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1. How Bisa Butler Went From Being a High School Art Teacher to an In-Demand Quilter. “We spoke with Butler about her whirlwind year, why finding success in her 40s has been a blessing, and how she recharges in stressful times.”

2. It’s Time to Defund the Causes of Suffering on Lion’s Roar. “Following the police killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, Constance Kassor examines how calls to defund the police can be linked to the Buddhist call to eradicate causes of suffering.”

3. Q: Why Blog? A: Blogs Are Great.

4. Poet Ross Gay Discusses How The Pandemic Has Given “The Book Of Delights” New Meaning.

5. Tressie McMillan Cottom on Angela Davis, Gwendolyn Brooks, and the Books She Re-Reads the Most.

6. Author Jenny Lawson Talks Humor, Depression, and the Underrated Virtue of Kindness.

7. Watercolorist Carries On Centuries-Old Tradition by Painting Ethereal Designs on Silk.

8. If You Find These 10 Things Overwhelming, You Might Be an HSP. In related news, Why Highly Sensitive People Are Attracted to Jobs That Burn Them Out.

9. A sign language performer, in the field of music, translates “Feeling good” by Nina Simone. (video) Make sure to turn the sound on.

10. What to do instead of calling the police. “These alternatives can help keep communities safe for everyone.”

11. LaDonna Allard Dies at 64; Led Dakota Pipeline Protests on The New York Times. “She started a resistance camp that turned into a movement that opposed fossil fuels while it embraced tribal sovereignty and environmental justice.”

12. After Growing Up In A Cult, Lauren Hough Freed Herself By Writing The Truth. In related news, Book Review: ‘Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing’ Isn’t Just A Cult Memoir.

13. The rare and unnerving reality of catching COVID after being vaccinated.

14. The Salvific Power of Writing Through Terrible Grief.

15. Moonlit Forests, Fish, and Branches Populate Kirie Silhouettes Cut from a Single Sheet of Paper.

16. Maslow Got It Wrong. “It’s time for us to let go of narratives like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the American Dream, which leave out any mention of participating in community well-being and tell a story only of individual flourishing. This is a profound distortion of reality and leaves us living in illusion, needing to wake up. As Daniel Suelo says in The Man Who Quit Money, ‘there’s not a creature or even a particle in the universe that’s self-sufficient. We’re all dependent on everybody else.'”

17. Flora and Fauna Intertwine in Delicate Mixed-Media Artworks by Teagan White.

18. There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing on The New York Times. “Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.”

19. There Can Only Be One: Battle Of The Joshes Brings Hundreds To Nebraska.

20. Prayers for India, a poem from bentlily. After you read this one, take some time looking around at her others. You won’t regret it, and if you do: why are we even friends?

1. I’m fully vaccinated! So far, my reaction to the second round is pretty mild, a headache with short boughts of dizziness and nausea, totally manageable and absolutely worth it. I am so grateful to have made my goal: to not get COVID-19 before I had the vaccine or it was no longer a threat. This was my goal way back when this all started, before they knew when or if there would be a vaccine. I know this isn’t a guarantee of anything, but my hope is that it means if I do get sick, I won’t end up in the hospital or die from it, that I’m less likely to infect someone else, and that it’s as safe as it’s ever going to be to visit my family, who I haven’t seen in two years now.

2. Signs of spring. Foxes (Eric finally saw one of the babies this morning), more bird song in the mornings, lingering light at night, osprey out hunting along the river, things turning green, budding and blooming, the port-o-potties gone from the park, and another round of snow.

3. Comfort. Being retired so that my schedule is my own and I can do what I want, what I need for myself; sitting in the infrared sauna with Eric; getting in the pool; a massage; hot coffee with cocoa and tiny marshmallows; seeing a friend volunteering at the immunization center; the kindness and good humor of the other people working there; having Eric with me this time around; my super soft purple hoodie; wool socks; down blankets and pillows; a warm shower.

4. Morning walks. With the two storms we had come through, they were pretty gloomy this week, and it was muddy some of the time so we couldn’t get close to the river for too long. We saw lots of deer and foxes and heron.

5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. My favorites.

Bonus joy: Janice coming back to the pool, hanging out and writing with Calyx, texting with Chelsey and Chloe’, texting with my mom and brother, cooking (thanks for teaching me the basics, Mom), reading (thanks to both my parents for giving me this), listening to podcasts, watching old episodes of 20/20, naan, sunshine, birds at the feeder, my daffodils about to bloom, acetaminophen, warm water, a big glass of cold clean water, my sense of smell and taste, how soft Ringo’s coat made of stars is, other people’s dogs, babies, all the people working so hard to keep us safe, practice.