🌗 May Last Quarter Links
“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” ―Carl Sagan 🌗
I joined Substack a little over two years ago—not with those gentle waves of early-adopter-writers but ahead of this current tsunami of every author, journalist, influencer, celebrity, company(?wtf?) flooding the space with so. much. stuff. (much of it AI generated). Perhaps you have no idea what I’m talking about because you simply get these emails in your inbox, but Substack has become a huge multimedia platform.
I believe strongly in staying centered in my unique purpose. That’s not always easy to do while also balancing the need to make money. Substack is hardly a perfect platform. And it’s given me a place to make stuff (collages, writing, meditations, link lists) and directly receive support for my creativity. That feels revolutionary. In turn, I focus on what’s uniquely mine to do to help our collective awakening in this increasingly upside down world.
I try real hard to keep my eyes on my own paper—so far, that’s working for me. Yet, I could not help but watch with fascination and some horror when Gelnnon Doyle, a celebrity author, recently joined then quickly left this platform after receiving an immense amount of criticism from alotta white ladies that seemed to be based on an idea that her success on this platform would take away from them. Um, no.
I appreciate your presence, thank you for being here. May’s links and memes are below.
🌗 Last Quarter List 🌗
Lost in a Land That Was Once Ours
“The driver was locked in a heated debate with the man in the front seat about the escalating events and who was to blame. The young man, who was holding a falafel sandwich wrapped in a piece of paper, joined the conversation. He unwrapped the sandwich and noticed that the paper was a map of the world. He pointed to the tiny distance between Palestine and the rest of the world and wondered aloud why the entire globe seemed incapable of sending the aid needed to save the people of Gaza.”
One of my loves (and across the street neighbor), the brilliant Shawna Wakefield, is co-hosting A Well With/In, a three-part virtual series creating sacred space to “meet grief, face upheaval, and move together in a (r)evolution of being.” It’s sure to be an embodied, soulful, and deeply nourishing space for anyone devoted to love & justice. Register by Wednesday.
The Welikia Project (welikia is Lenape for “good home”) lets users explore the native ecology of New York City practically block by block, allowing us to imagine the lost diverse ecosystems and intended “to inspire new ways of living with nature in New York.”
I am loving the recent selections from the fabulous monthly subscription service run by the black woman owned 🙌🏾 bookstore, Cafe Con Libros (bonus that it's a short walk to pick up my books…now that I can walk again 🙌🏾—BUT you can have them mailed to you every month for a small fee... Do it! ). Between that and the holds list at my local library, I’ve been reading my butt off. Here are some recent faves:
Xochitl Gonzalez's novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last which explores the hypocrisies and power plays of the New York art world of the eighties and nineties. Inspired by the life of Ana Mendieta, the Cuban artist who, in 1985, was likely killed by her husband, Carl Andre (who was charged and acquitted of her murder), the book is ultimately a very readable and satisfying ghost story honoring Mendieta’s brilliant and tragically short career.
I’m not sure how John Banville’s 2006 Booker prize winning The Sea ended up on my holds list but I’m not mad about it. It’s a stunningly beautiful study of grief and memory set in a small Irish beach town. I only wish I had a dictionary next to me at all times while reading it—sheesh, the number of words I didn’t know.
I’m currently reading adrienne maree brown’s latest, Loving Corrections and Margo Jefferson’s 2015 memoir, Negroland. I’m enjoying both, especially Jefferson’s intimate and lyrical analysis of elite Black culture. I want to read her recent memoir, Constructing a Nervous System.
Too many people recommended it to me, so I had to get Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072, by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien. Its beauty comes not so much from the writing (which is limited by the form of transcribed interviews) as from the imagined possibilities for community care and life beyond money tied to wage labor. I found it visionary. Also, deeply flawed. Shawna and I want to rewrite it but with a sacred core. I’m curious whose read it and what you think.
Speaking of libraries, please read this incredible post by Mariame Kaba on the importance of libraries and their complex history.
The news back in the motherland is very not good.
Did I mention watching I’m Still Here? If you, like me, know almost nothing about the Brazilian dictatorship, you may also find this true story both incredibly horrifying and inspiring. It’s also a clear warning of all that can happen under authoritarian rule. The soundtrack is incredible too, though I hide the Serge Gainsbourg song which makes more sense in the film (if at all, ever).
And here’s one on repeat for a while: MY FELLOW NEW YORKERS, please rank the Working Families Party slate for mayor: “This year is not about crawling into our corners — it’s about using ranked choice voting to consolidate the power of our collective vote. That’s why we’re asking voters to rank ALL candidates on the Working Families Slate to make sure that a Working Families champion is the next mayor of New York City.”
You are amazing and thoughtful.
I live in Colorado, and you give me hope (that is currently behind closed doors).
I am putting “I’m Still Here” on my watch list.
May blessings and good health come your.
way.
Janie Hooper.
Yes, please. Books, books, books. And books. We have a tall pile, well, tall piles of books to read. And it's back porch weather, so that's where we'll be. Cheers!