Something Good

1. And it bends toward justice from Seth Godin. “Our culture is the result of a trillion tiny acts, taken by billions of people, every day. Each of them can seem insignificant, but all of them add up, one way or the other, to the change we each live through.”

2. In Celebration of Armchair Activism on Dances with Fat. Also from Dances with Fat, Comebacks To Shut Down Fatphobia – Part One.

3. making light in the dark on Chookooloonks, in which Karen Walrond asks, “Anyway, I was wondering: when you’re working toward something good — whether it’s raising good children, or fighting against an injustice or fighting for justice — what are ways that you do to keep joy close at hand?”

4. How to Survive the End of the World: It’s Hard Out Here for a Prophet, (podcast) featuring Rev. angel Kyodo williams and Lama Rod Owens discussing how going inward helps us transform the world.

5. Life is Tough. Here Are Six Ways to Deal With It on Lion’s Roar. “An ancient set of Buddhist slogans offers us six powerful techniques to transform life’s difficulties into awakening and benefit. Zen teacher Norman Fischer guides us through them.” In related news and also on Lion’s Roar, 5 Questions That Help Us Wake Up. “Trying to push away our emotional distress can throw us into ‘cognitive shock’ that turns our mind into a muddle. Ezra Bayda shares five simple questions to help us cut though confusion.”

6. One method of writing from Austin Kleon. Also from Austin, The Hawk (a comics diary).

7. 6 Tips for Surviving Anxiety as an Introvert.

8. Birthday self portraits. “A few years ago, I started taking self portraits on my birthday—as many self portraits as my age that day. This Thursday I took 52 self portraits on the occasion of my birthday.”

9. Ten Years After Howard Zinn’s Death — Lessons from the People’s Historian.

10. Obama Called Trump a ‘Fascist’ on Phone Call During Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Run for The White House. He was not wrong.

11. Photographer Captures Real-Life “Fairy Forests” in Finland.

12. What’s Your Ailment? “Join host and comedian Maria Bamford as she talks candidly with fellow comedians and artists about their experience with mental health, past or present.” For now, you can watch the first episode for free. I’m hoping they’ll eventually unlock the others, otherwise I might need to subscribe.

13. Administration behaving badly: Trump Revealed the Logo for Space Force and It’s Just the Star Trek Logo, and Trump Administration Cuts Back Federal Protections For Streams And Wetlands, and After Contentious Interview, Pompeo Publicly Accuses NPR Journalist Of Lying To Him.

14. Why Cutting Ties with Toxic Family Members Is an Act of Self-Care.

15. Reading lists! 13 Graphic Novels Feminists Should Read in 2020, and Grade 11 students in Ottawa are ditching Shakespeare for Canada’s Indigenous authors, and 17 Great Books on the Border to Read Instead of ‘American Dirt’. In related news, Latinx Critics Speak Out Against ‘American Dirt’; Jeanine Cummins Responds.

16. 85,000 Pieces From Beloved Chinatown Museum Likely Destroyed in Fire. Such a huge loss.

17. National Archives Replaces Altered Women’s March Photo. “The National Archives apologized after its decision to alter a 2017 Women’s March photo sparked controversy…In an exhibit on the 19th Amendment, the Archives displayed a blurred photo of the 2017 Women’s March in D.C., which took place the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, to obscure four protesters’ signs.”

18. The violence of white feminists relies on the carefully constructed myth of white womanhood’s innocence, purity, and righteousness.

19. “The Goop Lab” Proves Capitalist Takes on Self-Care Aren’t Going Anywhere. In related news, The reviews of Gwyneth Paltrow’s The Goop Lab on Netflix are savage, obviously, and Goop claims Gwyneth Paltrow’s new Netflix show offers ‘tons of scientific proof’.

