Something Good

1. How to Grow Re-enchanted with the World: A Salve for the Sense of Existential Meaninglessness and Burnout“Katherine May explores what it takes to shed the cloak of meaninglessness and recover the sparkle of vitality in Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age — a shimmering chronicle of her own quest for ‘a better way to walk through this life,’ a way that grants us ‘the ability to sense magic in the everyday, to channel it through our minds and bodies, to be sustained by it.'” I really enjoyed May’s book Wintering and am excited for this new one.

2. The Courtyard

3. The Furniture Hustlers of Silicon Valley on The New York Times. “As tech companies cut costs and move to remote work, their left-behind office furniture has become part of a booming trade.”

4. Wisdom from Omkari Williams“To change things we need to understand them. Let’s deepen our understanding of these deeply inequitable and immoral systems and then let’s do what we can to shift to systems of collective concern, collective care, and collective support.”

5. Could We End Wealth? “In 2019, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines at the MLK Now conference. When Ta-Nehisi Coates asked whether the world is moral when it allows billionaires to exist, she answered, ‘No. It’s not.'”

6. This Is a Better Term for ‘Highly Sensitive Person’.

7. Maga Hat in the Chemo Room(video) a new poem from Andrea Gibson.

8. 36 questions to stay in love.

9. How radical gardeners took back New York City(video) “Seed bombs, the ‘tree lady of Brooklyn,’ and the roots of urban gardening… New York City looked a lot different in the 1960s and 1970s. A sharp economic decline and white flight meant there was mass disinvestment and urban decay, particularly in the city’s lower-income neighborhoods. It’s what Hattie Carthan and Liz Christy noticed in their communities when they each set out to revive their neighborhoods by making them greener. Ultimately, their radical acts of gardening would transform the landscape across New York City.”

10. #44 Transitions, part 1: The fundamental ambiguity of being human“A three part series on what to do when you don’t know what to do.”

11. Ezra Klein Interviews Jane Hirshfield“She’s a poet. She’s the author of many collections of poetry, including her most recent ‘Ledger,’ which is probably the book of poetry I’ve gifted to others most often. She’s also the author of two very beautiful books of essays on poetry and how it works and the poetic mind.” 

12. Bernadette Mayer will give you ideas“On the late American poet’s irrepressible confident weirdness.” If you like writing prompts, read this.

13. Dandelions and orchids from Austin Kleon.

14. UnPrisoned | Official Trailer | HuluI just finished watching this and while the season ender was a bit of a bummer, the show is really good — the acting, the writing, the music. “Inspired by Tracy McMillan’s life, ‘UnPrisoned’ is a half-hour comedy about a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom whose life is turned right-side-up when her dad gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.”

15. 99 Things To Do Instead Of Reaching For Your Phone.

16. How to Find ‘Microjoys’ When Everything Is Bad and You’re Not OK.

17. On 3/11/20, WHO declared a pandemic. These quotes and photos recall that historic time.

18. Chris Rock Looks Very Small Right Nowan opinion piece on The New York Times by Roxane Gay.

19. Author Alice Walker Defends J.K. Rowling’s Transphobia*sigh*

20. The Whale is not a masterpiece – it’s a joyless, harmful fantasy of fat squalor by Lindy West. “The Oscar nomination for The Whale must mean it’s great, right? Wrong! It is a shallow and stigmatising reflection of thin people’s assumptions about fat bodies.”

21. Are Some of Your Well-Intended Eating Habits a Problem? “Unhealthy eating patterns are pervasive in fitness culture. Whether it’s the latest ‘wellness’ trend on TikTok, advice from elite athletes, or general messaging from an industry that thrives on athletes’ desire to perform optimally or meet an unattainable aesthetic standard, this messaging can lead to patterns of consumption or restriction that are disordered, and eventually, meet a diagnostic standard for an eating disorder.”

22. Wild Bird Brings Someone Special To Meet His Human Mom(video)

23. ‘The God of Endings’ is a heartbreaking exploration of the human conditiona book review.

24. Trying to finish the chapter before bed(Instagram reel) This is me, every night.

25. Rogan Brown, Paper Sculptures Portfolio

26. Meleana Sessions x Mana Wahine “Rise Up.” (video) Gorgeous.

27. The 41 Best Oregon Mom & Pop Restaurants to Eat At in 2023.

28. A Geese Love Story on CBS Sunday Morning. (video) “Last August, Blossom the goose lost her mate, Bud. They’d lived on a pond at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa. Blossom’s grief was evident to the cemetery’s staff, and so general manager Dorie Tammen decided to post a personal ad for Blossom. Correspondent Steve Hartman reports on the results of an avian blind date.”

29. Comedian Sarah Millican’s YouTube channel. She is hilarious, slightly naughty but so sweet at the same time.

30. Abstract and organic textile sculptures with vibrant colors by Serena Garcia Dalla Venezia.

31. “Incomplete” Sculptures Capture the Playful and Timid Personalities of Children.

Gratitude

1. Morning walks. Even the ones that are gloomy and icy and cold. This week we saw two osprey in a giant tree next to a pond and a small herd of white tailed deer in the cemetery. And yes, we walk through the cemetery some times — it’s big with lots of giant trees, an owl’s nest, a series of wide dirt roads that wind through and around. It’s very peaceful and quiet and right next to City Park where we can finish our walk. And if there are ghosts, I think they enjoy being visited by dogs — at least, I would.

2. Making art with Janice and Mikalina. This week I cut out tons of pictures, tried various combinations, but what I ended up with was much more simple than all that.

3. Practice. No matter what is going on, I’m so much more sane and able to handle it because of my practice.

4. Sam. 13 years ago today, we brought him home. Dexter was about seven at the time and so sweet with him. As I scrolled through my Facebook memories this morning, I could see the countdown from the very last time I celebrated his “gotcha” anniversary with a picture of him lounging in the sun on the back patio all the way back until that first day. The last picture was only two months before we’d lose him, but we had no idea anything was wrong, even though I’m sure the cancer was already growing. Looking back, I’m so glad I retired the year before and that COVID meant we were all home together in those final months. As strange as that time was we got to be close and together, all the time. It’s been three years without him, and still I’m so sad today, missing him so much. He really was my shadow my “velcro” dog. Once you’ve been loved like that it’s really hard to be without it. I miss all three of my dogs the same way, and if life were fair, I’d still have all four of them.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. I feel very very very lucky, all the time.

Bonus joy: lounging in the sun in the backyard with Ringo, bran muffins with dried raspberries, green grapes, audiobooks and ebooks from the library, naps, clean laundry, clean sheets, a big glass of cold clean water, a warm shower, a haircut (for those keeping score, that’s two haircuts in the past four years), wool socks, down coats and pillows and blankets, clean pjs, good TV, listening to podcasts, texting with Chloe’ and Chris and Mom and Mikalina, other people’s dogs, birds, how one sign of spring is the increase in bird song, electricity, “real” mail, blue sky, sunshine, friends who randomly text me to tell me they are thinking about me, birthdays, the promise of spring and our garden, the new “magic eraser” feature in my photo editing app, the way Ringo will run back inside when I knock on the window, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.