1. Woman known online as the Black Forager on finding wild edible plants for meals on CBS Mornings. (video) “Alexis Nikole Nelson, also referred to as the Black Forager, is known for finding wild edible plants in both urban areas and the woods. She then teaches people how to cook and enjoy the ingredients on social media.”

2. John Roedel: “Poet. Writer. Comic. Storyteller. Terrible Dancer.” I just discovered his work on Facebook and am in love.

3. Set Against a Backdrop of World Events, Tim Okamura’s Bold Portraits Emanate Commanding Energy.

4. Exquisite mixed-media landscapes and still-lifes by Stev’nn Hall.

5. Keke Palmer Took A Trip Down Memory Lane Of Her Iconic Memes.

6. A classic American concession was first fried in Oregon: the corn dog. I was born and raised in Oregon, and I LOVE corndogs (honestly the Morningstar Farms veggie variety are my favorite) — HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!

7. How Cinematographer Bianca Cline Breathed Life into Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. “The Director of Photography discusses learning life lessons from a 1-inch shell, her inventive blend of stop motion and live action, and the power of possibility.”

8. Recipe I want to try: Corn Pasta Salad. In the summer, what I mostly want to eat is salads, sides, and fresh fruits & veg.

9. Now Is the Time for Highly Sensitive People to Step Up. “The world needs more of what of what sensitive people have to offer. Here’s how to provide it—without burning yourself out.”

10. ‘Samurai Jack’ Is Probably the Most Beautiful, Inventive Cartoon Ever. This is an older article, but it still rings true.

11. Adorably Emotional Creatures Comprise Nosey Mungo’s Playful Ceramic Menagerie.

12. Is Pilates as Good as Everyone Says? on The New York Times. “The strength and flexibility workout is having a moment. What can — and can’t — it do for us?” I ADORE Pilates equipment workouts, (it helped me heal chronic back pain I’d lived with for 25+ years and thought would never go away). I wish it was more affordable.

13. Let there be roses and pens, cell phones and stones, let there be glasses of water and books about god… from Amy Oscar. “It feels important to bless the world back together today.”

14. What I wish I knew in my twenties (and what I’m still working on in my fifties) from Heather Plett. #same

15. We need to talk about “random acts of kindness” TikTok. “There’s an entire niche of mostly white men who perform, film, and post ‘random acts of kindness’ that are performative at best and emotionally damaging at worst. It reeks of white savior complex, and it’s time we talk about it.”

16. Just like life, riding my bike doesn’t always make sense. But that’s why I love it.

17. 7 Eco-Friendly Swaps I Tried And Loved. “After years of searching and testing, here are some of my favorite Earth-friendly finds.”

18. Master Fruit Carver Creates Astounding Food Sculptures Too Beautiful To Be Eaten.

19. The art of Yuko Kurihara. “Yuko Kurihara’s paintings capture familiar motifs such as cakes, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and sea creatures with a unique sensitivity. Her faithful depictions of these motifs are captivating to viewers with both the vibrant color schemes and the serenity of a Japanese painting,” (from this short interview with the artist from Kaigado Gallery, who hosted her first solo exhibition).

20. “This country isn’t made for us, even though it’s built on our land.” “Sterling HolyWhiteMountain on the first annual James Welch Festival.”

21. Chance, Choice, and the Avocado: The Strange Evolutionary and Creative History of Earth’s Most Nutritious Fruit. “How a confused romancer that survived the Ice Age became a tropical sensation and took over the world.”

22. Wisdom from Gordon Lish, “Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.”

23. I read this quote the other day and can’t stop thinking about it.

24. Three Principles of Practice from Jena Schwartz.

25. What if? from Jo Hanlon-Moores.

26. She let herself go from Gretchen Schmelzer.

27. We’re Screaming About the They/Them Trailer. “The forthcoming queer horror film promises to be as thrilling as it is timely.”

