jillsalahub

1. Poetry: Imagine if schools replaced detention with poetry assignments by Christopher Sexton, The Mower by Philip Larkin shared by Patti Digh, What You Won’t Hear On Cable News by Carrie Newcomer shared on Heart Poems, Even the Wild Rumpus Must End and Past Dusk by Julie Barton, Enter the Temple from James Crews and The Weekly Pause.

2. Capture the Dark 2025: Winning photographs. “With over 2,200 entries, from over 22 countries, together we’ve created a powerful story of the night: revealing its wonder, exploring its mysteries, and inviting others to join us in our journey to protect it.”

3. Turning Neighborhoods into Communities. “How 3 Supernuclear readers became case studies for local connection.”

4. What ‘Food Noise’ Is Really Trying to Tell You from Gina Luker.

5. Why Uncertainty Is Good for Us. “Most of us want to avoid uncertainty, but the latest scientific research is showing that uncertainty may be essential for our overall well-being. Here’s how mindfulness can help us unlock its beneficial potential.”

6. I Stopped Reaching for My Phone First Thing—and My Mornings Got So Much Better. “The ‘no-scroll morning’ routine that keeps me grounded and energized.”

7. Recipe I want to try: I have some tomatoes from a friend’s garden so I think I should make this Bruschetta.

8. The Dog Days And Your Creative Juices, a gorgeous video by Noah Kalina. “On today’s show we talk about how hot it is. Can you believe it? It’s so hot. I can’t do anything. But I did go out one morning when it was foggy. There was one day that was fine. But will it ever be fine? Or is it just the Dog Days? I call my dad and ask him about burnout and feeling guilty about not doing work. He gives some pretty good advice.”

9. Wisdom from Patti Digh: The quiet power of choice architecture (“designing my life for better decisions”) and When a broken bridge is a signal (“You are recoverable”).

10. Conservative Christians Are Saying, “To Hell With Jesus” on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. “I’m willing to go out on a theological limb here and say that if you’re applauding the harassment, fining, and arrest of homeless human beings, you’re not a Jesus Christian. I mean, you can go to church as often as you want, you can stick as many WWJD bumper stickers on your car as you’d like, and you can drop all the scripture quotes into your social media profile that your heart desires—but if you’re celebrating the elimination of reduced lunches, food stamp programs, and low-income housing, well, let’s just say your religion is short one Jesus.”

11. Step The Fuck Up or It’s Over, “Silence, Fascism, and the History Unfolding” by Frederick Joseph.

12. When fear hums beneath everything, “Connection as Survival” from Alix Klingenberg.

13. A Life With Less Pleasure Reading, “If a life has no space to read for pleasure, is that life too full?” from Anne Helen Petersen.

14. Aha! from Seth Godin.

15. I Thought Grief Would Destroy Me, “Instead, I Made My Partner Into A God” from Megan Falley.

16. Raccoon spotted riding alligators across Florida lake. 😆

17. Baby skunk stomps. (Facebook reel) It’s embarrassing how many times I’ve watched this video, but he’s SO cute! 🥰

18. Urgent Surgery for Abandoned puppy GoFundMe.

19. Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler, a new book by Susana M. Morris. I had no idea this book was being written, and I’m so excited — you may not know this about me, but I ADORE Octavia Butler and every single thing she wrote. In related news, Exploring Octavia Butler’s Beginnings as a Sci-Fi Trailblazer (“Susana M. Morris on the Early Writing of a Literary Icon”) and ‘Positive Obsession’ Is a Fresh Look at Octavia E. Butler (“A new biography by Susana M. Morris reveals the struggles, passions and triumphs that shaped the science fiction icon and her books”) on The New York Times (gift link).

Side note: I sure wish when a new book was released, you had the option to get a hardback or paperback copy, because I don’t like hardbacks but in this case and so often, I also hate waiting.

20. Serena Williams built her legacy on defiance. Why lend it to Ozempic culture? “From Compton outsider to American nonpareil, she came to embody resistance to toxic norms. But her embrace of GLP-1 drugs feels like capitulation to ideals she once rejected.”

Just to be clear: I believe in body autonomy. People living in a body have the right to do whatever they want — “your body, your choice.” AND I find this whole issue and the surrounding conversation fascinating and complicated.

21. And this collection of random things I saved to my phone this week.

1. Morning walks. Temperatures are cooling down and things are turning golden. It’s not always easy for me to get up so early and get out into the world, but when the sun comes up and I’ve got my best boy with me and it feels like we have the whole world to ourselves it makes it all worth it.

2. Practice. Yoga at Red Sage with dogs, writing with my Friday morning sangha led by Chloe’, meditating in my practice room, reading and writing in the morning with a warm mug of green tea in front of my HappyLight.

3. All the good people, family and friends. My highly sensitive introverted self was very social this week: brunch with Carrie and then a visit with her family and my boyfriend Tony the tiger dog, hanging out at my kitchen table with Chloe’, acupuncture with Lindsay, my yearly haircut with Elianna, yoga at Red Sage with Teri, aqua aerobics with Tracy and getting to say hello to my gym dad Frank, wildish writing, getting a massage from Dana, going to lunch with Jon and Chelsey, book club, texting with Chris and sharing selfies with Mom. It was good and also I am so tired!

4. Cooking and baking. I love being able to make what I want, how I like it at home for myself, and now that it’s cooling down, I can finally start using my oven again. This week I want to try a few new recipes, one is for a smash falafel wrap and the other is for cornmeal pancakes.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I love it here, with them.

Bonus joy: peaches, corn, watermelon, bean and cheese burritos (we call these “old styles” because when we first got married, we ate them a lot), birds at the feeder attached to the window over my writing desks (yes, I have two, side by side running the length of my “office” — one has my desktop computer and the other has more space for writing by hand and making art and piling books), tiny brass animals (I showed Chloe’ my collection when she was here and it reminded me of this part in Mae Martin’s comedy special Sap — which I totally recommend, it’s SO good), libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, listening to music while I drive around with my windows rolled down, Sunday morning pilates, the hydromassage chair, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, other people’s dogs and kids and gardens, stickers, sharing stickers, picking out a new sticker for the front cover every time I start a new blank notebook, the way the top of Ringo’s head smells when he’s been out lounging in the sun, the whole house fan, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.