is worth celebrating.

1. The Lion’s Roar Podcast: When Sadness Rages Like Fire with Pema Khandro Rinpoche. “Pema Khandro Rinpoche [Nyingma and Kagyu lineage holder] shares the life of the Tibetan yogi Shabkar, whose practice and teachings were inseparable from loss and grief.”

2. Creative tools and writing prompts: from The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad, and Jena Schwartz, and What is Mind Mapping?, and 8 Ways To Create Flow According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (thanks to Rita’s latest post, which includes this zinger worth contemplating: “Can you imagine what education might be, if every teacher had opportunities to learn deeply, plan completely, and adequately rest between classes?”).

3. Colson Whitehead Follows Up Double Pulitzers with a Crackling Crime Caper, an interview with the author on GoodReads about his latest novel, Harlem Shuffle.

4. kerning: a space for words, “a biannual publication of writing from women and gender-diverse people.” The debut issue includes poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction focused on the theme “Taking a Leap.”

5. Good stuff with Laurie Wagner: Chart Your Career Ep 31 Inner Whispers and Wild Writing: A Conversation with Laurie Wagner, and an Interview with poet and writing teacher Nan Seymour.

6. What does a seed look like? a tiny zine from Austin Kleon.

7. 9 Myths About Immune-Boosting Foods That Health Experts Want You to Stop Believing.

8. Things That Don’t Suck, a new project from poet Andrea Gibson. “It’s common to look around and take inventory of what sucks. This is one poet’s quest to uncover what doesn’t, and what shifts when we shift our attention.” Also, this video from Andrea, “9/11, waking to the brevity of life, and not waiting for disaster to say ‘I love you.’”

9. How many people have died from the vaccine in the U.S.? In related news, Biden Is Right: Vaccine Refusal ‘Has Cost All of Us’ on The New York Times.

10. ‘Poet Warrior’ Centers On The Role Of Poetry, Art And Music In Joy Harjo’s Life. “Joy Harjo’s Poet Warrior is a wonderful hybrid text that mixes memoir, poetry, songs, and dreams into something unique that opens a window into the most important events of Harjo’s life and invites readers to reconnect with themselves — as well as with the land and the knowledge of their people.”

11. Meditation is like mountaineering: approach it with care.

12. Breaking Down the ‘Wellness-Industrial Complex,’ an Episode at a Time on The New York Times. “The ‘Maintenance Phase’ podcast interrogates the science behind health food trends, fad diets and popular nutritional advice.”

13. Justice Department Sues Texas Over New Abortion Ban.

14. Where There’s Smoke: Sherman Alexie and the Toll of Literary Tokenism.

15. Meet Alexis Nikole Nelson, The Wildly Popular ‘Black Forager.’

16. Ada Limón is the new host of The Slowdown, “A poem and a moment of reflection every weekday.”

17. ‘This Is My Story, Told by Me’: Janet Jackson Debuts First Look at Upcoming Documentary JANET. I graduated high school in 1986, and Janet Jackson’s album Control was the soundtrack to that year and the following summer.

18. Richard Spencer’s very sad Montana life is proof de-platforming Nazis works. “Look, there is room for trying to deradicalize those people on an individual level. But a good first step is to make it clear that neo-Nazism and white supremacy is simply despicable. It is not welcome. There are no two sides here. We must all agree to give it fewer places to live and less room to breathe and stop treating it like it requires understanding. We know what it is. It’s white nationalism.”

19. Actor Michael K. Williams, Who Played Omar on ‘The Wire,’ Has Died At Age 54. This is incredibly sad, a great loss.

20. The Best Method to Freeze Onions. This is such a good idea. I am forever chopping a whole onion, using half, and then forgetting the rest in the fridge until it’s too late to safely use it.

21. Dried Floral Arrangements Sprout from Elaborate Tulle-Based Embroideries.

22. Recipes I’m going to try this week: Khloe Kardashians Chinese Chicken Salad – Health Nut CopyCat, (to be clear, I could care less what any of the Kardashians eat, or say or think or do, but this looks good), and these Vegan BBQ Lentil Burritos.