28. A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement. “However they arrive at estrangement, parents and adult children seem to be looking at the past and present through very different eyes. Estranged parents often tell me that their adult child is rewriting the history of their childhood, accusing them of things they didn’t do, and/or failing to acknowledge the ways in which the parent demonstrated their love and commitment. Adult children frequently say the parent is gaslighting them by not acknowledging the harm they caused or are still causing, failing to respect their boundaries, and/or being unwilling to accept the adult child’s requirements for a healthy relationship.”

29. I tried van life and only lasted 2 months. Here are the 9 most disappointing parts of life on the road.

30. Disappointing photos show what it’s actually like to go on a cruise.

31. Valeria Pichugina on Instagram, a Russian watercolor artist and teacher who does beautiful botanical paintings.

32. Family Of Wolves Spotted Near Deschutes And Klamath County Line – Oregon. PUPPIES!!!

1. Wilford The Bear Makes A Bed And Takes A Nap In The Angeles National Forest. (video) I shared this at the end of my last Gratitude list, but it’s so good, I want to be sure if you missed it that I give you another chance. I’m convinced if you watch the full video, it will lower your blood pressure by a few points.

2. Bonsai Master Masahiko Kimura Takes The Craft To A Whole New Level By Creating Gravity-Defying Mini Forests.

3. Jason Reynolds on stories told for, and by, young readers. “Jason Reynolds is not only a prolific and bestselling author, he’s also the national ambassador for young people’s literature.”

4. Recipes I want to try: Instant Pot Chicken Breast, and Honey Cake Muffins, and Raspberry Breakfast Bars.

5. The Way Into the Poem Is the Decision to Write the Poem. “The fear of writing a ‘bad’ poem keeps me from writing at all. But I can’t write a ‘good’ poem without writing any poem.” This is from the series Don’t Write Alone on Catapult, where “you’ll find writing resources, advice, job and fellowship opportunities, prompts and craft talk, and more.”

6. Every Moment Loved, a cartoon from Connie Sun. “Wherever you are, whatever is happening in your life, I hope you feel loved in the universe.”

7. Interview with Martin Freeman. “The cuddly Bilbo and John Watson actor, 50, on squash, lefty politics, having a little faith and reserving the right to be difficult.”

8. Correcting people at the gym who didn’t ask for it isn’t ‘helpful’ – it’s toxic. While you are at it, don’t ever comment on anyone’s body, even if you think it’s a “compliment.”

9. Chilly and Milly, (video), from the 2022 PBS Short Film Festival. “Chilly, William’s father, is a diabetic with kidney failure, whose illness detrimentally affects his and his family’s lives. Milly sees her sole purpose in life as to taking care of her loved ones. While watching the documentary, Chilly and Milly discuss their life together, and their successes and setbacks in life. When Chilly passes away during the pandemic, Milly comes to terms with her loss.”

10. 40 Interesting Ways You Can Take action to Get Unstuck.

11. A Close Reading of Jack Kerouac’s Advice to Writers. “‘Belief & Technique for Modern Prose’ as Read By Your Resident Kerouac Skeptic.”

12. This toy is designed for you to fail (and that’s ok). (video)

13. The grandmother the internet needs. (video)

14. Krista Tippett Wants You to See All the Hope That’s Being Hidden on The New York Times.

15. New Speculative Fiction Crossovers That Bust Genre Boundaries. 

16. ‘It’s just a house, but not just a house.’ Marshall Fire victims’ plans to rebuild.

17. You’re not taking the dog! How pet custody battles turned nasty. “You’ve divided up the crockery, the books, the albums – but how do you split your beloved pets? As more and more cases end up in court, animal lovers share tales of dog eat dog.” Eric and I have a deal: whoever wants out or does something to ruin it doesn’t get the dogs.

18. Janeane Garofalo Never Sold Out. What a Relief. on The New York Times.

19. YouTube channel: Soft White Underbelly, “interviews and portraits of the human condition by photographer, Mark Laita.” *Trigger warning*: these deal with all kinds of suffering and are tough to watch. That said, I do think they serve to humanize circumstances and people that are all too often easily dismissed as individual problems.

20. France in Focus: The legacy of colonialism in France.  (video) “France is in the midst of an identity crisis – grappling with some important questions about what kind of country it is, and what kind of country it wants to be.”

