Yeah, Thanksgiving is still two weeks away but I’m sending some quality Substack links now because we all need to shift perspective, find some gratitude now and every day.
Let’s just get this out of the way
For what it’s worth, I’m not a “love will save the world” peacenik.
Don’t get me wrong, love is awesome at every level. Peace, well, that’s nirvana. Probably unattainable, but worth a shot.
But love and peace, especially during the darkest times, are not the messages or themes that mobilize me. I’m a rager.
Do not misconstrue; there are no Molotov cocktails in my future. I’m no assassin. Cruelty is not in my wheelhouse.
Rage for me is fuel. I have learned to mobilize it through healthy channels, like truthtelling, stewardship, and the making of things.
I call it alchemizing.
And right now, I feel like folks need to do something to break out of the numb, slack-jawed, doomscrolling post-election shock and get busy.
Getting busy means feeling all the feels, first of all (there are no negative emotions by the way, only unhealthy ways to process them).
It also means figuring out what mobilizing looks for you. It might be an outreach into the community; it might be deep cleaning your house; it might be hiking in the woods.
You do you has never been more important than it is now.
Not everyone will mobilize in the same way. And that’s the way it should be. We need our activists in the streets, media, and courtrooms. We need our gentle voices guiding the vulnerable to keep them steady and patient. We need to let people who need to express rage do so, however that might manifest: as a work of art, a hard cry, a trip to the gym, a binge of standup comedy, an assertive action in a public space.
We need all the different ways of being human.
So I won’t be the sign-hoisting woman at the march on DC in January, or the humming yogi on the hilltop in this post-election period.
Instead, I’ll be the writer who layers shades of ecofeminist justice into my novel. I’ll be the woman in the shadows creating a way station for other women in the shadows who need safe passage. I’ll be the gardener who plants extra for others because there will be a greater need next season.
Below are some posts that have given me both perspective and inspiration toward these ends.
And one more thing: Gratitude. Don’t forget to be thankful for those people, resources, and moments of beauty and kindness in your life as you encounter them.
Gratitude is also something to alchemize; the easiest way to do so is to simply say thank you.
Below, you’ll find my recommended list of recent quality Substack reading. If something interests you, please visit and read. If you enjoy the content you find, please leave a comment and tell ’em Rhymes With Camera sent ya!