1. Twitter Reveals How God Created Animals. Thanks to Eric, this might just be the best thing I’ve ever shared. My favorite, of course, is the one about dogs.

2. When to Go Out and When to Stay In, a really helpful infographic.

3. I Am From, from Jena Schwartz, who said about it, “You know those ‘I Am From’ poems kids write in elementary school? Well, I used it as a prompt and here’s what happened.” One of my favorite writing prompts.

4. The Lenny Interview: Lidia Yuknavitch. “I think if you want to write, you should write. What path or what form that takes is incredibly individual. If you’re an artist and you’re searching for forms of self-expression, you have to invent your own path. My life experiences, if you wrote them down on a list, look a little crooked, and who cares?”

5. Yes, There Is Such a Thing as an ‘Introvert’ Hangover. In related news, Introvert Hangovers Can Be Really Rough.

6. 18 Books Every White Ally Should Read.

7. Good stuff from Alexandra Franzen: If you want to be a professional writer… and Try to stay here if you can.

8. The Lenny Interview: Sarah McLachlan, in which the interviewer says, “In 2016, we’re still arguing about whether you can elevate women without hating men” and Sarah responds,

I think you can, but there’s always going to be people who feel emasculated by that. Over the past 50 or 60 years, women have gone from being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen to CEOs of corporations and presidents of countries — which is amazing, but it’s a massive, seismic shift in culture. There’s been very little work done to help men come around to that. They have thousands of years of caveman dominance in their genes. That’s a hard shift, to go from “I’m in charge” to “Oh, I’m supposed to stay home and change diapers, and you’re going to run the company?”

I see a lot of young men who really are egalitarian, and I think that’s because mothers and fathers are teaching their children that this is how it should be. But it takes many generations for that change to penetrate. Look at Trump. Look at the bigots and the racists and the hatred that was simmering underneath the surface. He’s given them all a voice. As much as I’m horrified by Trump, it’s good that he’s done this because it’s brought everything to a boil. We need to talk about that and try and fix it.

9. Head, heart, hands, and hustle from Austin Kleon.

10. Dropping the Narrative, good advice from Seth Godin.

11. Just F*cking Journal ClassOctober 17th-22nd, with Jamie Greenwood. “6 days. 6 fresh prompts. 6 ways to reconnect with YOU.” FREE.

12. A Short Guide to Starting, if You’re Struggling from Zen Habits.

13. Why Body Image Work Hasn’t Worked from Be Nourished. “Healing body dissatisfaction/loathing is not necessarily about liking the image of your body. It’s not solely about changing the way you see your body. It is very much about turning toward and unraveling the internalized body loathing, shame and oppression that have turned your body into a thing needing to be altered and improved. This cultural stuff was never yours, though you may feel overrun by it.”

14. Mind of Autumn, a podcast from Upaya with Natalie Goldberg & Wendy Johnson. In this dharma talk, Natalie Goldberg and Wendy Johnson begin their writing retreat Mind of Autumn where they set the tone by stating, “Autumn calls us to a still and silent place, and beckons us to sit back and observe a little deeper.” During the first part of the talk, Natalie Goldberg says, “Forget everything else and become an English major.” Word.

15. The View From Here from Laurie Wagner. “I’m not standing under a chuppah, I’m not embarking on the beginning of a shared domestic life with another, but I am standing somewhere, I know it, I just haven’t begun to string the words together yet.”

16. The Secret Ingredient You Should Add to Roasted Vegetables. Tis’ the season.

17. The Undeniable Rape Culture Of Donald Trump. In related news, If you don’t vote against Donald Trump, we may all soon regret it.

18. A White Helmet Volunteer’s Emotional Rescue Of A Baby Girl.

19. Everybody Wants To Rule the World with special guests, Curt Smith and drummer Jamie Wollam.

20. 10 Photos Represent The 67% Of Women We Don’t See Enough.

21. A story from Ashley Owens. “This story is MY OWN personal experience. THIS IS NOT A PARODY, and I AM NOT AN AUTHOR.” This is what racism looks like. If this doesn’t make you angry, I don’t know what else to tell you.

22. Stay Beautiful: Ugly Truth In Beauty Magazines.

23. This House Costs Just $20,000—But It’s Nicer Than Yours.

24. Will & Grace, and Jack & Karen, Are Back With a New Scene About the 2016 Election.

25. US Navy Veteran, Al Woolum, a grandfather, took a knee during the Star Spangled Banner.

26. Yes, I’ve Gained Weight. “I’ve gained weight because it’s actually a totally normal thing bodies do and it’s absolutely none of your fucking business. If my weight in any way impacts how you see me as a person, a friend, a colleague or lover, then I would like to terminate that relationship immediately, because that is not the kind of bigoted prejudice I want in my life.”

27. A Purple Post, a new one from Mikalina.

28. Two fun October things, that have already started but it’s not too late to join: Booktoberfest, a “books and writing Instagram challenge” hosted by Jenny Bravo with daily prompts, and 10Q, “10 days, 10 questions” (you get the question, log in and answer it, and it’s sent to a “secret vault” where it waits until next year, when they send your responses back to you).

