1. What do you want your life and work to look and feel like? A great question offered in one of Jamie Ridler‘s recent newsletters.

2. Colorful Quilts by Bisa Butler use African Fabrics to Form Nuanced Portraits.

3. Clever Photos of Animals Made Out of Food.

4. How To Market Your New Business On A $0 Budget. “The 51 tools you should get to know (and love) if you’re starting something with nothing.”

5. What I say when I don’t know what to say from Austin Kleon.

6. How Mary Oliver Helped Me to Breathe Again.

7. Glennon Doyle Is Trying To Wake Up White Women. Is It Working? “The author, activist, and former mommy blogger has been encouraging her mostly white fans to speak up and empower themselves. What happens when her new advice is to shut up, listen, and let women of color lead the way?”

8. 8 Women on Choosing Not to Have Kids.

9. Why Writing Matters in the Age of Despair.

10. Hallucinations Kidnap The Senses In ‘The Collected Schizophrenias.’

11. This mic’d up 4-year old playing hockey is everything. (video) This kid is the story of my life.

12. Yoruba Richen’s Green Book Documentary Centers Black Joy, Not White Ignorance. “Victor Green’s guide for Black motorists saved lives and made travel possible for many Americans. This movie is about THAT story.” In related news, Oscars 2019: ‘Green Book’ is the worst best picture winner since ‘Crash’, and SNL “White Savior” Movie Trailer (video).

13. Meet Mama Posseh, a surrogate mom of orphaned baby chimpanzees in Sierra Leone. (video)

14. R. Kelly’s Bond Set At $1 Million After Being Charged With 10 Counts Of Sex Abuse.

15. ‘Black Panther’ Costume Designer Draws On ‘The Sacred Geometry Of Africa.’

16. 10 Books About Race To Read Instead Of Asking A Person Of Color To Explain Things To You.

17. Attempting to battle rap my son. (video) This is SO cute.

18. These animals are helping other animals. (video)

19. Dog had never wagged her tail until she met her foster dad. (video)

20. Dad sings “Tennessee Whiskey” to his baby. (video) I watched this more than once. His voice is gorgeous, reminds me of Leon Bridges.

21. Elaborate Paper Origami Tessellations and Kusudamas by Ekaterina Lukasheva.

22. Me when I see a dog. (video)

23. “I’m unapologetically black and I’m unapologetically a feminist,” says Brittney C Cooper, Ph.D., the author of “Eloquent Rage.” (video) “She explains why ‘being both those things is the thing that will save us.'”

24. 50 Amazing Books By Black Authors From The Past 5 Years.

25. The Most Hilarious Pictures Taken By Real Estate Agents. Hilarious, and creepy.

26. Five Things I Wish I’d Known Before My Chronic Illness on The New York Times. “Chronically ill people research their diseases ad nauseam. They try more treatments than they can count. In many cases, great scientific minds can’t crack a cause or cure. So unless someone asks for your advice, don’t offer it.”

27. Dream Job Alert: Humane Society of Tampa Bay Is Searching For Dog Snugglers. Yes, please!

28. Spirit Rock, Jack Kornfield, withdraw Noah Levine’s authorization to teach. In related news, Former aides describe abuse and sexual misconduct by Shambhala leader.

29. Little dude dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. (video)

30. Rocketman (2019) – Extended Full Trailer. This looks SO good!

31. More Than 50 Years In, Mavis Staples Is Still Delivering Messages Of Hope And Justice.

32. A Star Wars Is Born – “Shallow” Parody. (video)

33. Arrested Coast Guard Officer Allegedly Planned Attack ‘On A Scale Rarely Seen.’ Remind me again why we are building a wall?!

34. Covington Catholic student’s family hits the Washington Post with $250 million lawsuit. And surprise, surprise, DT tweeted his support.

35. Slim people should thank genes not ‘moral superiority’ for weight, study suggests.

36. White Woman Claims to Confront Racism by Creating Racist Yoga Event; Clearly Doesn’t Understand How Racism Works.

37. Karl Lagerfeld’s long history of disparaging fat women.

38. Publisher Of An Alabama Newspaper Calls For The KKK To ‘Clean Out’ Washington.

39. You ever see something so cute it literally hurts? (video) Hint: baby elephants are super cute.

40. Here’s why first responders are turning to yoga to improve their performance on the job. (video)

41. A whole community learns sign language to be able to chat with a two year old. (video)

42. What do we do when the art we love was created by a monster? In related news, What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?

