1. Memories of Thay on Lion’s Roar. “A collection of tributes to and memories of Thich Nhat Hanh from Peggy Rowe Ward, Shantum Seth, Hozan Alan Senauke, Larry Ward, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Rebecca Solnit, and Dzung Vo.” Other good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Spring Prayer (“Shozan Jack Haubner presents a prayer for the chaotic awakening of nature that is spring”) and I Vow to Save Everyone? (“Noel Alumit reflects on the daunting commitment of the bodhisattva vows, and how his ordination bolstered his relationship with his mother and culture”).

2. One Heart is Enough from Jena Schwartz. “A dozen years after one of the hardest periods of my life, the one when I stood by my own knowing even as grief and guilt threatened to engulf me, I have come to see just how powerfully the assumption that my job was to make sure everyone else was happy has steered my choices and dictated my responses.” *sigh*

3. Comedian Hannah Gadsby opens up about autism diagnosis, sexuality in memoir ‘Ten Steps to Nanette.’

4. 90 Journal Prompts For When You Feel Like You Have Nothing to Write About.

5. How To Find a Therapist: Your Comprehensive Guide.

6. This Year, Try Spring Cleaning Your Brain on The New York Times. “Five ways to soothe a mind overstimulated by anxiety, stress and streams of information.”

7. A small list of knowable things. “From quietly provocative international best selling author and TV writer Jonny Sun, a weekly illustration and reflection on a personal object close to his heart.”

8. Things to feel bad about from Seth Godin.

9. 5 Thoughtful Ways To Help You Underreact on Be More With Less from Courtney Carver. Did you know I wrote a piece that’s posted on this site? It’s part of the Simplicity in Action series, stories that “demonstrate that a life of simplicity comes in many shapes and sizes.” Read mine: Simplicity in Action: Jill.

10. A Time Like This from Laurie Wagner, whose Wild Writing Family is open for registration until April 22nd.

11. Banned Books Book Club. “A monthly book club, library and fund dedicated to reading and protecting the most important books for our generation.”

12. The Final Pandemic Betrayal. “Millions of people are still mourning loved ones lost to COVID, their grief intensified, prolonged, and even denied by the politics of the pandemic.”

13. Yes, Colonialism Caused Climate Change, IPCC Reports. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its final report Monday. The Frontline explores the significance of the sixth report finally naming ‘colonialism’ as a historical and ongoing driver of the climate crisis.”

14. To Be Pro-Choice, You Must Have the Privilege of Having Choices on The New York Times. In which Monica Simpson, the executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, states, “it’s important to keep in mind that Roe never fully protected Black women — or poor women or so many others in this country. That’s because Roe ensured the right to abortion without ensuring that people could actually get an abortion. People seeking abortions in America must consider: Do I have the money? How far is the nearest clinic, and can I get there? Can I take off work? Will I be safe walking into the clinic? For more privileged people, these questions are rarely a deterrent. But for many women of color and poor people, they are major obstacles. That’s how white supremacy works.”

15. The Expanding Job: Some problems even a wife can’t fix. “And if you are utterly unwilling to hire more people to do the amount of work we do, and utterly unwilling to decrease the amount of work you do, then you should be honest with yourselves: you’re fine with the human wreckage, you’re fine with moral injury, you’re fine with churn, you’re fine with continually unraveling societal bonds, you’re fine with snow-capped organizations, you’re fine with the enduring wage gap, and you’re fine with the toxicity that pervades our company.” I left my job a year before the pandemic and so many others continue to leave, all for these very reasons.

16. 31 Toddler Products That’ll Make You Think, ‘Wow, I Could Really Use This In My Life.’ A little person I know is definitely getting the scavenger hunt and scissor skills book for her next birthday.

17. How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero on The New York Times. “To independent booksellers, the enormous chain was once a threat. Now it’s vital to their survival. And it’s doing well.”

18. Daily Activities Are Interwoven into Rural Landscapes in Ágnes Herczeg’s Lace Sculptures.

19. Nature Writing is Survival Writing: On Rethinking a Genre. “Michelle Nijhuis Thinks It’s Time for Some New Perspectives.”

20. The Noom paradox. “Noom is a diet app in an anti-diet moment.”

21. Bitch Magazine Is Closing: Bad News For Me, You and Indie Media Overall.

22. Turns out Aimee Mann is really good at painting, too. “The famed singer-songwriter thought a nervous system disorder might end her music career. She coped by creating revelatory comics — and portraits of first ladies.”

