1. 10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won. “The key to taking effective action in a Trump world is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.” I’m pretty sure I shared this when it was first published, but if you are like me and feeling anxiety and dread about the coming new year, it might help to take another look. In related news, and another one I probably already shared, ‘Don’t burn out’: nine activists and therapists on coping with post-election overwhelm. “We spoke to activists and therapists across the US about how they were dealing with the news of Trump’s win and how they plan to take action.”

2. Why do we revert to our childhood selves when we visit family?

3. Poetry: Magdalene—The Seven Devils by Marie Howe, and Sleeping Dog by Julie Barton, and To The Lonely, This Holiday by Frederick Joseph. In related news, 50 Contemporary Poets on the Best Poems they Read in 2024: All Available to Read for Free Online.

4. A Confession: The Five Lists & a New Year’s Journaling Challenge on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. “I have an allergy to the whole ‘new year, new you’ way of thinking—of making pie-in-the-sky resolutions that are nearly impossible to see through. But I have always loved this time of year as an opportunity for a reset, as the holiday craze starts to wind down, before we jump back into the flow of things. To me, it feels like a sacred pause, where I have a chance to reflect, to take stock, to regroup, to course correct. This year, perhaps more than any before, it feels so necessary.”

5. Homelessness rates jumped by double digits in 2024 as Americans battled to afford housing.

6. 50 years of The Oregon Trail: The hidden controversies of a video game that defined the US.

7. What Life Has Taught Me About Uncertainty. “In these uncertain times, there is so much we don’t know about the future. This can be terrifying and disorienting when so many terrible things are happening or threatening to happen in the world, but it can also be exciting. We don’t know what’s going to happen this year or next, and that means that so much is still possible. The path ahead is uncertain, and we don’t always have as much agency in the outcome as we’d like. Yet the future is not yet written. There are plenty of possible hereafters still left to create.”

8. What Four Words Will Change You in 2025? “Choose your gentle vows” by Satya Robyn on Going Gently.

9. When kindness becomes a habit, it improves our health.

10. It feels weird to be okay from Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book, “the world is horrible and I’m okay.”

11. A Therapist’s Top 7 Strategies to Stop Negative Self-Talk.

12. 90 Little Pleasures to Celebrate This Winter.

13. How to Be Happy: Simple Steps to Rediscover Joy in Everyday Life.

14. 25 New Year’s Eve Rituals That Will Help You Start 2025 As Your Best Self.

15. 22 Great Reads You Might Not Be Familiar With.

16. A Changing Community and Lived Experiences Converge in Leroy Johnson’s Mixed-Media Houses. “From collaged and painted found materials merged with elements of photography and ceramics, Leroy Johnson (1937-2022) created an eclectic vision of life in his hometown of Philadelphia. Through layered, multi-dimensional portraits of houses, the artist represents loci of family life and community in conceptual assemblages that also confront racism, poverty, and gentrification.”

17. Queer Liberation Library (QLL) “is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.”

18. Pictures of Cats · Jonathan Coulton. (video) This song is from 2017, but it seems right for this particular moment in time.

19. Giant Straw Animals Invade Japanese Fields: Inside the Wara Art Festival.

20. Marieanne Cavaciuti on Instagram. “Handmade nature inspired Ceramic tiles and Airbnb at Coaxdon Farm in beautiful Devon countryside near Jurassic Coast, South West England.”

21. We may see it differently after they’re gone from Janelle Hanchett. “If you read anything about grief, trauma, and psychology, you’ll learn that the most complicated relationships with parents involve the most painful and complex and enduring grief. Because hope of the relationship ever changing is gone. We should probably read that again. The hope of the relationship ever becoming what you, as a yearning, innocent child needed, worked for, begged for, will never arrive. The curtain has closed. What we had is what we had. There is no tomorrow to hope for. It is, with all the fucking finality we can ever expect, exactly what it is.” So much this… 

22. Jimmy Carter to be honored with a state funeral before being buried next to Rosalynn. In related news, From peanut farmer to president: Jimmy Carter’s life in photos, and Jimmy Carter, nation’s longest-living former president, dies at 100. To honor him, flags on federal buildings and grounds in the U.S. and its territories (including the White House), as well as all naval vessels, will fly at half-staff for the next 30 days — which includes the upcoming presidential inauguration.

23. Some of the best Reuters photos of 2024, and the stories behind them.

24. New Year’s Liberation Lists from The Wonder + The Haunting. “Ditch the goals to liberate your desires.” If you don’t read anything else off this list this week, read this one. It’s SO good.

