Your heart
is a parachute.

Make sure
it opens in time.

~Andrea Gibson

1. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month With Films Featuring Indigenous Voices.

2. PEN America to Honor Darnella Frazier, Young Woman Who Documented George Floyd’s Murder.

3. Boy does incredible (and adorable) live weather ‘report.’

4. I’ve been craving Apple Crisp.

5. Japanese Artist Cuts Black Paper Against Colored Lights to Look Like Gorgeous Landscapes.

6. Enchanted Forest Family Owned Theme Park Survival. This place is a big deal where I grew up, was a big deal to me and lots of kids like me.

7. Laurie Wagner interviews poet Richard Blanco. (video)

I so enjoyed this interview with poet, Richard Blanco, Obama’s fifth inaugural poet, and whose poem, One Today, was read at the 2013 inauguration. Richard is a true creative who practices a kind of Wild Writing that he called Fever Writing. He also shares this great metaphor for writing as fishing – I loved it. He’s one of us, and man oh day, listen for the poem he reads to us at the end of this 20 plus minute interview. I hope you enjoy this. It’s meant to inspire all of us.

8. Face Mask Fogging Up Your Glasses? Here’s What You Can Do About It.

9. 7 Things Therapists Are Telling Clients Feeling Terrified About the Election. In related news, Are you suffering from 2020 election burnout? You’re not alone and Self-care in 2020: I’m handling the election and the pandemic by throwing a series of tantrums. and It’s not that you don’t care. It’s that you’re mentally exhausted and Eight Questions That Can Help You Survive Election Stress.

10. Do You Have ‘Zoom Fatigue’ or Is It Existentially Crushing to Pretend Life Is Normal as the World Burns?

11. Look Inward To Make External Change: Advice From A Meditation Teacher.

12. A Japanese Forestry Technique Prunes Upper Branches to Create a Tree Platform for More Sustainable Harvests.

13. AOC’s Next Four Years. “The history-making congresswoman addresses her biggest critics, the challenges that loom no matter who wins, and what she’s taking on next.”

14. The Best Dog Poems Reveal the Good and the Mischievous in Our Canine Friends.

15. Artist Hand-Carves Unbelievable Designs and Symmetrical Patterns Into Food.

16. “What Else Can We Do” – The Bengsons. (video) In related news, their cover of Angel From Montgomery is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

17. Life Isn’t all Hard Luck and Trouble. Because this:

The point I am trying to make is in the midst of all this hardship, every single one of us needs to figure out how to find joy in the world we are in, not waste away yearning for the world it is not. Because this one is here now and ready to squash all of us if we aren’t vigilant, and the next one is going to make us bloody getting to. So let’s make the best of this one.

18. What is a Dog? from Rita’s Notebook. Good boy, Rocky. ❤

19. be seen project. “The Be Seen Project is a platform and community for BIPOC artists and makers who are using their work to center marginalized voices and create social justice dialogue and change.” Check out their zine and podcast.

20. We need to build a movement that heals our nation’s traumas. “If we don’t have an unwavering commitment to healing as we mobilize this election season, we will always be in crisis.” In related news, Healing America’s Racial Karma on Lion’s Roar, “More than 150 years after the end of slavery, America’s tragic racial karma rolls on. If we understand how karma really works, says Buddhist teacher Larry Ward, we can stop it.”

21. With One Week [Day] To Go, Here’s My Prediction Of What Happens On Election Day from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. “Anything could happen now. This is the final run-up and the chaos will continue. The chaos will worsen. We must be there for each other and for our democracy, in the voting booths, on the streets, in the charities that need us, for everyone who is reaching out and will be hurt by four more years of this venomous, inept administration.”

22. New York Times Neediest Cases Fund campaign. “Established in 1911 by Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, The Neediest Cases Fund has raised over $300 million since its inception. Throughout our history, The Fund has provided direct assistance to those who are facing tough times in New York and beyond.”

23. When I share, I learn from Austin Kleon.

24. Interviews with Titanic Survivors.

25. Winter Calm in the Middle of a Pandemic.

26. How to take a vacation without leaving your own home.

27. Stacey Abrams on minority rule, voting rights, and the future of democracy.

28. Whale Sculpture Stops Train From Plunge in the Netherlands on The New York Times. Or as I like to call it, “the most Dutch thing that’s ever happened.”

29. some words to get you through the next 48 hours from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

30. A House Called Tomorrow, a timely poem by Albertio Ríos. Because, this:

The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.

