~This week’s list of things worth reading, watching, listening to, contemplating, and sharing.

1. Surviving the unthinkable or, A hostile takeover from Black Girl In Maine Media.

2. Poetry: Sky Woman, Rosebush After the Rainstorm, In Praise of the Disordered, and Water Prayer from Julie Barton; What Comes Next, Even the Smallest Acts, What I Didn’t Know, Doors Where I Have Knocked, How Can We Not Try to Save It?, and Unlikely Gratefulness from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer; and Calling Things What They Are by Ada Limón, shared by Patti Digh; and in related news, She Will Not Be Quiet from Julia Fehrenbacher, “An Urgency to Speak. Jottings from my Journal: A Daily Writing Practice. An Intention & an Invitation.”

3. “Switching off your phone and throwing it in the river is not a solution,” an interview w/ leftist technologist Lou Millar-McHugh on Sluggish.

4. From The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: Fight Evil, Resist Fascism, and Take a Nap and It’s Time to Pick a Hill Worth Dying On.

5. From Seth Godin: Rainy day surfer and Muscling your way through.

6. How to Get Started on Getting Started, “7 ideas to jumpstart community practice” on Group Hug.

7. A hopemonger, Hugh Hollowell’s recent Life Is So Beautiful newsletter.

8. 10 Gentle Self-Care Practices and How to Prioritize Them from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

9. The Little Free Library and the Dismantling of Democracy from Jena Schwartz. “Always returning to what matters most.”

10. The Wisdom of The Hive: What Honeybees Can Teach Us about Collective Wellbeing, a new book by Michelle Cassandra Johnson & Amy Burtaine. “Honeybees illustrate communal interdependence, attunement to nature, coexistence with darkness, and so much more―lessons worthy of emulating within our own human world. In times marked by turmoil and uncertainty, honeybees offer a powerful example of how to turn toward each other, to deeply commit to creating conditions for survival of all beings, and to build a future where all can thrive.”

11. How to Stop Catastrophizing: An Expert’s Guide. “A clinical psychologist suggests a three-pronged plan for tackling anxiety and approaching each day logically and positively.” This is from 2017, but still so relevant.

12. a quick primer for handling overwhelm, “or, how to keep making light in dark times” from Karen Walrond.

13. The lessons of Trees from Pádraig Ó Tuama. In related news, Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama’s new anthology meditates on human connection and Pádraig Ó Tuama on Patricia Smith, Poems as Acts of Noticing, and the Power of Good Teachers.

14. A simple practice for anxiety from Abigail Rose Clarke.

15. The social contract is broken, “What do we do in a lawless world?” from Patti Digh. In related news, and also from Patti, How to fight back when the government is being taken over in a billionaire coup.

16. Swimming Lessons, “a conversation about body and metaphor with Lidia Yuknavitch.” In related news, Lidia Yuknavitch Tells Us About Shapeshifting on Cheryl Strayed’s Dear Sugar.

17. Losing It on Live TV on The New York Times. (gift link) “Lorne Michaels reportedly dislikes when ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast members break character. But over 50 seasons, it’s become one of the show’s signature moves — one that usually delights the audience.”

18. I Would Be Black in Every Lifetime from Frederick Joseph.

19. Wake Up, Naomi! from Laurie Wagner.

20. How to organize under authoritarian creep in a closing civil society. “With civil society under attack from a dehumanizing far-right government, it bears remembering: In crisis there is also opportunity.”

21. Choosing Love Is How We Win. “Now is the time to ask your community what they need—to connect and build power wherever you can.”

22. Fighting for justice doesn’t have to be a big dramatic act. It can be small by Rebecca Solnit.

23. How to Avoid Burnout with the Middle Way on Lion’s Roar. “Valerie Brown on the importance of taking care of ourselves, while taking care of others.”

24. Staying human in the WinCo express line from Rita Ott Ramstad on Rootsie. “What do you do about the older white guy with 19 items in the express line on a cold winter night during a coup?”

25. Readers’ favorite reads of 2024. “1,997 readers shared their top 3 books of 2024.”

26. Oregon Zoo’s new elephant baby is ‘really keeping mom on her toes.’ Baby elephants are one of the cutest things on earth.

27. The Art of Survival from Danny Gregory.

28. Here’s how Democrats should fight back against Trump by Margaret Sullivan. “Democrats in a new generation are punching back hard. And, in so doing, showing their colleagues how to overcome their reputation for dithering.”

29. Most of us are overeating protein… and it’s driving up fat levels. In related news, this hilarious Instagram reel and what she has to say about how much protein we should eat.

30. Traveling Land Artist Creates Stunning Portraits Out of Found Pebbles Wherever He Goes.

31. “It Adds So Much Flavor And No One Can Figure It Out”: People Are Sharing Their Secret Ingredient For Making Dishes Taste Incredible.

