1. Nikki Giovanni, acclaimed poet of the Black Arts Movement, dies aged 81. “The award-winning US poet and author of works like Black Feeling, Black Talk and Those Who Ride the Night Winds has died after a third cancer diagnosis.” In related news, Nikki Giovanni, Poet Who Wrote of Black Joy, Dies at 81 on The New York Times. (gift link) “As a writer, she tackled race, gender, sex, politics and love. She was also a public intellectual who appeared on television and toured the country.” Also, To Nikki Giovanni by Frederick Joseph. “A letter thanking the poet who wrote us home.” Also, James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni “A Conversation.” (video) “In 1971 James Baldwin sat down to have an honest and open conversation with Nikki Giovanni about the state of affairs between the Black men and women of the time. They discuss relationships, ‘village’ building and raising families. This conversation between James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni is still relevant today.”
2. Billie Eilish: Tiny Desk Concert. “Saudade is a Portuguese word that can be roughly defined as a feeling of melancholy, nostalgia or yearning for something that is beloved but not present. There’s no perfect translation, but one of the closest English expressions of the word I’ve ever seen is Billie Eilish’s Tiny Desk performance.”
3. Give yourself grace. (Instagram reel)
4. Recipe I want to try: Gingerbread loaf. I also love this recipe: Ginger Bread Muffins with Vanilla Bean Glaze.
5. The best movies and TV of 2024, picked for you by NPR critics. In related news, ‘Nickel Boys’ [one of the shows on the best of list] establishes a new way of seeing Black characters on screen. (I recommend the book as well).
6. The Holidays Can Be Tricky from Satya Robyn on Going Gently. “My poetry antidote to all the craziness, offered with love.”
7. Dharma wisdom from Thubten Chodron: “We like to think we’re broad-minded, caring people and realizing anything contrary to that may be difficult. Our self-centered attitude prefers to think, “I’m a really good person. I’m unhappy because the rest of the world is ignorant and hostile.” As long as we hold that idea, spiritual progress will be difficult. As long as we keep blaming our problems on others and seek a “feel-good hit,” we are not doing actual Dharma practice.”
8. ‘You have to just draw something that you hope is funny’: How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy. “Back in 1977, Schulz insisted that the cartoonist’s role was mostly to point out problems rather than trying to solve them, but there was one lesson that people could take from his work. He said: ‘I suppose one of the solutions is, as Charlie Brown, just to keep on trying. He never gives up. And if anybody should give up, he should.'”
9. 5 Tips for Mindful Journaling on Lion’s Roar. “James C. Hopkins on how—through writing—you can find the flow of awareness, free of judgment.”
10. Why We Feel Unhappy: 10 Mistakes We Repeat Again and Again by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.
11. It’s Tiiiiiime from Frederick Joseph. “For me, there’s always been something about the winter air, sharp and biting, that compels me to take stock of the warmth I can offer. Which is why for five years in a row, I’ve used my mutual aid non-profit, We Have Stories, to gather us as a community, pool our resources, channel our compassion, and deliver joy. On Christmas Eve morning we take a rental truck filled with toys, clothes, and food we’ve shopped for over the previous days and gift them to over 300 families needing a helping hand. This year, I’m setting a goal: $30,000 to help over 350 families have a holiday that feels like home. These hundreds of families look to us for something that feels so simple, so fundamental—joy, dignity, and the assurance that they are not forgotten.”
12. Poetry: Undervalued Introvert by Julie Barton and Generous Assumptions by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
13. The best science images of 2024 — Nature’s picks. “A breathtaking total eclipse, courageous penguins, volcanic smoke rings and more.”
14. Good stuff from Jami Attenberg on Craft Talk: On Matters of Confidence, and All The Little Parts of the Process, and What’s a Love Letter Anyway? Is Jami writing about the craft of writing? Yes. Are there also messages in her posts related to the craft of living, of being human? Absolutely.
15. Prompt 316: This Living on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. “Amber Tamblyn on how it will belong to you.”
16. Good stuff on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: America Chose the Monster, and The Cost of Knowing: How Staying Informed is Killing Our Mental Health, and Don’t Lose Your Light This Christmas.
17. The Man Who Feeds Gaza’s Children. (video) “Before the war, Hamada Shaqoura was a food blogger. Now, he spends his days cooking to feed children and displaced people in Gaza. And he figured out a way to reach millions on social media without saying a word. His intense stare at the camera as he cooks various dishes has been easy for many to understand. Hamada finally opens up and shares his story in detail with Business Insider. He told us why he sees food as a symbol of resistance and why it’s important for him to cook food people had before the war, like chicken wings, tacos, croissants, and popsicles.”
18. How to see the humanity in anyone. “Practising a form of ‘deep curiosity’ can help you connect with yourself and others, even if they’re on the ‘other side’.”
19. In pictures: The famous Sycamore Gap tree. “The lone tree at Northumberland’s Sycamore Gap was one of the most photographed in the country before it was deliberately cut down.”
20. If My Dying Daughter Could Face Her Mortality, Why Couldn’t the Rest of Us? on The New York Times. (gift link)
21. ‘Polarization’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 word of the year. Last week, I shared these word of the year picks: ‘Brain rot’ named Oxford Word of the Year 2024 and ‘What many of us feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year. What a depressing collection of phrases. Here are some words that are a bit more fun: From yap to pookie, 2024’s most viral internet slang defined.
22. Raptor on Short Reads. “A roadside dilemma.”
23. Intentional Weight Loss and Lottery Logic by Ragen Chastain.
24. Oregon Prison Limits Solitary to 90 Days. This BLM Protester Has Been in the Hole for 250. “Malik Muhammad, a disabled Army veteran with PTSD, received the harshest federal sentence for the George Floyd protests.” His solitary confinement followed an incident where Muhammad asked to speak to a supervisor, and instead guards tased and beat him, then threw him in the hole.
25. Decide now to not obey in advance from Omkari Williams.
26. Getting small to go big from Rita on Rootsie. “How my small life (and heart) has expanded in ways I didn’t think were possible.”
27. Why You Need a News Vacation. “We’re not made for 24/7 feeds of catastrophe.”
28. You Really Can’t ‘Fix’ Other People—Here’s How to Make Peace With That. “Past trauma and hurt are valid, but those aren’t excuses for treating you like crap.”
29. The Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod is everything we’re wishing for this Christmas.
31. And finally, this random collection of things I saved to my phone this week.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 