1. Holy shit, being an ally isn’t about me! “How I learned being a white liberal doesn’t make me a good ally.” In related news, 5 Truths About White Privilege for White People from John Pavlovitz.

2. The Question of Cultural Appropriation. “It’s more helpful to think about exploitation and disrespect than to define cultural ‘ownership.'”

3. To Mayim Bialik: The “Luxury” Of Not Being A “Perfect 10” Did Not Prevent My Rape. I’d take this “I can only hope that the culture you wish to change begins with showing our children that a man or woman only has to say NO once” one step further and add that a human needs to have also said “yes.”

4. Tamika Mallory, Co-Chair of Women’s March on Washington, Says American Airlines Pilot Kicked Her Off Flight Over Seat Dispute.

5. The Art of Activism: Hard Conversations Book Club “reads a book each month that will illuminate a path for accessing, reclaiming, and deepening our shared humanity. We will spend this year learning things we have not known, so we can respond to other human beings from a place of knowing, and not from a place of fear.”

6. Processing negative reviews from Seth Godin.

7. Relative from A Design So Vast. “I’ve always hungered to understand how the absolutely singular experience I’m having on this planet relates to the universal. I think we all do.”

8. Technology, peace, and sanity from Alexandra Franzen. “Deep down, though, we all crave meaningful human connections. We all crave serenity, peace, and space to breathe and think. We all crave less clutter, less noise, and more beauty. Technology can help to deliver these things. Or technology can hinder these things. It just depends on how we choose to use it.”

9. Weight Bias is Not In Your Head…and that’s probably not a reason to diet from Isabel Foxen Duke.

10. It’s Okay To Disconnect From Toxic People To Protect Yourself. This is a good article about what it’s about, but it also gave such a clear description of who I am… *sigh*

I’m a highly sensitive INFJ personality type. I need to feel emotionally safe and supported before I can express my true thoughts to anyone, and I also need more time than most to speak in front of a group (even if it’s only three people). I’m also an empath. So, when people around me go from zero to 10 on the anger scale, I pretty much immediately get gut-punched by all the negative energy. And because I’m an intuitive introvert, I see almost every different side to any issue. Black and white doesn’t exist for me. I live in the gray area.

11. PHOTOS: Trees That Tell Stories About The World We Live In.

12. Lego’s New Space-Themed Set is a Studded Celebration of Women in STEM.

13. Wedding Thoughts: All I Know About Love a poem from Neil Gaiman.

14. People think it was just Nazi Germany that operated concentration camps. “Britain used them in South Africa, Russia, Ireland, Palestine, Malaya and Kenya.” (video)

15. Practicing yoga in prison is completely reshaping these inmates’ lives. (video)

16. 27 Tweets That Are Too Good For This Cruel World.

17. Recipes I want to try: Veggie Hash Browns 4 Ways and miso sweet potato and broccoli bowl.

18. Weinstein Isn’t The Only One: Screen Celebs Who Abuse Women or Children. In related news, President Donald Trump has been accused of inappropriate conduct and sexual assault by these women. (video)

19. “The Florida Project” Is A Heartbreaking Movie About Living In The Shadow Of Disney. This looks so good, in that way a movie about bad things can be good.

20. 10 Black Female Poets You Need To Check Out.

21. Photographer Spends Eternity Waiting For Museum Visitors To Match Artworks And The Result Is Worth The Wait.

22. The #MeToo campaign is actually 10 years old — and this is the woman who started it. (video) In related news, The ‘Me Too’ Campaign Was Created By A Black Woman 10 Years Ago.

23. I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy (Part Two) from Layla Saad.

24. This Cafe In Edinburgh Is Building A Village For The Homeless Community. (video)

25. Companies That Employ The Formerly Incarcerated.

26. Burger King Takes on Bullying in Viral Ad.

1. With all the recent disasters, I’ve been loving when there’s good news. Like this, Dog missing after 6.3R earthquake returns home when school bell rings, or this, Dog stranded by wildfire waits for her family at burned-down home, and this, Guy Drives Across The Country To Adopt A VERY Special Dog.

2. Recipes I want to try: 5 lunch recipes that only require 3 ingredients, and butternut squash and caramelized onion galette, and “Healthy” Fried Rice, and Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole with Buttery Pecans, and Apple Pie Cookies, and Chocolate Olive Oil Cake.

3. The model in the controversial Dove ad speaks out: “I am not just some silent victim.” In related news, 9 Shockingly Tone-Deaf Ads That Should Have Never Happened and Black-Owned Skincare Brands to Support Instead of Dove.

4. From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories on The New York Times. In related news, What If We Just Believed Women? “One of the reasons Harvey Weinstein was able to allegedly prey on women for 30 years is that victims were afraid no one would hear them out if they came forward.”

