F*cking Texas and their f*cking abortion ban (which I now read is also being planned by Florida, Arkansas, and South Dakota). I may have my head in the sand/been living under a rock, but I'd never before heard of a shadow docket. I call bullsh*t.
What can we do? What *are* we going to do? This is unacceptable. We worked too hard for Roe v. Wade to see it crumble like the spines of the Republicans who are behind this offensive and oppressive legislation.
“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” ~ Arundhati Roy, War Talk
and...
“One by one the women step up
and commit the forbidden act
of biting into patriarchal thought
refuting it, smashing it,
discarding it and beginning again
in the very beginning when women
loved their bodies
named their gods
authored their lives
when women refused to surrender
except to life as it pulsated through them.
Women reminding us
there is nothing wrong
there never has been anything wrong
there never will be anything wrong
with woman.”
~ Patricia Lynn Reilly
It is indeed Feel Good Friday and, as is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten/enlighten your day/weekend/week. Enjoy!
~ First Look: Paradis Books & Bread, Miami’s Gamechanging Natural Wine Bar and Bookshop: “It’s all an experiment."
~ A Simple 5-Step Process for Finding Peace in Times of Conflict: Ever feel like you are living a life of chaos? Are you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated over these crazy past two years? When difficult things happen or conflict arises, it can be hard to feel peace.
~ Inviting Readers to ‘Dig Into the Whole Garden’: Margaret Roach, a gardening columnist for The Times, wants readers to see planting and landscaping as more than outdoor decorating.
~ Spike Lee, Exultant at the ‘Epicenter’: The filmmaker’s epic new documentary series, “NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½,” is an alternately mournful and irreverent tribute to New York.
~ Could you wear a dress for 100 days? When Emma Beddington took part in a challenge to wear the same dress for 100 days, she wasn’t expecting to feel the positive force of sisterhood alongside a few neat cleaning hacks.
BOOK: On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint by Maggie Nelson
POEM: The Nothing by Sarah la Rosa
Dark water
muddy water
groundwater.
Creativity is like this
swirling
and circling
and thick.
There is no easy, clear flow
of sparkling oceans and singing rivers.
My muse comes to me in the mud--
that sacred mixture
dirt and dark water
that heals blind eyes
and draws toxins
from the skin and deeper organs.
The smell is pungent.
This is the artery of the earth
this is the tar-coloured pitch
that feeds the tributaries
flowing toward La Loba who gathers
to Kali who destroys
to the truths I'd rather avoid
inside of myself
about myself
in spite of myself.
One has no choice
but to face the Great Nothing
if one is to find
the Underneath River.
It is a gift, the nothing.
It empties us utterly
of falsity and the hollow stubbornness
that claims to be abiding strength of spirit
but drains us of genuine courage instead.
And we must be emptied
if we are to be fed the living water of spirit.
And so, what is one to do?
What is the solution
the course of action
while stranded in the desert?
Do you sit and conserve your strength?
praying that you live
through this painful dehydration
of the soul?
No.
Continue on
feel the burning sand
between your toes
feel yourself melting
and merging
with the Great Nothing.
Sink
below
dunes and heat.
There you will find
a cool, dark place
that smells of ancient rains
collected on the ground
beneath your blistered feet.
The waters rise.
QUOTE(S): "I write because it makes me feel like someone's listening - or I am finally listening to myself." ~ Unknown
"I have a soft spot for books by tough, radically honest women with an uncommon antenna for magic, language, and landscape." ~ Maggie Nelson
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