20. The Racist ICE Detention Center Captain Was Just Fired. We Found 132 More Posts by Him on a Neo-Nazi Site. Not surprised. Seems like the perfect job for such a person. #AbolishICE

21. What We Get Wrong About Minimalism on The New York Times. “It’s not about empty walls or avoiding your phone — it’s about finding beauty in our surroundings, whatever they may look like.”

22. New Podcast Marsha’s Plate Wants to Make Every Black Life Matter. “The show, hosted by three Black trans folks, is doing its part to dismantle White supremacy and patriarchy.”

23. Do Not Move Off The Sidewalk Challenge: Holding Your Space in A White World.

24. “Shrill” Author Lindy West Talks Fat Liberation, Allyship and Donald Trump.

25. 20 of the Coolest Custom VW Camper Vans Ever Built.

26. How to Identify and Cope With Emotional Abuse.

27. Health and Wellness Is About Mental Health, Not Food Intake.

28. How Yoga Helped Me Learn to Love My Body, And Myself. “As a nonbinary and trans person, it’s taken me a lifetime to learn to love my body. Yoga was the last thing I expected to help me get here.”

29. Homeless Moms Evicted From Oakland Home May Return.

30. If Dr. King Was Alive Today, His Facebook Page Would Be Deleted, And He’d Be Censored.

31. He’s not kidding when he says, “Ready for the best Uber ride of your life?” (video)

32. Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust on The New York Times. In related news, 75 Years After Auschwitz Liberation, Survivors Urge World To Remember and Half Of American Adults Aren’t Aware That Six Million Jews Died In The Holocaust, Poll Finds.

33. Portraits on campus lacked diversity, so this artist painted the blue-collar workers who ‘really run things’.

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I’ve been reminded lately how much I’ve always loved these little weirdos. (Photo by David Clode on Unsplash)

1. memories of australia (and how you can help) from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

2. The High Cost of Fatphobia on Dances with Fat. In related news, this wisdom from Melissa Toler‘s latest newsletter, in which she talks about a recent interview in which “Jillian Michaels made some pretty awful comments about Lizzo,” and says,

Here’s the thing: Jillian Michaels is a fitness professional who has a long history of publicly shaming and abusing fat people in the name of health, and unfortunately, she’s not alone. What happened during that interview happens everyday in doctors’ offices, health clinics, and fitness centers, where health and wellness professionals condescendingly warn patients that they’ll get diabetes, heart disease, or even die if they don’t lose weight. When events like this occur in the media, I think it’s important for us focus LESS on the celebrities involved and pay attention to the messages and behaviors being displayed:

Despite the popularity of body positivity and the increased awareness around fat activism, there will always be people who are committed to upholding the status quo. This is especially true for folks whose identity and/or income requires them to do so.
Folks like JM who claim to be concerned about the health of others are only concerned when it comes to larger body sizes. They usually don’t have much to say about the toll that constant weight loss attempts take on your mental, physical, and emotional health.
These beliefs are dangerous and harmful. They’re often used to justify discrimination against fat people in healthcare, the workplace, and many other areas of society.

So, even though this was an interview with a famous personal trainer who said some things about a famous musician, it really isn’t about them. It’s an example of the harm caused by people who claim to care about health. But I believe it’s also an opportunity for us to challenge our own thinking about bodies, size, and health.

3. You Absolutely Can Tackle the Big Things You’ve Been Avoiding on Zen Habits. Also from Zen Habits, A Guide to Dealing with Uncertainty About What Path to Take.

4. How starting a writing practice can sharpen your mind, which features some thoughts on the matter from Jena Schwartz.

5. Hide and Seek from Austin Kleon.

6. Good stuff from Patti Digh: an online course Hard Conversations: Whiteness, Race, and Social Justice, and another online course Hard Conversations: Introduction to Racism, and The Art of Activism: Hard Conversations Book Club 2020.

7. Why Finland And Denmark Are Happier Than The U.S.. (video) “What does it take to be happy? The Nordic countries seem to have it all figured out. Finland and Denmark have consistently topped the United Nations’ most prestigious index, The World Happiness Report, in all six areas of life satisfaction: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.”

