A Bunch of Things Keeping me Going
Resources, and a smol practice
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If your inbox is anything like my inbox, then you’re getting a lot of great resources, newsletters, and thoughts on the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
I am going to include two lists in this week’s missive. I wrote a lot last week, and have less energy for that now. The first set of links fully engages with what happened last week. The second is a set of links that you can peruse for pleasure and escape.
I will say this: If you are a human being in a body, it’s almost impossible not to be overwhelmed with so many feelings, urges, and needs right now. Maybe you’re also a human being taking care of other human beings, or a human being struggling to take care of yourself. Maybe your health is suffering and you feel like you’ve got nothing left. Maybe you’ve let some of those essential self-care practices fall to the wayside and ate an entire cake yesterday or drank too much.
I want to you know it’s okay. I say it’s okay because sometimes I need to hear that it’s okay.
No matter how much “work” we do; no matter how much therapy or yoga or exercise or reading or cooking; we cannot hold feelings at bay.
So, an invitation.
If you’re in a safe space right now, take a seat somewhere. Feel your body in your chair. Place your hand on your heart. Then, close your eyes and feel all the things. Let them rush in. Let them come to the surface. You don’t have to feel them forever. You can just touch them. Let yourself remember that you can feel. That it’s okay to feel.
When you open your eyes, take a deep breath. And just know that you can come back here anytime, to touch in and feel everything you are holding in. Because we are all holding so much in right now. It’s impossible not to.
Okay.
I love you.
Links for Action and Education:
Read Lyz Lenz’s most recent newsletter, which also has lots of great links.
Listen to the most recent episode of the phenomenal podcast On the Media, where we visit an alternate case that could have shaped abortion law differently, and think about where to go next.
Abortion Access Front is holding a day-long training on July 17th. If there' is anything we need to do, it’s learn how to be activists. Not just for abortion rights. For everything. This training will help.
Dick’s Sporting Goods announces a travel reimbursement to employees having to seek abortion across state lines.
Lizzo and LiveNation donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood.
Ian Millhiser of Vox wrote “The case against the Supreme Court of the United States” back in May. It’s searingly relevant now.
“We’re Not Going back to the time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse”, writes Jia Tolentino of The New Yorker.
Another New Yorker piece, read about “A Texas Teenager’s Abortion Odyssey” (you can also listen, which is nice).
Links for Self-Care, Tuning-in/out, and Enjoyment
I am very much enjoying the new HBO series Irma Vep, which has an equally engaging lineage. Alicia Vikander is mesmerizing and the series is full of French culture and comedy. I also recommend the film Irma Vep, starring Maggie Cheung.
I finished the audiobook Trust by Hernan Diaz, which has been on my list since it came out. I’ve been walking a lot because it’s vital to my recovery from surgery. The book is phenomenal, and raises questions about memory, public narrative, personal agency, and class structure in the United States.
The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon, by Bill McKibben, started out super strong but wavered for me. It’s worth a read just for the first half.
Listen to Rachel Kushner read Edna O’Brien on The New Yorker Fiction podcast. It’s a real treat.
David Liittschwager is a National Geographic photographer specializing in sea life, particularly invertebrates. His photographs are stunning, and he has a new book.
