WHAT I’M READING & WHAT I AM NOT READING ANYMORE
Finished Listening: Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey (the audio version is THE WAY)
Finished Reading: Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far, by Paul Offit (it’s ok, link)
Listening To (💿): Calypso, by David Sedaris
eBook (📱): We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry (it’s cute)
Started (📙): To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Goodread’s Choice, it’s short, currently $1.99 on Kindle)
Abandoned (👋): Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo (free with Kindle Unlimited)
2 RANDOM QUOTES
I felt betrayed, the way you do when you discover that your cat has a secret secondary life and is being fed by neighbors who call him something stupid like Calypso. Worse is that he loves them as much as he loves you, which is to say not at all, really. The entire relationship has been your own invention.
David Sedaris, Calypso
Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.
Herman Melville
Currently reading Outdoor Magazine, Summer 2021 Issue
Here are some quotes and Instagram posts I liked from people mentioned in the issue.
🐻 EXPAND YOUR DEFINITION OF “OUTDOORS” 🐻
Too often we associate the great outdoors with somewhere far, far away that requires special equipment and expertise. That couldn’t’ be further from the truth. Not everybody is going to find joy and excitement dangling off the side of a cliff. You can turn to nature close to home. We have to think more broadly and inclusively about what being in the outdoors can look like. By doing that, we help people feel validated and empowered to try a broader range of activities. Outdoor Afro is an organization that connects Black people across the country to outdoor activities near them. It’s headquartered in Oakland, California, where there’s a lake at the center of town – Lake Merritt, which is actually the oldest wildlife sanctuary in the country. People walk around it, they have cookouts. There’s life and vibrancy that this outdoor space holds that is giving people the same benefits they would receive if they were in the wild. Looking at the nature people find in their own backyard – that matters.
💩💩💩
There are plenty of natural alternatives to toilet paper in the woods. A smooth rock or stick are reliable go-tos. Soft leaves work well, too, as does a handful of beard moss. But nothing beats a packed snowball. Bury that organic TP along with your waste. But if you use the real thing, pack it out. and Sometimes your stomach will surprise you. If you’re heading out on a long run, pack a latex glove and a wet wipe in your vest for emergency bathroom breaks. Wipe with the glove on, then reverse the glove over the wipe. Bury your waste, tie off the glove, and throw it away when you’re back in civilization.
🏳🌈 Check out Elyse Ryalnder on Instagram 🏳🌈
Her non profit Out There Adventures empowers LGBTQ+ young people connect with the natural world.
The first thing I needed to learn when I started writing about climate change was that we weren’t really in the argument I thought we were in. Writers tend to think of things as an argument and believe that if you assemble enough well-crafted words, studies, and research data, then the powers that be will do what needs doing. It took me a number of years – and a number of books – to understand that this wasn’t completely true. By 1995, the world’s scientists were in strong agreement about the danger of climate change. But you can win the argument and still lose the fight. Our opponents, the fossil-fuel industry, had enough money and power to keep winning the fight long after they’d lost the argument. Once I figured that out, I started shifting from just writing to organizing and building big, global, grassroots climate campaigns. We’ve put together a new source of political power to try and counterbalance the influence of the fossil-fuel industry, but we should’ve started long ago. There were a lot of years when we should have been standing up more firmly to the industry. I’m sorry now that we didn’t.
Bill McKibben, author and environmentalist
PETER METCALF, on how to stay motivated
“Even after 50 years of being active outside, I still struggle with motivation. Nowadays, regardless of how big the day is going to be, what I tell myself is, I’m getting up. I’m going to enjoy that cup of coffee and piece of toast. I’m going to go out and catch the dawn, even if just for half an hour. You don’t have to do the big thing. You can turn around at any time. You can go at a more relaxed pace. Sometimes the key is to fake yourself out. Almost always momentum takes over. Because being outdoors, catching the first light, it’s spiritual, it’s energizing. It allows you to build that momentum.“
Another photog on Instagram
Things I recently added to my amazon wishlist that I’m not going to buy
- A Salad Cutter – a bowl plus some pizza slicer thing to cut up your lettuce. (I actually bought this because I’M TOTALLY GOING TO EAT HEALTHER IN 2022 LMAO)
- Little Motivational Business Cards that I can leave with assholes when I want to be passive aggressive.
- A List/Diary Journal that has a moon on it. I love owning journals but I have yet to fill one out; mine are all no more than 1/3rd completed. #sad
- Sunglasses that say NO
nikiverse 