I’ve been writing my weekly column for over 30 years. Sometimes, like many episodes of Seinfeld, I write about “nothing.” Sometimes, I write about “something.” Either way, people seem drawn to adding to my body of knowledge.
People Tell Me Things Like…
PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO:
Women in the Middle: Living Life After 50 – a midlife podcast for women who don’t want life to pass them by – if you can get past the self-promotion.
Non-fiction for Life: with Janet Perry – you can skip reading the book and just listen to an hour-long, in-depth interview with the author
BOOKS TO READ:
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – linking the caste systems of India, America and Nazi Germany – riveting and eye-opening
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – my book club’s choice – I call it mesmerizing escapism
BINGE-WORTHY TV TO WATCH:
Pretend It’s a City (watchable multiple times)
Your Honor
Broadchurch and A Place to Call Home (I know, I know – both have been out awhile)
Shonda Rimes newest: Bridgerton
And The History of Swear Words narrated by Nicholas Cage – can’t get into either of them
STREAMING MOVIES:
The White Tiger
People Tell Me Things Like…
Why they are frustrated with their spouses
Why they are disappointed with their kids
Why they feel life during Covid is confining, challenging and despairing
How they were able to lose weight
How they conquered a life-long addiction to smoking
How they have learned to practice gratitude on a daily basis
I listen when people tell me things.
And I avidly read the many, many comments I get after my newsletter pops into your mailbox at 3 pm each Friday.
Some are helpful
Some are informative
Some are simply relating an experience
Some give me information very worthy of passing on – like this past week when I wrote about the importance of listening to those close to us who share opposite views.
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. She asks: Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
And every known nook of our nation and
Every corner called our country,
Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge
Battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
Aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
But how do we free the new dawn and where can we find light?
A devoted reader provided an answer to Gorman’s provocative questions in her comment to me in response to last week’s newsletter.
She told me about an organization called Braver Angels:
https://braverangels.org
Braver Angels brings together people with different political perspectives to seek and find commonality and to banish contempt.
Braver Angels’ aim is to build trust and de-polarize American politics – to disagree without harm, but with respect – to pursue common ground where it exists.
Braver Angels is officially based in New York City, has 40,000 members – drawing from each state in the union – and its numbers are growing dramatically.
Through workshops, discussion groups, debates and alliances, Braver Angels helps people set aside their pre-conceived notions about each other and to listen more carefully to all points of view. Braver Angels is not about convincing members to change their minds – it’s about helping Americans pull together and bridge partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.
It’s a start.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom and hold this thought by poet Audre Lord, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences.”
Iris Ruth Pastor