1. Poetry: Blue by Jodie Hollander and The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi and Sati by Vandana Khanna on The Slowdown with Maggie Smith, The Myth of Sisyphus by David Hernandez and A Gateway Opens by Danielle Blinka and Meanwhile, Somewhere in Germany by Phill Provance and Rocking by Claire Blotter on Rattle, Quadrant by Maya Stein, Ongoing Love Story and Even Though We Talked About Difficult Things by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Summer Lasted Until October and On No Longer Waiting for Rain by Julie Barton, Story by Carlie Hoffman and Miscarriage by Gregory Fraser and After Words Kelly Beard on poets.org, The Medicine of Surrender by James Crews, I came here to be a poet by Michael Montlack shared by Patti Digh, and Golden Locust by Susan Dworski Nusbaum on Heart Poems.

2. Brazilian Artist Lucas Lopes: ‘We’re Returning to Handmade Art in the Age of AI.’ “The visual artist on teaching in the outskirts, letting Sufi mysticism guide his works, and the joys of handmade art despite AI.” His work is amazing.

3. Women from History: Mary Delany. (Facebook reel). “In 1772, at the age of 72, Mary Delany began an artistic project that would occupy the final years of her life. An English artist and keen observer of the natural world, Delany had long been interested in botany and belonged to a social circle that included collectors, artists and naturalists. But it was in later life that she developed the technique for which she is remembered today.” So, it’s not too late.

4. Book lists on The Marginalian: 20 Favorite Books from 20 Years and 20 Favorite Children’s Books.

5. Good stuff from Jami Attenberg on Craft Talk: Always Be Eavesdropping, “And other recent prompts,” and The Pearl Jam Moment, “There’s always that last-minute mistake.”

6. On meaningful self-forgetfulness, “A subtle ‘how to'” from Patti Digh. Also from Patti, Exoskeletons and Armors, “What holds us up; what weighs us down.”

7. When Suddenly, “Lynn Peterfreund on surviving the storms” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

8. Franklin Graham and The White Evangelical Church Need Jesus on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

9. What the world’s leading researchers think about saunas.

10. Stop Trying to Be Your Best Self on The Atlantic. (gift link) “A new book argues that being sort of confident is enough.”

11. Why You Should Turn Your Walk Into a Color Hunt.

12. The Miniforest Movement Gains Ground In The U.S. “A 50-year-old planting method from Japan is jump-starting native forest ecosystems in small plots, from schoolyards to parking lots.”

13. Recense (figured out) by Patrick Madden on Short Reads. “What the nose knows.”

14. I want you to meet Ella by Frederick Joseph. “Everything’s Not Lost is out now. A letter about why I wrote it, and why I’m asking you to read it.”

15. Good stuff on The Guardian: Going nowhere fast? Personal trainers on why you aren’t seeing results in the gym (“From doing too much cardio to wasting time – PTs reveal the common fails stunting your progress, and how to avoid them”) and ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’: hospice workers share 12 lessons about life and death (“Hospice and end-of-life workers discuss what they’ve learned from their work and patients in their last moments”) and ‘This is horrifying. This is madness’: the row over competitive yoga (“Some yogis welcome the idea of competition – for others, it is anathema. Will those keen for yoga to become an Olympic sport win the argument?”) and The one change that worked: I deleted Instagram – and embraced the joys of a truly private life (“I’d become obsessed with appealing to my invisible audience. But since I ditched the app a year ago, my quieter moments have taken on brilliant new meaning”) and The last thing I did for my mother was illegal (“An urn cost more than my rent. So I scattered my mother’s ashes at Yosemite from a Ziploc bag, without the federal permit I couldn’t afford to wait for”).

16. Simple Ways to Find More Joy When You’re Feeling Hopeless on The New York Times. (gift link)

17. 15 tips to help you just draw by Danny Gregory.

18. It’s been six years by Hugh Hollowell, a brutal, beautiful, accurate description of what grief is like.

19. The Gifts by Danusha Laméris.

20. And finally, a few things I saved to my phone this week,

1. Poetry: In the Words of Future Historians by Seth Peterson and Stellar Survey by J.B. Penname and Poem for Frank Owens by Edison Dupree on Rattle, All the Ways to Name a Dragonfly by Ellen Rowland on Heart Poems, And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu and Wind-Related Ripple in the Wheatfield by Mikko Harvey and Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich on The Slowdown with Maggie Smith, Horse by Katie Chaple and Loneliness by Katherine Mansfield and Their Pasts by Ama Codjoe on poets.org, That’s Right and The Listening and Interiority and Reunion and Chance Meeting and Self-Blessing and With Amazement by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Anniversary by James Crews, and The Holes & The Holy by Julia Fehrenbacher which she introduces so beautifully: “Imagine if, rather than being harsh, critical & demanding of ourselves, rather than looking outside for answers, we develop a sweetheart voice inside, a voice of kindness that is always on our side, a voice that cares enough to ask: What, what do you need? And then waits patiently for the answer. Today’s poem speaks to the power of turning toward rather than away.”