29. 10 Ways White Liberals Perpetuate Racism. In related news, The People’s Guide To Navigating Racial Awkwardness.

1. Good stuff from Jena Schwartz: Eleven Things I Learned in Physical Therapy That Relate to Writing + Life, and Dive Into Poetry + Support Color of Change, and Silence is Violence.

2. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,

Our patterns are well established, seductive, and comforting. Just wishing for them to be ventilated isn’t enough. Those of us who struggle with this know. Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? When we are distracted by a strong emotion, do we remember that it is our path? Can we feel the emotion and breathe it into our hearts for ourselves and everyone else? If we can remember to experiment like this even occasionally, we are training as a warrior. And when we can’t practice when distracted but know that we can’t, we are still training well. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on.

3. For White People Who Want the Racist Nightmare to End, We Must Reclaim Our Lives from Anti-Black Racism.

4. Black Lives Matter Fall 2016 Syllabus. What a great set of resources!

5. Widespread confusion about what it takes to be strong, wisdom from Seth Godin.

6. It Is Art That Will Help Us Survive from Terrible Minds. More good stuff from Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds: Yes, Virginia, Writing Is Too A Job, and Here’s How To Finish That Fucking Book, You Monster, and What Fiction Can Do For The Writer And Reader.

7. Some great ideas for education: A Matter of Death and Life, (“High school seniors at The Harley School in Rochester, New York, have the option of taking a class called “hospice.” Most who sign up for it don’t know what they’re in for, but none of them forget the experience when it’s over”), and This school replaced detention with meditation. The results are stunning.

8. I sure needed this message from Brave Girls this week:

You are doing such good things, such beautiful, wonderful, and important things. Do not feel bad that you have limitations and cannot do everything you want to do, or that you make mistakes that set you back or decisions that aren’t all that you hoped they would be. You are doing enough. YOU ARE ENOUGH. You are just right, and you are doing your best. When you have done all that you can do, let yourself BREATHE. And remember that rest, relaxing, and solitude are just as important as all of the other incredible things you do with your life. You are such a gift to the world. Take good care of you. You are loved.

9. An Open Letter from a Black Man to His White Family in a Moment of Violence.

10. The Difficult Art of Self-Compassion on Brain Pickings.

11. Every woman deserves access to pads and tampons.

12. Why We Need To Talk About High-Functioning Depression. *sigh*

13. This eighth grader just nailed how white people should discuss white privilege.

14. Student protest. Band kids taking a knee, peacefully protesting.

15. ‘Saddest-photo’ couple reunited after being forced apart.

16. A comic explains the screwed-up reason people complimented this girl for being sick.

17. Mary Karr On Writing Memoirs: ‘No Doubt I’ve Gotten A Million Things Wrong.’ “Karr discusses the faults of memory, the challenges of writing about loved ones and the pain of deleting pages because ‘there was something untrue about them.'”

18. Injustice Boycott. Starting December 5th. I’m in. In related news, It’s time for serious nationwide economic boycotts to end police brutality and racial injustice in America.

19. 23 Books By Latinos That Might Just Change Your Life. I couldn’t live long enough to finish my reading list, but I’m going to keep trying anyway.

20. Family cleans house, finds pet tortoise missing since 1982. **Spoiler alert!** She was alive!

21. Is this the president we want for our daughters? No, no, no, no, no, and no.

22. This is Why We Say Black Lives Matter. “Congresswoman Nina Turner just said it ALL.”

23. Recipes I want to try: Cheese Potato Pancakes, and One-Pan Salmon 4 Ways, and Easy One-Pan Pork Tenderloin Dinner, and roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar, and if none of those work out, maybe I’ll just try this Fast & Easy Dinner Recipe.

24. Why Dieting Can Rarely (If Ever) Be Body Positive.

25. Trevor Noah: ‘It Seems Extremely Easy To Get Shot By Police In America.’

26. What It Feels Like To Be Black When Police Kill. This video motivated me to do something almost more than anything else. In related news, 25 ways you could be killed for being black in America.

27. This is Why We Vote, a campaign to mobilize young voters to show up in huge numbers this fall. So good.

28. Alicia Keys – Break These Walls.

29. FX’s ‘Atlanta’ breaks viewing records. Is diverse TV here to stay? I hope so, because this is one of my new favorite shows (it just got picked up for a second season).

30. N.J. woman uses couponing to try and feed 30,000 people in need.

31. Meet the toy smuggler of Aleppo. He lives in Finland and risks his life to bring joy to Syrian kids.

32. To Anyone Who Thinks They’re Falling Behind In Life. This is one of those I need to print out and read to myself every morning until I really get it. I tried to pick out a quote to share, but there’s just too much good stuff.

33. Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey squashes the 4 responses you’ll probably hear when talking about Black Lives Matter. This.