8. 100 Ways to Take a Break.

9. Love Is the Answer to the Climate Crisis on Lion’s Roar. “As the climate crisis worsens, and the window to solve it is quickly closing, we have a choice to make: we can shut down in fear or lean in and open our hearts even more.”

10. Buddhist Books by and for People of Color on Lion’s Roar. “In response to a query from a reader, our editors suggest some books by and for people of color.”

11. $11 Billion And Counting: Trump’s Border Wall Would Be The World’s Most Costly.

12. A Poem for the Veterinary Community from Andrea Gibson. (video)

13. Japanese Artist Transforms Ordinary Rocks Into Highly Realistic Animals.

14. The body-positive movement excludes women like me — those who aren’t ‘acceptably fat.’

15. This Colorado poet found inspiration in everything around her — even cactus spines — to assemble “Naked for Tea.” “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer explores vulnerability and ‘the invitation to say yes to the world as it is’ in her latest collection.”

16. As Menopause Nears, Be Aware It Can Trigger Depression And Anxiety, Too.

17. The Black Moms Who Occupied a Vacant House and Became Icons of the Homelessness Crisis.

18. How ‘Namaste’ Flew Away From Us.

19. Pema Chödrön steps down from Shambhala position, (sort of).

20. A Derry Girls movie is in talks according to the show’s creator. In other happy TV news, Insecure Returns for Its Fourth Season This Spring, and ‘Wild Seed’: Viola Davis Developing Adaptation Of Octavia Butler Novel At Amazon, Scripted By Nnedi Okorafor And Wanuri Kahiu.

21. 5 Pilates YouTube Videos For Beginners That Are Also Body Positive.

22. New online tool points consumers Native American-owned businesses.

23. The Science Behind Why Diets Don’t Work.

24. 17 Nonfiction Books Feminists Should Read in 2020.

25. Japan Releases a Range of Miniature Furniture for Cats.

26. A VW Beetle Spotted in the Insect Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

27. Media Bias Chart. “The AllSides Media Bias Chart offers an easy way to identify political bias in the news so you can be better equipped to navigate our polarized media landscape.”

28. The NFL Takes On Police Shootings of Black Men in New Ad. “The spot, which is slated for the Super Bowl, comes as the league boosts its social justice messaging in wake of the Colin Kaepernick controversy.” This is total bullshit, and I’ve been pretty clear that I think the NFL is a horrible organization. As this article states, “Critics have questioned the league’s motives, seeing the efforts as a way to repair the NFL’s image in the wake of the PR damage done by the Kaepernick controversy. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has not been picked up by a team since 2016, the year he started kneeling during the anthem to bring attention to racial inequities.” This follows some pretty similar situations: current day Christians would have judged and hated Jesus when he was alive (and I don’t think he would have been too happy with them either), white people only supported MLK’s message after he was murdered and they could manipulate it to their advantage, all kinds of diet culture behemoths have adopted the body positivity and “wellness/lifestyle” languaging in an attempt to monopolize on trends, etc.

29. “Flood the zone with shit”: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy. “The impeachment trial probably won’t change any minds. Here’s why.”

30. Today is MLK Day, and these are some things worth reading: 10 Things You May Not Know About Martin Luther King Jr., and Don’t Post An MLK Quote On Social Media Unless You’re Truly Anti-Racist, and The history behind MLK Day, and how you can celebrate it, and The Agitated M.L.K. I Came to Love on The New York Times, and Martin Luther King Jr. Was More Radical Than We Remember, which is two years old now but still worth reading.

31. ‘Spoons are so brutal!’ Paris Hilton’s cooking show is a rare work of comic genius. “In Cooking with Paris, the heiress and her dog dressed as a French maid struggle to make a lasagne. It’s either a baffling vanity project – or an instant classic.”