5. Dear White Co-conspirators. “Stay with the discomfort and repeat to yourself: I do this in solidarity with my fellow people of color who have had to live in this discomfort, still do, without the privilege or luxury of walking away from it. I do this in solidarity. This is a vital part of dismantling racism.”

6. #NamaSlay: How Black Women Are Using Trap Yoga as Spiritual Resistance.

7. 15+ Of The Most Beautiful Bonsai Trees Ever.

8. Come For The Fat Girls, Get No Girls At All. “Whether they’re whining about women playing leading roles or trying to tell us that we should keep kids away from fat people, we don’t have to put up with it.”

9. The Faceless: On Whiteness & Emotional Assassination. “White people consistently break the softness of my heart — because Whiteness is brokenness, and to be close to it, is to be broken by it.”

10. My life has been marked by sexual harassment – just like all women.

11. 12 Amazing Highlights from the 2017 Nat Geo Nature Photographer of the Year Contest.

12. Growing Up In A Fatphobic Household.

13. This Video of Young Girls Dancing to Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ Will Give You Chills.

14. The New Midlife Crisis. “Why (and How) It’s Hitting Gen X Women.” In related news, How Philosophy Can Solve Your Midlife Crisis.

15. There Is No Middle Ground Between Racism And Justice.

16. 3 Things America Doesn’t Want To Tell You About White Terrorism.

17. The Airport Bomber From Last Week You Never Heard About.

18. Conversation with Laurie Wagner about Creativity as Medicine with Sherry Belul.

19. Curious Arctic Fox Pups Destroy Hidden Camera In The Most Adorable Way.

20. On Fragility. “White or White adjacent fragility isn’t just annoying…it’s a power grab. It’s dangerous and it seeks to harm people who speak up and out. Fragility and centering is employed daily…and it’s designed restore the desired position of power or feel ‘safe’. It’s both unconscious and intentional simultaneously.”

21. 6 Simple Personal Commitments to Overcome Low Self-Esteem. “Even though you know that you can be so much more, deep down you have a nagging feeling that you are not worthy of greatness, accolade, pure joy, and happiness. Low self-esteem is keeping you from living your life to the fullest.”

22. How to take a nap.

23. So You Want To Fight White Supremacy.

24. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön, “We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.”

25. A great offer from Rachel Cole, “The world is hurting so much and sometimes the best thing we can do is to help those most local to us. During the month of November if you book a consultation with me (90 minutes, one-on-one) I will donate 75% of your payment to organizations that are supporting the North Bay fire recovery effort. I’d love to help you while also helping others.”

26. A UMD lecturer received a racist voicemail after he was on Fox News. I sent him an email of support today. If you’d like to as well: jan@umd.edu

27. 11 new essay collections by women that you need to read if you haven’t already.

28. How To Practice Self-Care Amid All The Harvey Weinstein News, Because The News Cycle Can Be Really Overwhelming.

29. This Is The Anti-Gay Pamphlet Handed Out At The Values Voter Summit. In related news, Values Voter Summit: Whose Values?

30. Andrea Gibson: ‘Genderqueer is a Constant Coming Out.’ I have tickets to see them in Boulder in February. Yay!

31. #ExpressiveWriting Prompts to Use If You’ve Been Accused of #WhiteFragility #SpiritualBypass or #WhitePrivilege. Hall created this resource for free. If you recognize the value of her effort, you can pay her: “http://www.paypal.me/leesarenee It’ll say Arbisys. That’s the name of my holding company. But it’ll get to me.”

32. My Book Is About Race. Of Course It Is. from Ijeoma Oluo. Can’t wait to read it!

33. Meet the Black Women Named MacArthur “Geniuses.”

34. The Game is Rigged from Chuck Wendig.

Just be aware of this stuff, People Like Me. Elevate voices that aren’t your own. Listen to those voices. Hear them. Pass the mic. Boost the signal. When you see the system working for you and against others, say something. Try to do something. Don’t worry about perfect, just be better, for Chrissakes. Stand tall for people who can’t, for people who will be crushed underneath the machine. Get out of the center of the universe. Give money to good causes. Vote for interests other than your own. Find empathy and critical thinking. Do something. Don’t just sit there and be the casual, happy recipient of love and favors. Share the road. And see the game for what it is, and how someone has cheated for you on your behalf.

35. This artist put Trump quotes on sexist ads from the 1950s and it’s frighteningly realistic.

36. President Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days.

37. 15 Bad-Ass Latina Activists.

38. What happened when a poet was sent to the biggest US mall to write for shoppers. “Brian Sonia-Wallace was selected to pen poems at the Mall of America. In a shrine to consumerism, he regularly brought visitors to tears.”

39. 10 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Read.

40. Buy Native, a list of Native owned businesses.