1. Asian Cucumber Salad. I made this last night (pictured above), because we have so many cucumbers from our garden right now, and it was delicious.

2. I’d Rather Be Home, and I Don’t Feel Bad About It. “Introverts live in two worlds: We visit the world of people, but solitude and the inner world will always be our home.”

3. Everything I needed to know about house-staging I learned from writing, some good writing “advice” on Rita’s Notebook.

4. The Delta Variant Is the Symptom of a Bigger Threat: Vaccine Refusal on The New York Times. “There are almost as many reasons for vaccine hesitancy and refusal as there are unvaccinated Americans. But this problem, not the variant, lies at the root of rising infection rates.”

5. Social Media in My Work (where it’s been and where it’s heading) a free podcast episode from Mindy Tsonas Choi.

6. As the World Opens from Jamie Ridler. “As we re-enter the world, we won’t just be finding a new normal, we’ll be creating it. Now is the time to move forward with intention, to make fresh and meaningful decisions before things settle into place.”

7. Unsuspecting Pedestrians Trigger a Dance Party By Standing on Decal That Says ‘Stand Here For Dance Party.’ 

8. Good Poetry: A Force To Be Reckoned With. “At its best poetry carries life. Gives life. Brings us back into life. Brief, clear, beautiful, heartfelt, educational, communal, liberatory. I think of it as vibrancy anchored in truth. I appreciate the way it pays homage to oppressed communities, often emerging from oppressed communities. Born of one particular experience, in its specificity it goes beyond specificity.”

9. You Don’t Know Me But, a pandemic poem/prayer by Laura Grace Weldon.

10. Beyond allies and accomplices to concrete plans. “I challenge you to create one concrete action beyond giving money, amplifying voices of color online, or reading books that will be in service to dismantling white supremacy that you can focus on this year. By all means, keep doing the other things, but now it is time to grow in your work.”

11. New Connie Sun cartoon. “I draw what I see — sometimes happy, sometimes sad.”

12. “I’ll Take It”: Tig Notaro on Becoming An Internet Icon. “The comedian chats with them. about her new animated special Drawn, and those cigar-smoking GIFs that broke the queer internet.”

13. At Tokyo Olympics, women gymnasts wear full bodysuits to protest sexualization of women athletes. In related news, People Are Confused And Enraged About The Decision To Fine The Norwegian Women’s Handball Team For Choosing To Wear Shorts Instead Of Bikini Bottoms.

14. Sunlight Filters through Misty Spruce Forests in Enchanting Photos by Kilian Schönberger.

15. White Woman Is Shamed For ‘Cultural Appropriation’ For Going To A Salon That Specializes In Black Hair.

16. Impasto Marks and Thick Dabs of Paint Render Dreamy Landscapes in Rich Layers of Color.

1. Why People Are So Awful Online by Roxane Gay on The New York Times.

2. New York Bodega Worker Gives Free Snacks To Customers Who Solve His Math Problems.

3. New Documentary Seeks to Understand Anthony Bourdain and His Death on The New York Times. In related news, The new Anthony Bourdain doc is ethically thorny but worth watching, and AI Brought Anthony Bourdain’s Voice Back To Life. Should It Have?, and Bourdain Documentary’s Use of A.I. to Mimic Voice Draws Questions on The New York Times, and Hoax Diaries Were the Original Deepfakes.

4. The spiritual bankruptcy of bottled water. “Selling out a national resource, at 75 billion bottles every year.”

5. The Hidden Costs of Dollar General. When we were in Oregon, I noticed every small town we went to either had one or was building one. 

6. What It Feels Like to Lose Your Favorite Season. “I’m so sad for us, for the story that we’ll have to tell ourselves and whatever generations remain: that the opportunity for change was and there, and we failed to take it every day, even as our understanding of the world, the parts that made it most precious and sustaining, crumbled before us.”

7. What Item Is Giving You Joy In A Pandemic? Your Beautiful And Quirky Answers.

8. If You Hate Meditating, Try These Alternatives. Then, read The Truth About Mindfulness: 6 Things You Need to Know and try meditating again. 🙂

9. But seriously on Rita’s Notebook. “Action is not always our best option; if we find ourselves lost in the wilderness, the best thing we can do is stop.” Amen.

10. Take more outdoor walks: Neuroscientists say they’re great for your brain.

11. The Lisa Congdon Sessions, “a podcast for creative folks about living and working with more intention, curiosity, and joy. Most interesting to Lisa is what happens at the intersection between life as an artist and life as a human, with all our baggage, aspirations, hopes and dreams. From big questions to practical ones about business, social media, time management, and finding your way through the winding creative path- each episode Lisa will share stories, tips, insights, and conversations from the heart.”

12. A depressed comedian does a mental health podcast. The punchline is a profound hour of radio.

13. Why It Feels So Damn Good to Laugh at a Funeral. “When my brother died too young, an unexpected dark joke helped my family deal with the grief.”

14. How To Wrap Using A Furoshiki. (video)

15. Recipe I want to try: Breakfast Burritos.