1. Poetry: Blue by Jodie Hollander and The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi and Sati by Vandana Khanna on The Slowdown with Maggie Smith, The Myth of Sisyphus by David Hernandez and A Gateway Opens by Danielle Blinka and Meanwhile, Somewhere in Germany by Phill Provance and Rocking by Claire Blotter on Rattle, Quadrant by Maya Stein, Ongoing Love Story and Even Though We Talked About Difficult Things by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Summer Lasted Until October and On No Longer Waiting for Rain by Julie Barton, Story by Carlie Hoffman and Miscarriage by Gregory Fraser and After Words Kelly Beard on poets.org, The Medicine of Surrender by James Crews, I came here to be a poet by Michael Montlack shared by Patti Digh, and Golden Locust by Susan Dworski Nusbaum on Heart Poems.
2. Brazilian Artist Lucas Lopes: ‘We’re Returning to Handmade Art in the Age of AI.’ “The visual artist on teaching in the outskirts, letting Sufi mysticism guide his works, and the joys of handmade art despite AI.” His work is amazing.
3. Women from History: Mary Delany. (Facebook reel). “In 1772, at the age of 72, Mary Delany began an artistic project that would occupy the final years of her life. An English artist and keen observer of the natural world, Delany had long been interested in botany and belonged to a social circle that included collectors, artists and naturalists. But it was in later life that she developed the technique for which she is remembered today.” So, it’s not too late.
4. Book lists on The Marginalian: 20 Favorite Books from 20 Years and 20 Favorite Children’s Books.
5. Good stuff from Jami Attenberg on Craft Talk: Always Be Eavesdropping, “And other recent prompts,” and The Pearl Jam Moment, “There’s always that last-minute mistake.”
6. On meaningful self-forgetfulness, “A subtle ‘how to'” from Patti Digh. Also from Patti, Exoskeletons and Armors, “What holds us up; what weighs us down.”
7. When Suddenly, “Lynn Peterfreund on surviving the storms” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.
8. Franklin Graham and The White Evangelical Church Need Jesus on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.
9. What the world’s leading researchers think about saunas.
10. Stop Trying to Be Your Best Self on The Atlantic. (gift link) “A new book argues that being sort of confident is enough.”
11. Why You Should Turn Your Walk Into a Color Hunt.
12. The Miniforest Movement Gains Ground In The U.S. “A 50-year-old planting method from Japan is jump-starting native forest ecosystems in small plots, from schoolyards to parking lots.”
13. Recense (figured out) by Patrick Madden on Short Reads. “What the nose knows.”
14. I want you to meet Ella by Frederick Joseph. “Everything’s Not Lost is out now. A letter about why I wrote it, and why I’m asking you to read it.”
15. Good stuff on The Guardian: Going nowhere fast? Personal trainers on why you aren’t seeing results in the gym (“From doing too much cardio to wasting time – PTs reveal the common fails stunting your progress, and how to avoid them”) and ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’: hospice workers share 12 lessons about life and death (“Hospice and end-of-life workers discuss what they’ve learned from their work and patients in their last moments”) and ‘This is horrifying. This is madness’: the row over competitive yoga (“Some yogis welcome the idea of competition – for others, it is anathema. Will those keen for yoga to become an Olympic sport win the argument?”) and The one change that worked: I deleted Instagram – and embraced the joys of a truly private life (“I’d become obsessed with appealing to my invisible audience. But since I ditched the app a year ago, my quieter moments have taken on brilliant new meaning”) and The last thing I did for my mother was illegal (“An urn cost more than my rent. So I scattered my mother’s ashes at Yosemite from a Ziploc bag, without the federal permit I couldn’t afford to wait for”).
16. Simple Ways to Find More Joy When You’re Feeling Hopeless on The New York Times. (gift link)
17. 15 tips to help you just draw by Danny Gregory.
18. It’s been six years by Hugh Hollowell, a brutal, beautiful, accurate description of what grief is like.
19. The Gifts by Danusha Laméris.
20. And finally, a few things I saved to my phone this week,
