1. A Poet-Artist Looks to the Stars. “Monica Ong is a 21st-century visual poet who extends the reader’s sense of what is possible.”

2. Secret conspiracies and public systems from Seth Godin. “If we’d like the world to work better, more fairly and with more of a long-term view, we have to identify the systems that push participants to do the opposite. And then we need to consistently and persistently work to change the incentives that cause the entities in those systems to act the way they do.”

3. 12 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues.

4. A Season for Looking Inward. “So what will ‘I’ feel during this season? Since I now realize the choice is mine, here are some examples of words I’m considering. Here are five words to focus on for a more meaningful, less stressful holiday season.”

5. ‘Embrace the Foolish’, an interview on Ask Polly. “Austin Kleon on blurring the lines between work and play.”

6. Here’s how you can help tornado victims in Kentucky. Also, How to help victims of the tornadoes on The New York Times.

7. Recipes I want to try: Peppermint Brownie Cookies and Cinnamon Sugar Scones and 30 Impossibly Easy Dump Dinners.

8. The Health Toll of Poor Sleep on The New York Times. “Finding that slumber sweet spot can be helpful for fending off a range of mental and bodily ills.”

9. Apparently, the pandemic didn’t teach us anything about how to handle a pandemic. “New research shows that the U.S. hasn’t figured out how to contain a beast like COVID-19 — even after living through.”

10. Closing the Loop: adrienne maree brown on Harm and Accountability. “The author and activist talks to YES! about how to take care of ourselves and our communities, and what that means for movement sustainability.”

11. Anne Rice, Who Spun Gothic Tales of Vampires, Dies at 80 on The New York Times. “She wrote more than 30 Gothic novels, including the best seller ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ which became a hit movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.”

12. This gay Norwegian Santa ad is the only Christmas content I need.

13. Say More podcast episode 67: Mortality with Andrea Gibson on Spotify. “Olivia & Melissa go from complete chaos to total enlightenment in a conversation with renowned poet Andrea Gibson about mortality, the industry of death, the afterlife, and their new book You Better Be Lightening.” In related news, Nerdette Book Club: ‘You Better Be Lightning’. “We talk about what it has been like to lose the magic of live events during the pandemic and how they see their role as a poet and activist.”

14. Photographer Captures People And Their Bedrooms To Show Their Different Ways Of Living.

15. How the ‘HALT’ Acronym Stops Overstimulation for Highly Sensitive People.

16. Hand-Stitched Flowers and Landscapes Revitalize Found Photographs by Artist Han Cao. In related news, Vibrant Botanic Embroideries Embellish the Dried Leaf Sculptures of Hillary Waters Fayle and Artist Cuts Elaborate Designs With Astounding Details From Single Sheets of Paper.

17. The Best Books to Read in 2021, according to Vogue. In related news, Literary fiction dominates Maureen Corrigan’s 2021 Best Books list.

18. How to rest well. “Taking a break isn’t lazy – learning to recharge is a skill that will allow you to enjoy a more creative, sustainable life.”

19. Single All The Way Is the Gay Christmas Rom-Com Happiest Season Should Have Been. “Netflix skimps on the hometown homophobia and delivers the schmaltz.” It is SO GOOD.

20. Decolonizing Our Dreams. “We have to shed these oppressive structures that contain us so that we can dream of new realities where we can freely be who we already are — enough.”

21. I wrote a book about Black queer joy and pain. It’s already been banned in 10 states. The fact that there’s a large part of the population unwilling to consider any sort of gun control even when it comes to KIDS who also believe people can’t handle the ideas and characters in BOOKS makes my head/heart hurt…

22. Why Reparations Are About More Than Money. “Addressing histories of mass violence have to include both material reparations and public and visible symbolic gestures.”

23. Upcoming Novel “Julia” Will Retell Orwell’s “1984,” But This Time, Through A Woman’s Eyes.

24. On Being with Krista Tippett and Katherine May: How ‘Wintering’ Replenishes.
“Krista first spoke with Katherine [author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, The Electricity of Every Living Thing] in midwinter 2020, and their conversation continues to offer a helpful container for our pandemic time: as one vast, extended, communal experience of wintering. As 2021 draws to a close — still with so much to metabolize and to carry, with an aching need for replenishment — Katherine May opens up exactly what so many have needed to hear, but haven’t known how to name.”

25. The 1619 Project and the Demands of Public History. “The ambitious Times endeavor, now in book form, reveals the difficulties that greet a journalistic project when it aspires to shift a founding narrative of the past.”