21. Text Your Friends. It Matters More Than You Think. on The New York Times. “New research says most of us underestimate the power of the casual check-in.”

22. Emerging Form Podcast Episode 69: Travel and the Muse with Laurie Wagner. “Emerging Form is a podcast about the creative process in which a journalist (Christie Aschwanden) and a poet (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer) discuss creative conundrums over wine. Each episode concludes with a game of two questions in which a guest joins in to help answer questions about the week’s topic.” In this episode, “writer Laurie Wagner discusses how travel can facilitate creative traits like these and help you connect with your muse. She tells us about how being in a foreign place helps her move slower and see things anew. ‘Our lives are passing, and we think we are going someplace,’ she says, but meanwhile life is passing us by in this present moment, and that’s where creativity lies.”

23. Ada Limón Is Named the Next Poet Laureate on The New York Times. “Poetry, she said, can help the nation ‘become whole again’ in a fraught, divided moment.”

24. This Gay Ocean Horror Book Is So Good I Want To Scream, a review of Our Wives Under The Sea, which after reading this article, I now want to read this book.

25. The shocking true story of Netflix’s Girl in the Picture – a very simple timeline. Just watched this and it was fascinating and heartbreaking.

26. On the Personalization of Craft; Or, We’re All Going to Die Soon Anyway. “Diksha Basu Wonders What We Really Mean by ‘Writing Rules’.”

27. The Good Life Project podcast: Kerri Kelly | The Myth of Wellness & How We Truly Heal. “Wellbeing is, no doubt, key to living a good life, but wellness – as a concept – over the years, has become an industry, and along with that has come both incredible benefits and also a host of co-opted, problematic ideals, offerings and structures. A look under the hood often reveals an arguably toxic industry with deep cracks in its foundation that threaten to reveal the inequitable, exclusionary, shame-driven, perfection-aspiring, and, on occasion, even predatory side of wellness culture. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.”

28. The Bittersweet Story of the Real-Life Peaceful Bull Who Inspired Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson’s Ferdinand. “A journey to the abyss between the real world and the ideal world, and a romp across our mightiest bridge between the two.” Munro Leaf wrote my favorite children’s book: Boo, Who Used To Be Scared Of The Dark.

29. context, indigo & 55 from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks. “So after having this time away, I’ve been thinking about how I want to show up online, especially going forward: how can I show up in a way that feels rooted in my integrity?”

30. Alexandra Franzen on podcasts: Free Time / Run Your Business with Exquisite Greatness and Tiny Art Projects with Alexandra Franzen (“How has Alexandra Franzen built two thriving businesses without social media?”) and Chart Your Career / The Book Whisperer with Alexandra Franzen (“Heidi and Ellen interview the beloved wordsmith Alexandra Franzen. They look at four key career moments in Alex’s life and talk about her writer’s journey and the astrology that supported her along the way”).

31. When Outrage Is A Flower Grown From The Seed Of Love from Andrea Gibson. “Finding congruence between my spiritual and political selves.” Also from Andrea, Undoing Our Codependency, One Butterfly At A Time, “When struggle is necessary for thriving.”

32. Not Yet a God of Even the Palest Flowers. “From a conversation about the darker side of Mary Oliver, with three poems.”

33. Wisdom from Adam J. Kurtz.

34. It’s Time to Stop Living the American Scam on The New York Times. Because, this:

It’s no coincidence that so many social movements arose during the enforced idleness of quarantine. One important function of jobs is to keep you too preoccupied and tired to do anything else. Grade school teachers called it “busywork” — pointless, time-wasting tasks to keep you from acting up and bothering them.

Enough with the busywork already. We’ve been “productive” enough — produced way too much, in fact. And there is too much that urgently needs to be done: a republic to salvage, a civilization to reimagine and its infrastructure to reinvent, innumerable species to save, a world to restore and millions who are impoverished, imprisoned, illiterate, sick or starving. All while we waste our time at work.

35. On Unraveling and Resilience. “In a world unraveling due to climate change, an environmental scientist looks to Indigenous stories of resilience.”