2. Wildflowers by Kristen Freeland. This one made me cry. “It’s because that day reminded me how little we know about the lives unfolding around us. What felt like an ordinary summer afternoon in our front yard was one of the hardest days of someone else’s life.”

3. Showing Your Face and Fight for Your Attention Today from Jami Attenberg on Craft Talk.

4. A rare family of barn owls moved into Manhattan’s Upper West Side. New Yorkers are captivated.

5. Critics’ 50 Greatest Documentaries of All Time. “The greatest documentaries as nominated by 237 critics, curators and academics.” In related news, The 28 Best Documentaries of 2026 (So Far).

6. Artot. “Get your fortune read with an Art themed Tarot Deck…a joking-not-joking approach to art interpretation that links artworks with the weird and wonderful world of fortune telling: one way to think about an artwork is that it’s telling you the future.”

7. Why Don’t Some People Use Chatbots?

8. Grieving elephants to terrifying reptiles: 2026’s best wildlife photos revealed. In related news, 2026 Finalists Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards and and Wildlife photographer of the year 2026, the winning images.

9. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Anticipating confusion and Things people don’t say and The unreliable witness.

10. Librarians Discuss the Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Library Today on The New York Times. (gift link) “We asked dozens of librarians about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive. Here’s what they told us.”

11. Despite the Machismo of Prison, These Men Collaborated on a Quilt. “A quilting workshop united men at Vermont’s Southern State Correctional Facility. The result? A museum-quality piece of art.”

12. Why is the Measure of Love Loss? by Jeanette Winterson.

13. Nineteen Truths and One Beguiling Lie about Life from 20 Years of The Marginalian by Maria Popova.

14. Breaking open, “on the ache and gift of heartbreak” by Lisa Olivera on Human Stuff.

15. A childhood bike crash led to a stranger’s gift — and a hidden message.

16. Instead of Ruthless Decluttering…What About Winnowing? on Culture Study.

17. Sounds True: Insights on the Edge Podcast — Michelle Cassandra Johnson: Invocations and Spellwork for Support and Protection. “What are we actually being protected from—and how do we call in the support we need to stay grounded, whole, and connected to ourselves? This week, Tami Simon speaks with Michelle Cassandra Johnson—author, mystic, activist, spiritual director, and racial equity educator—about her new book, You Are Protected: Invoking Spiritual Support to Sustain Your Energy. Drawing on ancestral wisdom, archetypes, elemental energies, and spell work, Michelle offers a grounded, practical vision of protection—not as armor against the world, but as a way of staying rooted in our own center.”

18. Curiosity is a form of looking, “watching with wonder” by Pádraig Ó Tuama on Poetry Unbound.

19. Lost in Another World, “James Ellis Ford on creative alchemy” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

20. Meet the Retirees Turning Their Farms Into Wildlife Corridors. “Throughout the summer, both John Rice and John Sessler are busier than ever – retirement hasn’t slowed them down. They’re farmers working together toward a larger goal: increasing biodiversity – the variety of all living things and their interactions. Unfolding on farms in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley are Smithsonian science-guided management practices that create, restore, and connect habitat while keeping farms productive – and farmers and neighbors like Rice and Sessler are willing to work across fence lines to help keep then region home to bustling biodiversity.”

21. Instead Of Main Character Energy, Here’s How To Be The Author Of Your Life. “Unlike the main character, the author is ruled by the imperative to see both the bigger picture and each of the many individual components it’s made of simultaneously. The author has to figure out how to make them all work together, zooming in and out, keeping track of not just the main character but all of the many supporting pieces in time and space, whether they are on the page or off. And when the author’s work is done, when the book is written and the edits are made, and this thing is finally launched out into the world to find its readers, the author releases what little control she might have had completely. The thing she’s made no longer belongs to her, and the story becomes whatever the world makes of it.”

22. How to ground yourself: 15 techniques to feel calmer.

23. Why ‘daily-ish’ habits can be better than everyday routines. “Rigid rules about productivity often don’t work—or are just plain miserable. Adopting a ‘daily-ish’ mindset might be more sustainable.”