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

1. Waxahatchee: Tiny Desk Concert. “Crutchfield is cool and cozy behind the Desk; she sways with an easy smile as she kicks off the set with her latest single, ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ alongside a five-piece band. She performs one of NPR Music’s best songs of 2024, ‘Right Back to It,’ as well as Tigers Blood’s title track and an album standout, ‘Crowbar.’ She and the band end with ‘Fire,’ a song that, as the first single from 2020’s Saint Cloud, marked the beginning of a beautiful transformation of Waxahatchee’s music.”

2. The 10 Best Science Fiction Books of 2024.

3. Snoop Dogg narrates Animal Planet Documentary. (video) This is six years old now, but it never fails to make me laugh. It’s a classic.

4. Big Bird is soon to be homeless as the cancellation of ‘Sesame Street’ is likely imminent. “While ‘Sesame Street’ is currently without a permanent home, there seems to be something that can be done that is within the power of regular citizens—contact members of Congress to ensure they fight to keep funding the CPB and increase the funding provided and donate to PBS and Sesame Workshop, which is the nonprofit that funds ‘Sesame Street.'”

5. Tropical Birds Burst to Life in the Intricate Paper Cutouts of ‘The Parrot Project.’

6. New to me music: Shine Through · Goldford. (video)

7. Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley Illuminate Queer Love and Mortality in New Documentary. I predict this is going to wreck me.

8. Celebrating the winter solstice with a puppet procession in Minneapolis. In related news, here’s a short video about the event. Puppets lit from inside with golden light — so gorgeous.

9. Favorite Books of the Year: Art, Science, Poetry, Psychology, Children’s, and More from Maria Popova on The Marginalian. 

10. The art of Thomas Deininger on Instagram. “Making things to observe and process the curious, perverse and sublime beauty of our world.” Sculptures “that from one perspective looks like a jumble of bits and pieces, and then, moved slightly, the sculpture takes on a new life of its own,” (as described by Patti Digh).

11. 10 empowering ways to manage your media diet this Christmas.

12. Piano duets with mysterious neighbour by Giorgio Lo Porto. (Facebook reel) Even though I’d seen this before, rewatching it made me cry.

13. Everything You Need To Know About Weight Training … According To Experts. This is presented as “for weight loss” but what I liked is the three simple workouts included.

14. ‘Bluey’ Movie Set for 2027 Theatrical Release From Disney and BBC Studios.

15. The stories we tell ourselves from Seth Godin.

16. Poetry: After Wendy Pulls the Fool for Me and Before Winter Solstice, I Remember from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, and The Amazon of Avignon from Julie Barton, and Wintering by James A Pearson.

17. The 39 Most Anticipated Books of 2025. In related news, the must-see films for 2025 you can’t miss.

18. My Brain Is Goldfish (But Here Are Some Things I Liked In 2024) from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. He also invites readers to share their favorites in the comment section.

19. A Happier You in 2025: Gentle Vows. “Your gentle guide to change in the New Year & beyond” from Satya Robyn on Going Gently.

20. Pine Tree Time-lapse 300 Days. (video) “Last Christmas they sold these stone pine cones in the supermarket so I bought one to try to see if I could grow something from the seeds.” There’s also a follow-up video, Pinecone to Pine tree time-lapse. “653 days. The tree is doing well but i think it’s time soon to switch to a bigger pot.”

21. Reclaiming the ability to People from Patti Digh. “This experience of reentering the world is a journey marked by a mixture of resilience, hesitation, and profound change. The pandemic altered the rhythm of daily life, forcing many of us into isolation, reimagining our routines, and rethinking our relationships with one another and the world around us. Now, as we step back into shared spaces, workplaces, and community settings, we carry the imprints of those experiences with us. Or at least I do.”

22. A giant baby penguin, a man wearing 350 puddings and stitching a 16ft tree – 100 heartwarming stories of 2024.

23. A Fun One-Rule Game for the Holidays.

24. ‘Just do something you enjoy!’ Have official targets made exercise a chore – and happiness more elusive? “We all know roughly how many minutes we should be spending getting sweaty every week, thanks to repeated messages from national governments and the World Health Organization. When it comes to mental health, the picture is a lot less clear.”

25. No, You Can’t Just ‘Bank’ All Your Rest During Vacations and Breaks. “Experts say you need to make downtime part of your everyday life for it to work.”

26. A simple, 2-minute solution to friendship distancing. “The “Wednesday Waffle” has become a weekly tradition for friend groups around the world.”

27. Trust your timing. I needed this reminder: “I suppose I wanted to write all of this to say that in the process of healing, in the process of bringing fragmented parts together, in the process of building whatever you want—there are times of progress and there are times of slowness and it is so important to trust your own timing. To believe in an inner wisdom that knows better than you do what you need to do now, what you need to do next. To believe and trust that there is growth happening even when you can’t see it. And sometimes in order for growth and healing to happen there must be slow times. It is required.”

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