1. This wisdom from Andrew Boyd, from his book Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the The Universe,

Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.

4. People in Texas impacted by the flooding still need help. Here are some ideas: Charity Navigator, How to Donate Money and Other Aid to Communities of Color in Houston, Where to Donate to Harvey Victims (and How to Avoid Scams), #SupportBlackWomenHOU and #SupportBlackWomenHOU Hair Care List. Also, there are some local animal rescue organizations doing good work. They have Amazon wishlists filled with affordable supplies they desperately need, or you can just make a donation to their orgs: Austin Pets Alive!, SPCA of Texas, and Dallas DogRRR. In related news, People are urging donations for Harvey relief efforts — just not to the Red Cross and Making Sure Your Houston Relief Money Is Going to the Black Folks Who Need It Most Isn’t Easy. Also, The death toll in Sierra Leone continues to rise after mudslides and torrential flooding. (Video) Charity Navigator has also provided a list of where to give for Sierra Leone. This also happened: Texas ‘Dreamer’ from Mexico killed volunteering during Harvey floods.

3. What to Do About Charlottesville, another great list of ways to help.

3. Recipes I want to try: Crispy Barbecue Potato Wedges, and corn, cheddar and scallion strata, and Summer Jams 4 Ways, and 8 wow-worthy pie hacks, and Pistachio Raspberry Energy Bars, and 6 Late-Night Snack Recipes, and Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Crunch Balls.

4. Truthbomb from Danielle LaPorte: “Your fulfillment depends on your clarity.”

5. How You Can Responsibly Take Accountability When You Cause Harm To Another Person on Everyday Feminist.

6. For White People Who Compare Black Lives Matter to White Supremacy. In related news, L’Oréal firing Munroe Bergdorf isn’t championing diversity, it’s centring white fragility and Conversations on Racism With White People Getting Stuck or Looping? Thirteen Questions To Get It Moving Again.

7. A Letter to INFJs About Dealing With the Pain of Disappointment. In related news, 25 Illustrations That Perfectly Capture the Joy of Living Alone as an Introvert.

8. Nappy, “Beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people. For free.” In related news,

TONL seeks to transform the idea of stock photography by displaying images of diverse people and their stories around the world. Our voices and visibility matter. Photography and storytelling can help humanize and hopefully diminish the stereotypes and prejudice against black and brown people, especially. We wanted to challenge the stale, homogenous look of traditional stock photography by showcasing the many ethnic backgrounds of every day people.

9. A Janitor Preserves the Seized Belongings of Migrants.

10. “Nothing matters more than results” from Seth Godin.

11. This urban farm has sprouted up in crowded NYC. (video)

12. Meet Ludwick Marishane, the South African innovator who created the waterless bath gel. (video)

13. My sister’s cancer might have been diagnosed sooner — if doctors could have seen beyond her weight. Every woman I know has a story about a doctor not taking her seriously, simply because she’s a woman, or because she’s a woman and fat, or because she’s a woman and old, or because she’s a woman and young, etc.

14. A Much-Needed Primer on Cultural Appropriation. It’s a confusing issue, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to understand.

15. “If the shoe fits” – A game for everyone bored while shopping. This made me giggle.

16. Stores Full Of Furniture, ‘Mattress Mack’ Opens His Doors To Flood Victims. In related news, Watch This Spontaneous Gospel Performance Lift Spirits At A Texas Shelter. (video)

17. A sweet baby chimp daydreaming about some sweet bananas. (video)

18. Karl Ove Knausgaard: what makes life worth living? “Apples, plastic bags, teeth – the bestselling Norwegian author brings his forensic attention to everyday objects to explain the world in a letter to his unborn baby.”

19. Over 600,000 Trees Are Planted in Response to President Trump’s Climate Change Views.

20. Free Hugs Project helping in Houston. (video) I’m not crying, you’re crying… “The Free Hugs Project is an initiative that spreads love, inspires change and raises awareness of social issues.”

1. Hurricane Harvey in Photographs on The New York Times, (And btw, The New York Times has lifted the paywall on articles about the storm). In related news, A Catastrophe for Houston’s Most Vulnerable People, and The Trump administration will check people’s papers as they evacuate from Hurricane Harvey.

2. What you can do to help: Donate to Austin Pets Alive! who is helping shelters in the direct line of Hurricane Harvey, or check out this list from ABC News, or this list on Texas Monthly, or this list from Vox.

3. Old Feral Cat Becomes Grandpa To Foster Kittens. “This old feral cat hated living in a home — until he met the loves of his life.” I shared another video of him already, but this one was too good to keep to myself. In related news, as in “other examples of animal videos that make me stupid happy,” here’s one from West Coast Heeler pack, just a bunch of furry friends out for a walk.