24. The Human Habits That Still Matter by Leo Babauta on Zen Habits.

25. How to Slow Down (And Enjoy Life) by Tammy Strobel on Be More With Less.

26. My current obsession: Chewy Ginger Cookies recipe. I’ve been buying mine from The Bread Chic, but I think I need to start making them myself at home if this is going to continue.

26. Talking to Trees, “and listening for what they have to say” by Alix on Earth & Verse.

27. 18 again: I returned to my life in 1990. Who – and what – would I find there? on The Guardian. “I doused myself in Poison perfume and made the trip back to my childhood home, friends and college. What could I learn by re-immersing myself in a world that brimmed with hope and potential?”

28. ‘People sell their best stuff on Vinted’ – how charity shops became a dumping ground for unsellable clothes on The Guardian. “Swamped with ‘daily avalanches’ of soiled items and poor-quality fast fashion, secondhand stores are in crisis. What went wrong with people’s good intentions? And is it possible to donate more effectively?”

29. Muscles, metrosexuals and male tears: the 39 pictures that changed the way we see men (for good and for bad) on The Guardian. “From a body-building Arnie to a weeping Frenchman, these 39 groundbreaking images have upended assumptions about how men behave, dress and project power.”

30. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: The Nature of Fear (“In this classic piece from the Lion’s Roar archives, Joseph Goldstein explores the different types of fear, and how we can sit with fear and hold onto it in our practice”) and Everything Dies (“It’s the Buddha’s basic teaching. It’s life’s universal truth. It’s what we most want to deny. Sallie Jiko Tisdale on how this hard but liberating truth can transform your life”).

31. When You Can Sense the Hand of the Maker, “The Work of the Artist in the Face of Artifice” by Elissa Altman on Poor Man’s Feast.

32. Questioning a lifelong love affair with containers and keepers by Patti Digh.

33. A Prayer for all Humanity. Even Ken Paxton supporters? from Susan Piver on The Open Heart Project. “The time a Paxton volunteer knocked on my door and we didn’t get in a fist fight.”

34. From Jena Schwartz: TEAM PEGGY “Walking (and raising money) for a cause on October 25” and Sigh. No Really. “11 things from a rehab room with a loud ticking clock, which is amazingly not a metaphor.” As I mentioned to Jena, my mom had Vascular Dementia rather than Alzheimer’s, but my heart still breaks for anyone living this, “many things: A time thief, a trickster, a train wreck, a tender package of tiny treasures to unwrap one small conversation at a time” and also, “Everyone I know has big things going on. Whether you’re in your 20s or your 90s, life heaves and hurls and heals, clobbers and clutches and calms down. Repeat.” *sigh*

35. The Power of Radical Acceptance, “How resisting what happened hurts more than what happened” by Sara Kuburic on Notes From My Phone. Because, this “What keeps many of us from contentment, or even happiness, isn’t that life is imperfect. It’s that we can’t accept things as they are, and keep pushing against the truth.”

36. Things Will Never Be the Same by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. “On two kinds of grief caregivers carry and wondering if my father’s memory loss is a preview of my own” by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. This is spot on. Because this, “Adult children taking care of aging parents often experience multiple layers of grief, for the parent they are losing and for themselves as they imagine themselves aging.”

37. The Monsters Are Trying To Break You, Good People. Don’t Let Them. from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

38. Writing the Hard Stuff on Behind the Book by Ijeoma Oluo, “sometimes you just have to get it all down.”

39. Manifestation Scammers on From Esme’, which includes some great links at the end.

40. The Most Ordinary Things by Andrea Scher.

41. Anti-chaos and Fertile Questions by Erin Geesaman Rabke, “the determination to think like a human being, creatively, courageously, and complicatedly.”

42. Do we really ‘hold tension’ in our hips? on The Guardian. “The idea is popular in wellness circles, but experts say there’s no evidence that trauma uniquely affects the hips. Here’s what causes hip tightness and what can help.”

43. Dog’s breakfast by Danny Gregory. “Making the most of making mistakes.”

44. the obituary i’m not writing by Amy Marie Turner. “The entire time I was working on it, I was composing a different obituary in my mind. One that’s just for me. The published one describes who she was to the many people whose lives she touched. Her public persona. But not who she was to me. I suspect creating that personal obituary will be a years-long project as I sort through my loss. We shared a complicated and often difficult relationship, but that didn’t cancel out the fact that she was my mother.” *sigh*

45. And finally, this not so random thing I saved to my phone this week.