32. Will a dog bed for humans improve my life? My pets and I found out. “The Snuggle Pod is big enough for a 6ft person and at least one dog. Unfortunately, I have two dogs.”

~This week’s list of things worth reading, watching, listening to, contemplating, and sharing.

1. In Praise of the Dark and Following the Dog, poems from Julie Barton.

2. To Hell With Despair. This is the Darkness We Were Made For on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. “Right now, the hateful people are trying to overwhelm us into despair and resignation, and so resolute joy will be our resistance.”

3. Wind and Flame: Dispatches from the Eaton Fire, a daily diary of one woman’s experience.

4. Creative Ease – One Prompt at a Time from Jena Schwartz. “The reason I started writing prompts in the first place was to offer a way to start, since so often, starting is the hardest part. I also realized I wanted to encourage people to keep going, so that is an inherent part of how I suggest using the prompts in this book. Finally, it really helps to be good to yourself – with writing as with all things – so bringing more self-compassion to yourself is a core part of everything I teach.”

5. days & years: pace yourself, friends from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

6. What I’ve Learned About Making Friends Online on Introvert, Dear. “Online friendships might suit introverts because we’d rather write out our thoughts than say them on the spot.”

7. KNOW WORRIES #11 – “Lights, Camera, Whatever”: On my current movie funk from Jonathan Edward Durham.

8. Christopher Walken Has Never Owned a Cellphone. “‘I don’t have technology,’ says the 81-year-old actor, who stars in the sci-fi series ‘Severance’.” An interview on The Wall Street Journal.

9. I Tried TikTok’s “Floor Time” Trend and Now I’m Never Going Back.

10. 7 Keys to Becoming More Creative than Reactive. “How becoming more creative can empower you to live more effectively.”

11. Unplug to Recharge—Why a Digital Detox is the Ultimate Act of Self-Care.

12. The Imperfectionist: Seventy per cent. “The 70% rule: If you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it. If you’re 70% satisfied with a product you’ve created, launch it. If you’re 70% sure a decision is the right one, implement it. And if you’re 70% confident you’ve got what it takes to do something that might make a positive difference to the increasingly alarming era we seem to inhabit? Go ahead and do that thing. (Please!)”

13. In a chronically online world, people are finding respite in ‘junk journaling’.

14. We all get to choose our type, “But we have to do something” from Patti Digh.

15. Recipe I want to try: French Onion Meatballs.

16. The Winners of This Annual Competition Show Nature Is Ready for Its Close-Up. In related news, Striking Winners of the 2024 Travel Photographer of the Year Contest.

17. Egg prices are likely to shoot up even more in 2025. Here’s what to know. This also might help:

18. January Thoughts: Focus, Focus, Focus. Omkari Williams’ Microactivism newsletter for January. Which includes this:

“Now, more than ever is a time when we need to commit to what is sustainable for us. Not for our best friend or our next-door neighbor, but for us. Not only what you can do regularly but what you will do. Focus. What’s the thing that is most important to you? Focus on that. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be aware of other things that are going on, it means that you are one person, and there are limits to your capacity, just like the rest of us.

Focus on the one or two things you care most about, not on the chaos coming out of the White House. And, whatever you do, do not focus on him, the source of the chaos. He is just a mouthpiece for a dangerous ideology, and focusing on him is taking energy from where you can actually make a difference. We are fighting policies, not one person.”

19. Have You Checked in With Yourself Lately? “Recognizing the importance of your voice is never a waste of time,” from Jamie Attenberg.

20. On Doom and Joy from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

21. Black Farmer’s Index. “Black Farmers Index (The Index), addresses food insecurity, food system failures and inequities in agricultural in our commitment to ensure that Black farmers and growers thrive. This is done by providing a more successful consumer-to-Black farmer pipeline, as well as, connecting agriculturalists to agencies, institutions, and salient resources that build their overall business through creative marketing, educational services, outreach and intentional community building.”

22. Another recipe: Homemade Maple Donut Bars. My mom used to make these. SO good.

23. Sara Bareilles Debuts World Premiere of Song Co-Written by Brandi Carlile [and Andrea Gibson] at Sundance. “During a Sundance gala, Bareilles delivered a two song set that featured ‘Salt Then Sour Then Sweet’ from Ryan White’s doc ‘Come See Me in the Good Light,’ and ‘She Used to Be Mine’ from ‘Waitress.'”

24. Luther: Never Too Much review – the mystery and brilliance of ‘love doctor’ Vandross. “A feature-length documentary about the multi-platinum R&B singer does justice to his talents and tactfully handles the issue of his sexuality.”

25. And finally, this collection of things I saved to my phone this week.