August Round Up

A collection of links and observations

I’m closing out of essays for this month a little early. I’ll explain more the first week of September.

My essays from this month:

On being stuck at the top, when things are too much, and seeing a future for wellness and myself in wellness work.

Human creations:

I really enjoyed hearing about the August ritual that reader

Lindsey Melden

shared on this essay.

I finally got a copy of Womb by Leah Hazard and it blew me away. An absolute gem. I wish I had the cash to send a copy to every politician, particularly those from a certain party that rhymes with purgative. Oh, and also the entire Supreme Court. But anybody should read it really. It’s not a perfect book, of course—Hazard seems to flirt with a reverence for the womb and female body but is understandably unable to commit—but it should be used widely in education.

On that point: important to acknowledge this, from

Jessica Valenti

.

Now I’m digging into Radical Healership by Laura Mae Northrup.

Speaking of books: heartbreaking.

This also hurts the brain a little.

It took me a bit to listen to all of it, but I enjoyed the

ground shots web

episode with

Calyx Liddick

from

Kelly Moody

. You can find it here or various podcast apps.

Looking forward to a new book from

Emily Nagoski

.

Also found this podcast from Rooted Healing with

Sophie Strand

interesting. Especially the bit:

“I think right now we see especially in the age of social media…that is working problematically along with an increasing sense of social instability and uncertainty, people want stable value systems. And they want figures who tell them what to do. And so we see the rise of a lot of, you know, charismatic personalities and gurus, who purport to have some kind of certainty. They say, I’m a life raft in the middle of this storm. But the truth is the real life raft is not certainty but an ability to improvise with uncertainty and with other beings, beings you can’t necessary totally understand. And so I’m always telling people your best teacher is probably not a human being; it’s probably the animal, the plant, the invasive species, that’s probably right outside your door, who are moving in ways that are outside the dominant, anthropocentric paradigms. They may have the best information for how to combat capitalism, and colonialism.”

From the more-than-human world:

Goldfinches, goldfinches, goldfinches. They are everywhere around my house, nibbling on all the flower seeds. I’ve probably sent hours this month standing and watching them and sending videos I take to other people.

The hawks are back in our area. I’ve had some beautifully close encounters with them.

Hummingbirds.

Not a day has gone by this month that I have not had at least one serving of tomatoes.

A red tailed hawk I watched for about an hour one day. Photo taken by my husband, through binoculars.

🌀What did you notice this month?🌀

🌀What made you feel alive?🌀

🌀What kept you up at night?🌀

Come tell me in the comments?