26. The Second Coming of Octavia E. Butler. “Sixteen years after the visionary novelist’s death, Hollywood is bringing a slew of her intense sci-fi novels to the screen.”

27. Time 2021 Person of the Year. No, no, no. No. Just…no.

28. Her Instagram Handle Was ‘Metaverse.’ Last Month, It Vanished on The New York Times. “Five days after Facebook changed its name to Meta, an Australian artist found herself blocked, with seemingly no recourse, from an account documenting nearly a decade of her life and work.”

29. A good life is painful. “Psychologist Paul Bloom on the importance of suffering, the shortcomings of hedonism, and why he would never plug into the Matrix.”

30. ‘SNL’ took on TikTok with brutal accuracy. “The show satirized people TikTok-trying-way-too hard on the social media platform and it was was brutally accurate.”

31. ‘Sesame Street’ Was Always Political on The New York Times. “The beloved children’s show has been a recurrent culture-war target, but a documentary on HBO shows how social purpose was built into it.”

 32. 5 Steps Toward Self Compassion (video).

33. How to deal with (even more) Covid uncertainty. “If you’re struggling to ‘wait and see’ how bad omicron might be, here are productive ways to cope.”

34. Why is the world so beautiful? An Indigenous botanist on the spirit of life in everything. “‘Western science is a powerful way of knowing, but it isn’t the only one,’ says Robin Wall Kimmerer.”

35. Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever. Hilarious is the only way to describe this.

 

1. Andrea Gibson embodies LOVE. For example: A Stranger Asks If She Can Pray For Me and The Worst Lines I’ve Ever Written (video).

2. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: How to Make a Spectacular Mistake, (“You’re going to make one anyway, says Anita Feng. So why not go big? You might end up with something more beautiful than perfection”), and 10 Tips for a Mindful Home, (“Karen Maezen Miller offers 10 simple tips for keeping a mindful home. How simple? Well, as Karen says, ‘If you can do the first one, the next nine take care of themselves'”).

3. Social Media Rx from J Clement Wall’s most recent newsletter.

4. The Secret Gratitude List, “New Yorkers reveal what they’re privately thankful for this Thanksgiving.”

5. Single All The Way | Official Trailer | Netflix. (video) I very much recommend this sweet, funny Christmas love story. Elf is also now streaming on Netflix.

6. Recipe I want to try: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Our local Whole Foods used to make a lemon poppy seed scone that was SO good, and this looks like it may be similar, only in muffin form.

7. Remembering the Sand Creek Massacre. “Studying American history means confronting dark, shameful chapters. The Sand Creek Massacre is one such event. Learn more about the circumstances leading up to that tragic day and the aftermath here.”

8. Food Insecurity on Native Reservations Is Part of a History of Discrimination.

9. In Denver, Suicide Among Black Men is Soaring. “Halim Ali is helping young Black men in Denver address the trauma and anger that can turn into violence and suicide.”

10. One person has crowdsourced the very best life advice from over 20 million people online.

11. Meet an Ecologist Who Works for God (and Against Lawns) on The New York Times. “A Long Island couple say fighting climate change and protecting biodiversity starts at home. Or rather, right outside their suburban house.” The picture of their yard next to their neighbors lawn is really amazing, and one so clearly looks better than the other, IMHO.

12. These Wonderful Winter Snow Drawings Will Leave You In Awe.

13. The life and tragic death of John Eyers – a fitness fanatic who refused the vaccine. “He did triathlons, bodybuilding and mountain climbing and became skeptical of the Covid jab. Then, at 42, he contracted the virus.”

14. What’s It Like To Write A Book? by Ijeoma Oluo.

15. How ‘The 1619 Project’ underscores connection between slavery and modern America. (video)

16. Dozens of online Indigenous gift ideas. “The holiday season is here, and here’s a collection to help make the busy season that much easier while at the same time supporting Indigenous creators.”

17. How Watching British Reality TV Helped Me Finish My Novel. “Kirthana Ramisetti on Adapting to a New Set of Working Conditions in the Pandemic.”

18. The 50 Best Albums of 2021. “If the year presently coming to a close was a dance, it’d be a hesitant shuffle, tentative steps toward — or heyyyy, maybe away from? — an uncertain future. So maybe that’s why, when we sat down together to discuss which albums we loved the most over the course of 2021, NPR Music’s staff and contributors found ourselves drawn to albums by artists making breakthroughs, moving forward with clarity, without balking at the obstacles falling in their way.” They also compiled a list of the 100 Best Songs of 2021. And for both lists, they made playlists on various music streaming services so you can listen.