4. Recipes I want to try: Two Ingredient Watermelon Ice Cream and Flour Tortillas.

5. Humans of New York, the series! (video)

6. The Running Activist. (video) “Running is not just about running fast…It’s a way to engage people in conversations, and really change the narrative on what it means to be a Black woman.”

7. 13 Nonfiction Books About Race, Written By Women Of Color. In related news, Amy Gallo’s Five Essential Books for Having Difficult Conversations, and 70+ Race Resources for White People.

8. The cover of Women’s Running, The Great Outdoors Special Issue. “On the cover is the inspirational Mirna Valerio, the woman behind the Fat Girl Running blog, who within the issue writes about how nature inspires every aspect of her life.”

9. An Ariz. Man Is Out of a Job After Posting About Plan to ‘Drive Through’ Trump Protesters. “I think we have a solid candidate for ‘Dick of the Year’ here.” Agreed, and yet, even worse is that this sort of nonsense is pretty common.

10. Wisdom from Patti Digh,

Just a suggestion to my white friends: Rather than spend energy asserting that you don’t have white privilege, investigate how you can use your privilege to dismantle racism. Because trust me, you’ve got it. The very color of your skin provides you with an unearned privilege that people of color don’t have. If you see “privilege” as “wealthy,” then you’re misunderstanding what I mean by white skin privilege. Unearned social advantage by virtue of just having white skin. You’ve got it. Don’t apologize for it. Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t be ashamed of it. Just use it to dismantle racism.

11. 94-year-old man builds pool for neighborhood kids. (video) “After Keith lost his wife, his house grew silent and lonely. So Keith put in a pool, and the neighborhood kids now fill the silence with laughter.”

12. Buddhism’s Origins, a short video with Morgan Freeman.

13. This 4 year-old percussionist is amazing! (video) His teacher, Baba Donn, continues to teach at the Harlem School of the Arts where he has taught for over 25 years.

14. Wait, Do People Actually Know Just How Evil This Man Is? “Joe Arpaio’s reign was two decades of intimidation, cruelty, and abuses of power.”

15. Facebook is being accused of ‘racially biased censorship’ by the ACLU.

16. All Your Favorite HGTV Shows Are Totally Fake. I already knew some of this, but it doesn’t stop me from watching – it’s still good fiction.

17. Why I Stopped Talking About Racial Reconciliation And Started Talking About White Supremacy.

18. A Love Letter to Activist from Desiree Lynn Adaway.

19. What Trump’s Generation Learned About the Civil War.

20. #introvertproblems hashtag on twitter. In related news, 7 Things Introverts Will Never, Ever Understand.

21. From Alexandra Franzen, in her recent newsletter where she talked about publishing your writing: “To help you get started, I made something for you: CLICK HERE to download a list of 25 places that would love to publish your work. Yes, really. Yes, you. This is a list of blogs, websites, magazines, literary journals, and other places that are currently accepting submissions from new writers. I compiled this list along with my friend Susan—we run a writing class together—and we hope it’s super helpful for you!”

22. Jim Carrey: I Needed Color. (video)

23. Death to the Dichotomy from Be Nourished. “Our individual cycles of self-neglect are only mirrors of what is offered up by the culture, collectively and systemically.”

24. I’m 35 and I may suddenly have lost the rest of my life. I’m panicking, just a bit. “Stop just assuming you have a full lifetime to do whatever it is you dream of doing.”

25. Don’t forget the second step from Seth Godin.

26. The Diet/Beauty Industry Cycle of Dis-Empowerment. When I first looked at this chart, I stared at it for a really, really long time — stunned, gobsmacked. #truth

27. Consider a membership with Everyday Feminism. They do really good work, and need our help to continue doing it.

28. These sex toys are for women, engineered by women.

29. Where Will You Stand? If we are to uphold the dharma, says Rev. angel Kyodo williams, we must stand up to racism and expose its institutionalized forms—even in our Buddhist communities. “Our inability as a nation to atone for the theft of these lands and the building of wealth, power, and privilege on the countless backs and graves of Black people is our most significant obstacle to being at peace with ourselves, and thus with the world.” (Thanks for the link, Rita).

30. Love Everyone: A Guide for Spiritual Activists on Lion’s Roar.

31. ‘Let Us Eat Cake’: The Tina Fey Effect in 2017.

32. What becomes possible when you say No?

33. What do you expect? on Life is Limitless. “Suffering comes in when you have the bar too high for yourself with expectations that sound more like orders or dictates and most of the time stem from other significant people in your life (parents, teachers, etc)…Suffering is experienced in the body when your bar is set from a place of striving and expectation and/or is set by others or from societal pressures of who we think we should be, what we think we should have or what we think we should do.” *sigh*