1. Ebb and Flow: Writing woes, the Monet-Mitchell exhibition, and Yann Tiersen on the Metro from Summer Brennan, which led to Essay Discussion: The Smoker by Ottessa Moshfegh (“A close reading of that essay you loved/hated/thought was just okay”) and Jailbait.
2. The Work is Not Enough: A Real Laundry Apocalypse of a Week from Anne Helen Petersen. “When your life is this precariously balanced, weekends aren’t for rest or reflection, not really. They’re for cramming in the things you had no time for during the week …then catching up or setting up or meal planning or doing enough laundry in preparation for the week to come.”
3. The only good coffee is bad coffee. “An incomplete list of some versions I love.”
4. Recipe I want to try: Pizza Beans.
5. Gorgeous poetry from Rosemerry Wathola Trommer: To Those Who Are Comforting a Woman Who Lost a Child Today, and Hearth, and Eternity in an Hour, and Though I Respond to My Name, I Am Aware.
6. Loneliness and Social Isolation — Tips for Staying Connected. In related news, Politics And America’s Loneliness Epidemic.
7. For My Mother Who Means To Feel Everything from Laurie Wagner.
8. 5 (Incorrect) Assumptions People Make About Introverts Because They’re ‘Quiet’.
9. 25 Reasons Why You Should Write a Book from Alexandra Franzen. (pdf)
10. Dinner Parties, Diet Culture and Social Control with Virginia Sole-Smith. “If you are hosting an event, make your home a safe space where people don’t have to apologize or explain or justify how they eat. I think that is a pretty radical and powerful way to build community.”
11. Here for This from Jena Schwartz. Also from Jena, Social Media, the Trees, and Reclaiming My Life.
12. Why Do So Many Men Destroy What They Can’t Control? “And why do so many people support them?”
13. Banning ideas and authors is not a ‘culture war’ – it’s fascism. “The media’s framing of measures like Florida’s African American studies ban is a dangerous falsification of reality.”
14. Life After the Ohio Train Derailment: Trouble Breathing, Dying Animals, and Saying Goodbye. “After a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, leaked noxious chemicals, residents in the area are still trying to recover.”
15. A.I. and the Fetishization Of Ideas from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. “And herein lies the problem with the sudden surge and interest in artificial intelligence. AI-generated creativity isn’t creativity. It is all hat, no cowboy: all idea, no execution.” In related news on The New York Times, A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled. “A very strange conversation with the chatbot built into Microsoft’s search engine led to it declaring its love for me.”
16. SZA’s Ruination Brought Her Everything on The New York Times. “Her moody, enigmatic music made her a megastar. Can she learn to live with success?”
17. How to find your voice from Austin Kleon.
18. Marie Kondo is messy now—and it’s actually expanding her brand. “Admitting her flaws endeared Kondo to fans, and made her brand about more than cleanliness.”
19. “There’s No Story to Tell About Swimming.” Madeleine Watts on How to Quiet the Mind. “Introducing When I’m Not Writing, a Series About Writers and Their Hobbies.”
20. How to Survive a Busy Season.
21. How to offer help when you don’t know what to say.
22. 60 Monthly Journaling Prompts to Help You Make the Most of 2023.
23. 6 things people do around the world to slow down.
24. 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas. I’m currently reading Reflections on Silver River: Tokme Zongpo’s Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Ken I McLeod and it is SO good.
25. This is our world. (Instagram reel) “Here’s a short compilation of some of the wild animals that I have seen [in Sweden] the last two years.”
26. A new song from The Bengsons. (Facebook video) “May we come back from the other place – that nightland of pain and fear and anger, the underworld of ourselves- with our fists full of flowers and stars on our cheeks.”
27. Three New Stand-Up Specials, Three Very Different Approaches on The New York Times. “In the mix this month are hour sets from a maturing Marc Maron, a very funny Nathan Macintosh and a pandering Roseanne Barr.” In related news, After tragic loss, Marc Maron finds joy amidst grief with ‘From Bleak to Dark’.
29. RAIN and Grieving, with Tara Brach. (video) “When we have losses that have not been fully grieved, it can be helpful to be guided by the mindfulness and self-compassion of RAIN. As this guided meditation is brief you may need to take more time with each of the steps…approaching grieving with a patient, gentle and curious heart.” In related news and also from Tara Brach, Grieving and Timeless Love. (video)
30. Building Beauty: A Reflection With Spy Boy Walter.
31. Syrian baby born in earthquake adopted by aunt and uncle. They named her Afraa, after her mother. “This girl means so much to us because there’s no-one left of her family besides this baby.”
32. Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, enters hospice care at home. “‘I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,’ he said in 2015. ‘I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.'”
33. Sprawling, Color-Coded Arrangements Expose the Intricate Underbellies of Mushrooms.
34. What Dentists Wish You Knew on The New York Times.
35. A Love Letter to Libraries, Long Overdue on The New York Times. “The New York Times sent photographers to seven states to document the thrum and buzz in buildings once known for silence.”
36. Covid-19 infection offers strong protection against reinfection for about 10 months, study finds.
37. Laura Pritchett: Hughes Stadium tract should become protected open space. “Fort Collins can seize the chance to save it from development and overuse, while honoring its past and preserving it for future generations.”
38. Musk’s Twitter is getting worse. “The broken Twitter everyone warned us about is finally here.”
39. Museum of Lost Memories helps reunite misplaced family mementos with their owners.
40. 10 Simple Ways to Get Back on Track from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 