We simply would not be here
If that were so.

You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.

…

The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:

That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,

Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.

1. Wisdom from Robin Wall Kimmerer, from her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, “Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, the feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street to a sacred bond.”

2. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Ask the Teachers: Is happiness really the central goal of Buddhist practice? (“Anushka Fernandopulle, Ven. Thubten Chodron, and Kaira Jewel Lingo discuss the real meaning of ‘happiness’ in Buddhism”), and Becoming the Ally of All Beings (“A teaching by Sharon Salzberg on the interconnectedness of all things”), and The Four Noble Truths (“Buddhist teacher and scholar Jan Willis on the Buddha’s central teaching — his diagnosis and cure for suffering”).

3. Stop postponing your life until you lose the weight by Amber Karnes.

4. 5 Ways Weight Stigma Harms Fat People’s Health by Ragen Chastain of Dances with Fat.

5. Restoring Indigenous Systems of Relationality. Because this: “The vision we have described here is a vision that ultimately focuses on life, that values and prioritizes the dignity and respect of all living beings. It teaches our children how to co-exist in respectful, reciprocal relationships with diverse communities, including lands, waters, atmospheres, plants, and animals, and it believes in and works towards a more honest, just, loving, and sustainable future for all of us.”

6. Andrea Gibson – Homesick: A Plea For Our Planet (Official Video).

At the beginning of the summer, the sun burning apocalyptic in the Colorado sky, I began writing a poem titled, HOMESICK: A PLEA FOR OUR PLANET. It was written to highlight the earth’s deep love for all she creates, in hopes that humans might requite that love with their actions, choices, and vote. As humans, it’s easy to forget that we are, ourselves, nature. There are so many horrific losses of climate change––and it is, by itself, enough reason to reevaluate everything about our care for the planet. What needs to happen for us to stop ignoring the fact that the earth is, everyday now, scattering her own ashes? It’s crucial to presence the question, ‘What kind of planet are we passing down to our children?’

7. Beaver eating cabbage. (video) It’s even better with the sound on.

8. Tis the season: 30 Fall and Winter Soup Recipe Ideas.

9. The Log 2: Another year. (video) “This peaceful log bridge video, filmed in the Pennsylvania wilderness by Robert Bush, captures just how many wild animals cross over and under this log, day and night in every season…The August 2019 video, filmed in 2018-19, was the second of Bush’s log videos. His first, The Log Movie, was filmed in 2017-18 and includes curious baby bears, a snowy winter scene or two, and a few small surprises.”

10. 10 newsletters I love to read that you might, too from Austin Kleon. I, of course, would include Austin’s weekly newsletter to this list.

11. Working from home can be a nightmare when you have a pet. (video)

12. The messy politics of Nextdoor. “Want to see how polarized America is? Look no further than Nextdoor.” It really can be awful.

13. What we know Sunday: Snow stalls Cameron Peak, East Troublesome fires; Estes Park protected. We got 14 inches here yesterday, and were all so happy to see it.

14. #YouCanBeABCs from Sam – 6 year old raps about careers A through Z. (video)

15. Salute to this parents! preserving our culture & art. (video)

16. Alicia Keys-Good Job | Cover by One Voice Children’s Choir | A Tribute to Covid19 Heroes (video)

17. Parents Of 545 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border Still Can’t Be Found.

18. I Am Watching My Planet, My Home, Die on The New York Times. “Every single issue that matters to me — education, social justice, women’s rights, affordable health care, criminal justice reform, gun control, immigration policy etc. — won’t mean a single thing if the planet becomes uninhabitable.”

19. Adrian Brandon paints portraits of Black lives lost to police violence. “I just want people to stop and remember these lives and to honor them in the way that they should be honored.”

20. This Is The Backstory Of The Viral Photo Of A Black Woman Holding Her Son While Waiting In Line To Vote.

21. Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance. “Filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris explores how the reality and resistance of Native Americans inspires the work of Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk, igniting discussions about environmentalism and Native American rights, among other topics.”

22. Nadiya Hussain: ‘I want to blend in. But the truth is, I’m never going to blend in’. “Five years after winning [Great British] Bake Off, she’d love to just talk about baking and cookbooks. But then there’s diversity in TV, mental health, the pandemic…”

23. Apparently, a corgi crossed with another breed looks like a corgi disguised as the other dog. “These stumpy-legged pawsters seem to be so near perfect that even genetics don’t want to hide their corgi-esque traits when crossing them with other dog breeds.”