1. Things That Don’t Suck from Andrea Gibson, “It’s common to look around and take inventory of what sucks. This is one poet’s quest to uncover what doesn’t, and what shifts when we shift our attention.” I was going to share two of their recent posts, but when I saw the list of all of them I thought reminding you that this exists, in its totality, was the better share.
2. Good stuff from Anne Helen Petersen: An Academic-Turned-Critic Explains Her Path and How Our System Revenges Rest. I am continually amazed at how prolific this author is, crafting and publishing multiple pieces a week that are deep, thorough, and thoughtful, and so well written. HOW does she do that?!
3. Good things on Rita’s Notebook: Winter’s Coming and Ka-Boom. So much of what Rita is contemplating and sharing is so relatable, big thoughts shared quietly allowing the reader room to consider their own reaction.
4. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Snowflakes and fingerprints and Aimless clicking. He is able to say so much with so few words.
5. Detox Your Mind: 5 Practices to Purify the 3 Poisons on Lion’s Roar. “Five Buddhist teachers share practices to clear away the poisons that cause suffering and obscure your natural enlightenment.”
6. Somebody finally fixed the ending of The Giving Tree. This book always felt wrong to me, even before I understood why.
7. A collection of “Metropolitan Diary” columns from The New York Times. Sweet and simple stories.
8. Blanked verse: the power of erasure poetry. “Poets have been constructing new work by selectively redacting others’ texts for decades, but Instagram and our political moment have spotlit this startling technique.”
9. Intermissions from Austin Kleon. “A zine about the fun of watching half a movie now, half a movie later.”
10. 100 Notable Books of 2021, “The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.”
11. Something like justice: City Of Aurora Agrees To Pay $15 Million To Elijah McClain’s Family and Rep. Gosar is censured over an anime video depicts him killing AOC.
12. How a Viral TikTok Got Rosie a Record Deal and Her Dream Career. She is really really good.
13. All The World’s a Stage on The Moth. “Ready the spotlight and raise the curtains! In this hour, performers, sour notes, tough critics, and a unique take on Mary Poppins.” I was particularly interested in Liz Phair’s story. I wore out my copy of “Exile in Guyville,” back when I had exercise bulimia and would spend two hours on the treadmill/elliptical up in the loft of the old Gold’s Gym in downtown Salem.
14. “Same Love” Singer Mary Lambert Got Engaged in the Gayest Way Possible.
15. Her 1840s rainbow farmhouse renovation. (video) “Kat (or ‘Katwise’ as she’s known on Etsy) fell in love with a dilapidated 180 year old farmhouse and spent years renovating it into a rainbow, psychedelic wonderland. In this video, she takes us on a full tour, showcasing secret rooms, wild decorations, crazy collections, and, of course, her homemade sweaters which paid for the entire project.” This whole video series, Tiny House Giant Journey, is worth spending some time watching.
16. Secret Life of a Children’s Party Princess. “I thought a summer job at the Princess Academy would be a carefree escape. But I learned some hard lessons about real life while playing make-believe.”
17. Resources to help understand or teach the true history of Thanksgiving: Unlearning the History of Thankstaking (Google Doc) and A Story of Survival: The Wampanoag and the English (PDF).
18. Why I Had to Leave Home to Write About It. “Tyler Barton on the Path to Developing a Story.”
19. These Influencers Found the Zillow Houses We Love to Hate on The New York Times. “Online listing sites offer a window into what is possible, but the social media accounts that lampoon them give us the chance to ogle what never should have been.”
20. On ’30,’ Adele walks among us.
21. Whose Story Is It To Tell? The Ethics of Writing About Real People by Ijeoma Oluo.
22. 11 Black Comic Artists You Should Know. This is an older article (from 2016) but I didn’t know any of these artists so thought you might not either.
23. Sketchbook-Based Ballpoint Pen Drawings by Nicolas V. Sanchez.
24. This artist tackles racist graffiti in the most perfect way… with food! (video)
25. This artist’s drawings made complete with watercolor paint. (video)
26. 14-year-old golden retriever sneaks out of his house every day to visit his next-door neighbors. (video)
27. 30 Days, 30 Portraits. (video)
28. School Teacher Shares Funny And Wholesome Quotes From Kids.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 