1. Poetry: Mary Oliver Says and Found Joy and Here’s To You and On Being Alone by Julie Barton, There Is A Road Inside Me and On the Eve of His 21st Birthday and On the Phone, Far Away and Sitting in a Quiet Room by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Who Am I to You? from Jena Schwartz, Aging Gratefully from The Weekly Pause by James Crews, Yes by William Stafford shared by Patti Digh, Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda, and Go Now. Get Born. Live. “On the poetry of my grief, and saying yes” from Megan Falley.
In related news, this offering from Laurie Wagner at 27 Powers, Writing the Resistance: “Praise as protest. Grief as witness. Words as shelter.” with Alison Luterman.
The world feels overwhelming these days. The news shouts at us louder than our own heartbeats, and often it’s hard to know how to respond. Maybe you’ve felt silenced, unsure of what to say, exhausted or afraid of sounding angry or strident. This writing class is about finding another way in.
My friend, poet and essayist, Alison Luterman, has always written her way through these times by listening closely to what’s right in front of her — her neighborhood, her friends and family, the rawness of children growing up, the Vietnamese elders down the street, the Mexican neighbors next door. She writes from her grief and her praise, lifting up the human moments that stitch life together.
For Alison, resistance is about paying attention. It’s about naming what she loves. It’s about the quiet act of bearing witness. It’s praising the very things we cannot bear to lose. Writing the Resistance isn’t about ranting or preaching. It’s about dropping below the noise into the heart of our lives — where resistance shows up as love, attention, and devotion. Come sit with us, and let’s write our way toward what matters most.
2. From Seth Godin: Kinds of reckless and No time?
3. Bad pencils make for good epiphanies from Jenny Lawson.
4. The Death of Social in Social Media, “The Reality-TVification of Ordinary Life” by Frederick Joseph. “That is the fracture line. For me, social media has always been a form of conversation, an imperfect extension of the ways we keep in touch and build collective thought. For others, Miranda included, it has become a stage. A place where ordinary life is recast as a series of episodes, each post designed as content, each follower reframed as a spectator. It is the difference between living in community and clamoring for stardom, between being a person online and auditioning to be the star of your own reality show.”
5. Let September Be Softer from Meg Josephson.
6. Writing 87 obituaries taught me we are more alike than we think.
7. Heaven Is Right Here. Is It? “What to do when love isn’t reaching out” by Satya Robyn.
8. A Whimsical Rebellion. “What if we fill our lives with the most radical act of all: refusing despair?” by Gina Luker.
9. “The fall of autumn,” In which I wax sentimental about the season at hand by Jonathan Edward Durham.
10. Smartphone Free Childhood: the unstoppable rise of a culture-shifting campaign. “With smartphones a near-constant presence in children’s lives, one grassroots movement is pushing back – with remarkable force. Smartphone Free Childhood began with a conversation between two parents and has exploded into a nationwide campaign that’s captured headlines, inspired school reforms and signed up tens of thousands of families.”
11. Wainwright prize for nature writing awarded to memoir about raising a hare during lockdown. “Debut author Chloe Dalton’s ‘dream-like’ book Raising Hare follows the writer from London to the countryside.”
12. How Japanese ‘tiny forests’ are sweeping Scotland. “Grown using the Miyawaki method, fast-growing miniature forests in the middle of cities can bring surprisingly big benefits for people and the environment.”
13. 6 Qualities to look for in housemates (that go beyond splitting rent). Here’s hoping I won’t ever need this advice again in my lifetime.
14. 12 of the Best Fall Foliage Hikes in the U.S.—From Alaska to Tennessee. “If you want to soak in the best that autumn has to offer, it’s time to hit the trail.”
15. The Permission Workbook: On Revenge Writing (A Bad Idea) by Elissa Altman.
16. How do you respond when a famous person whose ideology you abhor is shot and killed? “The same way you respond to every death in a world too full of it” by Garrett Bucks on The White Pages.
17. Why do we collect things? “Desire, nostalgia, loss, and completeness in the personal collections of Joseph Cornell, Peter Blake, and Vladimir Nabokov” from Elsie Morales.
18. Why wisdom can’t be taught by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries. “So — can wisdom be taught? The sad truth is: no. Not really. It must be lived. And living is rarely a very tidy process.”
19. Stay Informed Without Drowning in Anxiety by Leo Babauta on Zen Habits.
20. If You Want to Simplify Your Life, Stop Doing These 7 Things.
21. Recipe I want to try: Oatmeal Pancakes.
22. 7 signs it’s time to call it quits.
23. Why Everyone—Yes, Everyone—Should Join a Book Club. “Linda-Marie Barrett on the Pleasures of Reading in Community.”
24. Former poet laureate Ada Limón says artists must band together during ‘dangerous times.’
25. Japanese concept “Mottainai” made me rethink the way I eat, shop, and even say goodbye. “Less waste, more flavor.”
26. “The most INSANE Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob you will ever see…With 30 musicians and singers in the STREETS of Paris.” (Facebook reel)
27. “Why are their five holes in it?!” (Facebook reel) Spoiler Alert: they aren’t able to figure it out, but it’s pretty funny watching them try.
28. And finally, this random collection of things I saved to my phone this week.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 