23. I Lost My Mom 12 Years Ago. And No, I’ll Never ‘Get Over’ It. “I’m marking another Mother’s Day without my mom as people around the world deal with new, raw grief. Here’s what I know about how to cope.” In related news, What’s at the Heart of Grief? Love, Actually, (“My conversation with Marisa Renee Lee about her new book, Grief Is Love, which unpacks and reframes this complicated emotion).

24. 5 toxic pieces of advice that are hurting your writing.

25. Meet Elyse Myers: What to Know About the Comedian Who Shot to TikTok Fame for Viral ‘Worst Date Ever’ Video. “Elyse Myers opens up to PEOPLE about building a following of millions, finding celebrity fans like Reese Witherspoon and spreading a message of positivity.” I love Elyse. I wouldn’t agree with the way PEOPLE framed what she does as “spreading a message of positivity” — what she actually does is be honest about how hard being human is, all the ways we all screw up and suffer, and reminds us there are good things, lots to laugh about, and we don’t have to give up.

26. The Poetry of a Body a short story contest winner by Megan Falley.

27. The Shape of the Void: Toward a Definition of Poetry on The New York Times. “‘Poetry leaves something out,’ our columnist Elisa Gabbert says. But that’s hardly the extent of it.”

28. What Is Your Ikigai? Finding Pleasure and Purpose In Life. “The Japanese word is often translated as ‘the reason for getting up in the morning.’ It’s that … and more.”

29. Densely Arranged Stone Gradients Sweep Across the Sand in Jon Foreman’s Extraordinary Land Art.

30. The Truth Isn’t Anti-White. The Truth Is The Truth. “I wonder what America could be if it faced itself? What could America be if it taught real history? What could America be if we changed the landscape of our monuments to use them similar to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to tell the story of enslavement in America? What are we so afraid of? The truth isn’t what should divide us or cause fear. Learning the lessons the truth offers is what will bring us together if we ever want to move towards healing. However, one of the first steps of healing is acknowledging that something has happened. There is no healing without admitting and telling the truth. There is no healing without facing the truth. If America ever wants to be what it can be, we must tell the story accurately.” Amen.

31. As ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ turns 100, its message continues to resonate. “‘It is true that some of the most beautiful stories ever written for children … have been sad stories,’ Williams Bianco wrote in the literary magazine The Bookman in 1925. ‘But it is the sadness which is inseparable from life, which has to do with growth and change and impermanence, and with the very essence of beauty.'”

1. Wisdom from Desmond Tutu: “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.”

2. Mud-caked feet, berries for breakfast and hiding from hunters: my life as a deer. “When still a teenager, Geoffroy Delorme dropped out of his lonely childhood to live among the animals in the woods of Normandy – and stayed for seven years.”

3. Michelle Yeoh has a new leading role and a new motto: No more turning the other cheek. An interview with one of my favorite actresses about her new movie, which ends with this wisdom, “I think you have to be present. This life is yours. But if you’re not present, it’s wasted. Time waits for no one. When we’re born, we age and then we die, and God forbid, we die before we have lived our lives. So we have to be present in whatever universe, in whatever life, because if you give up on being present, then you give up on your life.”

4. What I Loved (and Feared) About School as an Introvert.

5. Florals, Beads, and Lace Embellish Whimsical Faux Taxidermy and Anatomical Sculptures.

6. People Say Turning 50 Is Fabulous. Here’s What They Didn’t Tell Me. “The truth is, I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m 50 and I haven’t done enough. I’m scared that I’m 50 and I don’t know what to do now. And I’m scared that before I can unravel these fears and grab onto a tangible thread of direction, time is going to run out.” Yup. Same.

7. The Unbearable Whiteness and Fatphobia of “Anti-Diet” Dietitians. “These white female dietitians have helped steal and monetize the body positive movement. And I’m sick of it.”

8. Here’s What a $135 Million New York Apartment With Views of Central Park Looks Like On the Inside.

9. How Serena Williams Saved Her Own Life. “Black women are nearly three times more likely to die after childbirth than white women. Serena Williams was almost one of them. Here, in her own words, she tells her story.”

10. This Map Shows How Much Money You Have to Make to Afford a Home in Each State. Colorado is the third highest after Hawaii and California, and yet, there’s this: Gov. Polis signs bill guaranteeing abortion access in Colorado.

11. Ketanji Brown Jackson Invokes History, Family in Emotional Speech.

12. Ocean Vuong on Taking the Time You Need to Write. “Live your life but tend to the work mentally.” In related news, Ocean Vuong’s Brief But Spectacular take on grief and language, and In ‘Time is a Mother,’ poet Ocean Vuong reflects on life, and time, without his mom.

13. Teachers Are Done. No, Really. “Teachers are either burned out, have lost faith in the system, are disillusioned with their leadership, are sick of the constant pandering to parents and politicians, or all of it combined. Teachers are no longer willing to heal a system beyond repair at their own expense. They are done, and it’s universal.”

