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

1. How to write a poem from Rita’s Notebook.

2. You Do Not Need to Sell This Life Today. “Listen, I’m not saying aesthetics aren’t fun. But when they’re a response, in one way or another, to a much larger sadnesses — they simply cannot save us.”

3. Designs from Kimono Pattern Books (ca. 1902). “In these images from three pattern books published by Honda Unkindō (ca. 1902), we glimpse both evolving tradition and modern fictions, which imbued the kimono with complex associations of national heritage.”

4. Terribleminds Gift Guide 2021. “It is again the time of the year for merriment and mirth and wanton capitalism, and because that this year we have things like the chaotic supply chain and shipping issues and something called ‘inflation,’ I figure it’s best to get the annual gift guide out the door and into your eyeballs as soon as possible.”

5. 5 Days of Mandala Magic, FREE. “This 5 Day Workshop offers a unique insight into the Mandala Magic method and is suitable for beginners + anyone interested in exploring the process as a creative practice.”

6. How to Unleash Your Creativity on Lion’s Roar. “Informed by the profound teachings of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal tells us how to unleash powerful creative energy we can use anywhere, from the office to the art studio.”

7. It’s a Kashian Staycation – New Album and Video Special Release Party. “Early Thanksgiving – Jackie Kashian at home introduces you to her new album and special before everyone. It’s a Kashian Stay-Kashian. She’s at home. You’re at home. See and hear clips from the new show before everyone. Featuring special guests: Maria Bamford, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Guy Branum.”

8. The hilarious Nick Offerman on acting, the pandemic, and hiking ‘on purpose’.

9. 10 Things That Support My Content Creation Habit. This is specifically about creating content for your business, but it applies to creating content in general.

10. Planting a Life—and a Future—After Prison. “The residential and employment program on a North Carolina organic farm helps formerly incarcerated women find a new path.”

11. White House decries Republican over video depicting violence against AOC. May she be safe, may she be well, may she be happy, may she live with ease and continue to do her good work, make good trouble.

12. 7 Things I Learned by Collaborating with Indigenous Wisdom Keepers.

13. Some of you are doing mindfulness wrong and it shows. “There’s a thin line between ‘being in the moment’ and purposely avoiding difficult emotions.”

14. Andrea Gibson’s New Poetry Collection Keeps Mortality in Mind. In related news, “You Better Be Lightning”: Andrea Gibson on Gratitude and Peace Through Poetry.

15. Adele: ‘It Fucking Devastated Me’, a Rollings Stone interview. “How she turned heartache over her divorce into her most honest album yet.”

16. Raye Zaragoza: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. “For Native American Heritage Month, we wanted to feature Indigenous musicians that break out of the preconceptions that many have of Indigenous music. Raye Zaragoza does just that, planting herself firmly in the folk genre, a tradition often reduced to white musicians with acoustic guitars.”

17. Black American History, a series of videos from Crash Course, “Clint Smith teaches you Black American History in 50 episodes.” Hey, I have a crazy idea: we should teach this in schools!

18. The Pandemic’s Not Over but We Have Tacos: A Call for More Patience & Compassion from Jena Schwartz.

19. Everything Good Will Die. “Learning to live with uncertainty” by Ijeoma Oluo.

20. Making phone calls to the departed. “At a park in Washington State, a rotary telephone, not connected to any line, has become a tool for the grieving to connect with lost loved ones – a source of solace for those left behind.”

21. Reviews of The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. “A debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.” I just finished reading this, and it was brilliant.

1. Morning walks. I’m loving getting to leave earlier, still see the sunrise, walk a bit further, and make it home in time to do all the other morning things. This week was the last one of golden leaves on the trees, so of course now the sky is showing off.

2. Practice. Soothing, supportive, stabilizing, sustainable.

3. Cooking. Not gonna lie, sometimes when I want something in particular, I really want someone else to do the work — getting the ingredients, making the effort to measure and mix, then the actual cooking, cleaning up after — and I could just do the eating part. Today, however, I made myself broccoli parmesan fritters for lunch, did all the work myself, and I was very happy with the eating part of the deal. Besides teaching me to read, cooking is one of the best skills my parents (Mom in particular) taught me.

4. Joyful movement. Walking with Ringo, aqua aerobics or swimming, training with Shelby, and yoga.

5. My tiny family, my tiny home, my tiny life. I’m so grateful that Eric is so good at doing all the maintenance care for Ringo: nail trims, ear cleaning, allergy shots, and baths. With Eric at work so much this semester, Ringo is more my dog and I don’t mind that at all, except for how he keeps stealing my spot on the couch and being so cute doing it that I don’t want to make him move.

Bonus joy: writing with my Friday morning group, training with Eric on Saturday mornings, sitting with him in the sauna, good books, naps, listening to podcasts, good TV, a new therapist (fingers crossed it turns out to be a good fit), down blankets and pillows, clean laundry, clean sheets, the last bit of peach compote I made with this summer’s peaches on my morning oatmeal, pancakes, snow tires (although it hasn’t snowed yet, I’m ready), vaccines, hanging out with Calyx, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, good neighbors, libraries, the weekend, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.