1. Good stuff from Jena Schwartz: Eleven Things I Learned in Physical Therapy That Relate to Writing + Life, and Dive Into Poetry + Support Color of Change, and Silence is Violence.
2. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,
Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wishing for them to be ventilated isn’t enough. Those of us who struggle with this know. Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? When we are distracted by a strong emotion, do we remember that it is our path? Can we feel the emotion and breathe it into our hearts for ourselves and everyone else? If we can remember to experiment like this even occasionally, we are training as a warrior. And when we can’t practice when distracted but know that we can’t, we are still training well. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on.
4. Black Lives Matter Fall 2016 Syllabus. What a great set of resources!
5. Widespread confusion about what it takes to be strong, wisdom from Seth Godin.
6. It Is Art That Will Help Us Survive from Terrible Minds. More good stuff from Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds: Yes, Virginia, Writing Is Too A Job, and Here’s How To Finish That Fucking Book, You Monster, and What Fiction Can Do For The Writer And Reader.
7. Some great ideas for education: A Matter of Death and Life, (“High school seniors at The Harley School in Rochester, New York, have the option of taking a class called “hospice.” Most who sign up for it don’t know what they’re in for, but none of them forget the experience when it’s over”), and This school replaced detention with meditation. The results are stunning.
8. I sure needed this message from Brave Girls this week:
You are doing such good things, such beautiful, wonderful, and important things. Do not feel bad that you have limitations and cannot do everything you want to do, or that you make mistakes that set you back or decisions that aren’t all that you hoped they would be. You are doing enough. YOU ARE ENOUGH. You are just right, and you are doing your best. When you have done all that you can do, let yourself BREATHE. And remember that rest, relaxing, and solitude are just as important as all of the other incredible things you do with your life. You are such a gift to the world. Take good care of you. You are loved.
9. An Open Letter from a Black Man to His White Family in a Moment of Violence.
10. The Difficult Art of Self-Compassion on Brain Pickings.
11. Every woman deserves access to pads and tampons.
12. Why We Need To Talk About High-Functioning Depression. *sigh*
13. This eighth grader just nailed how white people should discuss white privilege.
14. Student protest. Band kids taking a knee, peacefully protesting.
15. ‘Saddest-photo’ couple reunited after being forced apart.
16. A comic explains the screwed-up reason people complimented this girl for being sick.
17. Mary Karr On Writing Memoirs: ‘No Doubt I’ve Gotten A Million Things Wrong.’ “Karr discusses the faults of memory, the challenges of writing about loved ones and the pain of deleting pages because ‘there was something untrue about them.'”
18. Injustice Boycott. Starting December 5th. I’m in. In related news, It’s time for serious nationwide economic boycotts to end police brutality and racial injustice in America.
19. 23 Books By Latinos That Might Just Change Your Life. I couldn’t live long enough to finish my reading list, but I’m going to keep trying anyway.
20. Family cleans house, finds pet tortoise missing since 1982. **Spoiler alert!** She was alive!
21. Is this the president we want for our daughters? No, no, no, no, no, and no.
22. This is Why We Say Black Lives Matter. “Congresswoman Nina Turner just said it ALL.”
23. Recipes I want to try: Cheese Potato Pancakes, and One-Pan Salmon 4 Ways, and Easy One-Pan Pork Tenderloin Dinner, and roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar, and if none of those work out, maybe I’ll just try this Fast & Easy Dinner Recipe.
24. Why Dieting Can Rarely (If Ever) Be Body Positive.
25. Trevor Noah: ‘It Seems Extremely Easy To Get Shot By Police In America.’
26. What It Feels Like To Be Black When Police Kill. This video motivated me to do something almost more than anything else. In related news, 25 ways you could be killed for being black in America.
27. This is Why We Vote, a campaign to mobilize young voters to show up in huge numbers this fall. So good.
28. Alicia Keys – Break These Walls.
29. FX’s ‘Atlanta’ breaks viewing records. Is diverse TV here to stay? I hope so, because this is one of my new favorite shows (it just got picked up for a second season).
30. N.J. woman uses couponing to try and feed 30,000 people in need.
31. Meet the toy smuggler of Aleppo. He lives in Finland and risks his life to bring joy to Syrian kids.
32. To Anyone Who Thinks They’re Falling Behind In Life. This is one of those I need to print out and read to myself every morning until I really get it. I tried to pick out a quote to share, but there’s just too much good stuff.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 