From one of our morning walks this week.
1. Wisdom from Lodro Rinzler, “Moments of sadness or despair are truly THE moments when an open heart matters most.”
2. With that in mind: White Supremacy is White America’s Legacy and Our Responsibility to Defeat, and My fellow white Americans, and What We Need White Allies To Do About The White Supremacists In Virginia, and SPLC releases campus guide to countering ‘alt-right,’ and Maybe Now Isn’t the Time, Guys, and White supremacists can march on my hometown, but they can’t win, and this wisdom from Rod Owens,
It seems like if we are really interested in ending white supremacy, white people should focus more on loving themselves instead of trying to love me [a black man]. The violence emerges from the ways self shame and apathy are bypassed in attempts to use love towards me as an argument trying to convince me that you are not “that kind of white person”. As long as you can not face yourself and love even those ugly parts, you are indeed that kind of white person and I will be left with the work of trying to love what you can not bear to witness.
And finally, from Laura Simms,
White people: Being a good person is your everyday life is not enough.
If you’ve been bowing your head and wringing your hands about the grotesquery in Charlottesville, then you’re going to have to give some things up for it to change.
Give up your silence. You may not know someone who would take to the streets with torches and swastikas, but you probably someone who assumes the the worst about people of color, thinks there’s no problem with police brutality in this country, and clutches her purse when a black man walks by. When you see that, call it out and shut it down unequivocally and unapologetically.
Give up your comfort. You will have to be willing to be unpopular. You may lose relationships, business, and status within your in-group. If your in-group won’t publicly denounce white supremacy, then think about what you’re choosing to belong to and why you’re so afraid to let it go.
Give up your ignorance. If you are not regularly, actively listening to the opinions and concerns of people of color, you are willfully remaining ignorant. No black friends in your life or on your Facebook feed? Think about why that is and then go find some voices of color to listen to.
Give up your defensiveness. Sit down. Shut your mouth. Listen. Be willing to accept an experience and world view that is different from your own.
Give up your money. Send it to organizations that fight institutionalized racism.
Give up your Confederate flag. If you can’t express your identity without a symbol that demoralizes a marganilized group of people, you need a stronger sense of self. If you want to celebrate your heritage, bake a cobbler, go fishing, or make a family tree. The Museum of Southern Horrors is the only place that flag belongs.
Each and every day, with your action or inaction, you either enable or disable racism in this country. Please be thoughtful in your choices, take responsibility for what power you do have, and step out of your daily routine in order to make a difference.
3. Elle Simone Discusses Her Unexpected Transition from Food Stylist to TV Personality. “She went from making food look beautiful behind the scenes to embracing her inner nerd in front of the camera.” America’s Test Kitchen isn’t as good without Christopher Kimball, BUT there is now Elle, and she is amazing.
5. Help Cheryl fight lung cancer. She started her treatments this week, and says she’s feeling pretty good so far. Her daughter and my friend Chelsey was able to fly out to be with her for a bit, so that’s helping too.
6. Weight Loss Advice I Have Received Since Hunger’s Release from Roxane Gay. A great quote Preston D. Mitchum posted on Facebook this week sums up my response to that noise, “People swear they are giving genuine health advice on weight loss when they’re simply fatphobic and intellectually dishonest.” In related news, a review of her book, Unruly and Unerring, which starts with, “Roxane Gay is a writer of extreme empathy. Her fiction and essays elicit as much shared understanding as they give. Her new memoir, Hunger, is the story of being a physical woman in a physical world that has been shaped for so long by men. And I suspect that every woman who reads Hunger will recognize herself in it.”
7. Natura Insects: The Delicate Floral Compositions Of Raku Inoue.
8. Making Yoga More Inclusive: Language Do’s and Don’ts for Teachers.
9. None of us know what will happen, wisdom from Austin Kleon.
10. F*ck You Billabong. Seriously, f*ck you. “Here women, this is what we think of you. Welcome to our site.”
11. What if All I Want is A Mediocre Life? Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui is resharing some of her older posts, and this is one of my favorites.
12. Four Castaways Make a Family, from the Modern Love series on The New York Times.
13. JAY-Z – Moonlight. (video)
14. A Garden Tour with Rachel Nafis on Soule Mama. Seriously, a garden is so much better than a lawn.
15. Redefining Wellness. “Therapist, blogger, and podcaster Davia Roberts is prioritizing self- and mental health-care for all women.” In related news, her website, Redefine Enough.
16. “It’s Not a Diet It’s a Lifestyle Change” is Bullshit by Dances With Fat.
17. You Aren’t Lazy — You’re Just Terrified: On Paralysis And Perfectionism.
18. Most Women You Know Are Angry — and That’s All Right. “If you stand up for yourself, if you assert your right to self-respect and bodily autonomy, if you raise your voice above a whisper, if you leave the house without a sweet smile slathered across your face, some people will inevitably call you shrill, a scold, a nag, bitter, a bitch. And that’s all right. Bitches, in the fragrant words of Tina Fey, get stuff done.”
19. Silly puppies. (video)
20. This Grad Student Makes Nearly $30K A Year Blogging.
21. 10 Books I Wish My White Teachers Had Read. A great list, even if you aren’t a teacher.
22. Ava DuVernay and Victoria Mahoney to Adapt Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn for Television. This is a powerful trio.
23. We Are Broke in Our Busyness.
24. Post-Strayed.
People say ambition comes from the heart, but I’m not convinced. Ambition follows your body and your body follows your ambition. That’s what people hate about Cheryl Strayed and Hillary Clinton. Ditto for the swarms of PCT hikers. It’s not jealousy of success so much as the near-outrage we feel toward anyone who knows, even for a short time, exactly what she wants, and turns herself, as they say, body-and-soul to the task.
25. This Is Why Eating Healthy Is Hard, from Funny or Die.
26. Work With Me. Justine is a marvelous mom, a beautiful friend, an amazing writer, and now a wise and compassionate coach. If you are in the market, you should totally check her out.
27. 100 Great Works of Dystopian Fiction.
28. Recipes I want to try: Hummus 4 Ways, and Creamy Vegan Coconut Chickpea Curry, and Taco Norteños with Bacon-Fat Flour Tortillas.
29. 1 in 3 Native American women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. (video)
30. Kids react to Queen. (video)
31. He was ready to return to a life of crime. Dave’s Killer Bread offered an alternative. We eat this bread, which is really good, but I love even more what they do for their employees.
32. Giant dog and regular sized cat cuddle, and that doesn’t even come close to describing how cute this is. (video)
33. The Body Positive Movement Needs More Than Robbie Tripp’s Faux-Allyship. In related news, The viral “curvy wife” guy regrets those racist, transphobic tweets: “We’re obviously embarrassed.”
34. Befriending Becky: On The Imperative Of Intersectional Solidarity.
35. A Wide Wake: On My Brother’s Passing, Jayme Stone reflects on the recent death of his brother, author, yoga and meditation teacher Michael Stone. “Michael left so much in his wake: a beautiful family, a potent body of work, a sangha of seekers around the world who have been moved by his teaching, and an astoundingly deep life. It is a wide wake. Let us stay wide awake.”
37. Don’t Ask What the World Needs from Amy McCracken.
38. We Should Call HSPs What They Really Are: Intuitive Warriors.
39. Wisdom from Naomi Shulman, “Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than ‘politics.’ They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”
40. #EndWhiteSilence, an open source (i.e. download it and use it, for free) graphic from Elizabeth Beier.
41. Loving Kindness Meditation for Victims of Racism and Hatred from Susan Piver. (video)
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 