14. It’s not just doctors and nurses. Veterinarians are burning out, too.

15. Why on Earth would the Grammys give Louis C.K. an award? “His first comedy album since he admitted to sexual misconduct won big on Sunday night.” So disappointing.

16. So I Bought the Gay Green Couch.

17. Surfer Photographer Captures Power and Beauty of Waves.

18. What to do if you test positive for COVID at this point in the pandemic.

19. People are developing trauma-like symptoms as the pandemic wears on.

20. Twitter Is Discussing ‘Shopping Cart Theory’ To Determine If Someone Is A Good Person. P.S. I’m one of the good ones.

21. Chris Smalls started Amazon’s 1st union. He’s now heard from workers at 50 warehouses. In related news, He was fired by Amazon 2 years ago. Now he’s the force behind the company’s 1st union and A conversation with the warehouse workers who created the e-commerce giant’s first union against all odds on The New York Times.

22. The Rise of Bitcoin and Other Stupid Meme Currencies. (video) “Bitcoin: Is it something nerds made up on the internet or is it the future of currency? Throwback to when Ronny Chieng headed to Wall Street to investigate the surge of the cryptocurrency.” While he’s at it, maybe he can explain what the heck is an NFT.

23. Love Letters to Libraries for National Library Week on StoryCorps. (videos)

24. The Endearing ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On’ Returns with a Feature-Length Mockumentary.

25. Do Nothing! Stay in Bed! Be Idle! – How to Live a Bit Better By Doing a Bit Less. “I fill my waking hours with work – and feel bad if I ‘waste’ a single minute. Perhaps I need to learn to embrace the benefits of doing nothing?”

26. Good stuff from Seth Godin: And maybe it’s enough and Convenience and boredom.

27. Wisdom from Omkari Williams: “Lately, it feels like we’re drinking, or trying to drink, from a fire hose. Not a week has gone by without at least one catastrophe. An ice shelf the size of Rome collapsing in Antarctica, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers, mass shootings here in the U.S., and more and it all feels…exhausting. It’s in times like these that I remember why it’s so very important to limit the focus of what we attempt to do. Small consistent actions beat swinging for the fence and burning out. Staying in motion matters. Inertia and overwhelm are the enemies of progress.”

28. Good stuff on Lion’s Roar: “A Cloud Never Dies” biographical documentary of Thich Nhat Hanh (“The new documentary tells Thich Nhat Hanh’s life story using original photographic and film archives”), and In Times of Crisis, Draw Upon the Strength of Peace (“When we are called upon to help in a crisis, says Kaira Jewel Lingo, it’s not a question of whether or not to respond — we must respond. But the way we do is crucial”).

29. Artist Ema Shin on Instagram. Her embroidery is amazing.

30. A Cow is Born from Andrea Gibson.

31. Needing Each Other is Human. “I’m not independent and I don’t wanna be.”

32. Back to Blogging: Why Writing for Yourself Still Matters. “With an abundance of social media apps to help you log and share your every move, it would seem that traditional blogging would be on its way out. But should it be? Here are 3 reasons it still matters.”

33. Your last 15 minutes before the end of the world, ranked from worst to best. This is a heart breaker.

34. The Thing She Carried. A photo essay in which “Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni documented the predicament of Ukrainian refugees through penetrating portraits. The photographers also asked their subjects to display one important thing they were able to bring with them from home.” In related news, I Am An Artist From Ukraine And I Created These Drawings Illustrating Horrors Of The War.

35. Wholesome Video Shows The Moment A Husky Is Reunited With Its Owner In Bucha, Ukraine, After Separation Caused By Russian Attacks.

36. Movements, Missing Stairs and Lindo Bacon from Lindley Ashline. Of particular interest are the follow-ups and further reading links at the bottom of the post. Oftentimes in the midst of a necessary change so much harm is done by those who want things to stay the same, who don’t want to change, who don’t want to admit they may have been wrong.

37. A Handbook for Abolitionists. “Patrisse Cullors’ new book offers guidance for personal, as well as systemic, change. Breaking the cycle of harm starts with us.”

38. Reader-Submitted Mini Memoirs: High School Scandals. “From an unwanted kiss on a doorstep to toxic rumors in a cornfield, these are our favorite reader submissions.”

39. What Does It Mean to Be Pansexual? “A pansexual sex counselor shares what it means to love people of all genders and beyond.”

40. Sarah Lancashire becomes master — and teacher — of French cooking as Julia Child. We’ve been watching this show and it’s so good — of course we are big nerds and own The French Chef on DVD.