43. My boyfriend Roman makes rice crispy treats. (video)

1. Wisdom from Desmond Tutu, “Discovering more joy does not, save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak. In fact, we may cry more easily, but we will laugh more easily too. Perhaps we are just more alive. Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.”

2. Recipe I want to try: Sweet Potato Black Bean Hash. This is actually one I shared a year ago and never made, but saw it in my Facebook memories this morning and decided to make it for dinner this week. Pretty much anything with sweet potatoes, spinach, black beans and cumin is something I’m going to like.

3. An Interview With Bryan Stevenson on Institutional Racism and Changing the Narrative..

4. Power & Heart: Black and Buddhist in America on Lion’s Roar. “At the first-ever gathering of Buddhist teachers of black African descent, held at New York’s Union Theological Seminary, two panels of leading Buddhist teachers took questions about what it means to be a black Buddhist in America today.”

5. Wisdom from Michelle Obama (by way of A Design So Vast), “For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”

6. I Wish I’d Had A ‘Late-Term Abortion’ Instead Of Having My Daughter.

7. Trapped, with no end in sight: A detained mother’s struggle to get home.

8. 4 Surprising Ways to Use a Yoga Bolster. There’s one of these I wouldn’t try or recommend, but there are two core ones that look worth trying.

9. Mexican-American novelist Sandra Cisneros wins international literary prize from PEN America.

10. Artwork (sculpture) by Thomas Deininger. (video) There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

11. First Listen: Yola, ‘Walk Through Fire.’ It took me a few songs to get into this album, and when I did, I wanted to curl up in her lap for the rest of the day while she sang to me.

12. So, feeding baby manatees looks like the BEST JOB EVER. (video)

13. Kitten tries to copy momma cat bathing. (video)

14. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. (video) “America’s obsession with and fear of obesity is putting fat people’s lives at risk. As a reminder: don’t worry, you can laugh! This segment was written by fat people! Featuring the thicc and fabulous Kristen Bartlett and Ashley Nicole Black.”

15. NFL star Shaquem Griffin shared an adorable moment with a little boy who has 1 hand, just like him. (video) To be honest, the real reason I’m sharing this video is I had no idea there was a professional football player with only ONE HAND! So cool.

16. “It’s easier to talk about gang rape than your body”: Roxane Gay on body positivity, trans rights, and 2020 In related news, Roxane Gay Would Prefer Not to Have to Be Exceptional.

17. The Denver teachers strike is over. They won.

18. A Border Agent Detained Two Americans Speaking Spanish. Now They Have Sued.

19. Rare, Elusive Black Leopard Caught On Camera In The Wild.

20. “Pen15” Is The Must Watch Show That Tackles The Awkwardness Of Middle School From A Female Perspective. I really, really liked this show.

21. Dazzling Gradients and Geometric Designs Baked into New Pies and Tarts by Lauren Ko. I think this is cool, but honestly it’s more important to me what they taste like.

22. Butterflies Vs. Border Wall: National Butterfly Center Seeks Restraining Order.

23. Dozens of polar bears invaded these Russian islands, prompting them to declare a state of emergency. (video)

24. This woman dropped everything to keep her granddaughter out of the foster care system. (video)

25. North Carolina A&T’s Kayla White Becomes the Fastest 200-Meter Runner…in the WORLD. In related news, Watch this 15-year-old girl bench press 360 pounds, breaking a state record, (video).

26. Five Essay Collections by Women of Color.

27. 9 Brutally Honest Confessions Of An INFJ.

28. Chimpanzees Build Makeshift Ladder, Break Free From Zoo Enclosure.

29. At first glance, the works of Ruth Miller look like paintings. (video) “They are embroidered tapestry portraits hand stitched with care. She explains why she continues her art.”

30. This 390-year-old tree survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

31. Who won this lip sync battle? (video)

32. Sweet Photo Series Reveals What’s In A Preschooler’s Pockets.

33. Fox News host who doesn’t wash his hands because germs aren’t real sums up Fox News.

34. The Aurora shooter had a history of domestic violence and assault. He never should have had a gun.

35. Accounts of sexual misconduct and abuse from several people who were very close to the Sakyong. This is a particularly difficult read, but it’s important to know the truth.