Each month, for paid subscribers, I share what’s been working well in my life plus a curated list of links to what I’ve been reading, listening to, watching, and cooking.
This month’s edition is free for everyone (enjoy!), and from now through October 10 I’m also offering 20% off your first year’s paid subscription if you’d like to upgrade.
What’s Working
Autumn — just literally everything about this perfect magical witch season of apples and pink leaves and chilly mornings. Building an equinox altar. Buying myself the fancy candlestick of my dreams. Colorful pens! Daily index card to-do lists! The feeling when a book you’ve been waiting for finally becomes yours at the library! My standing monthly money redistribution date. Being so enlivened by the shifts that are currently happening in my own identity (and in the experience of being seen/received with so much love and celebration by my closest people).
Reading, Watching, Listening
I’m feeling wildly inspired by these three case studies on building real community with one’s neighbors, which is something I want to continue doing much more deeply in the coming year and beyond.
My two favorite books of the past month were: I Hope This Finds You Well, by Natalie Sue (tender and relatable with many genuine moments of laughing out loud) and How to Age Disgracefully, by Clare Pooley (heartwarming and funny with a romping cast of unique characters).
Okay, not to tell you what to do with your life but also: if ever you’re in a no-good-very-terrible funk of a mood might I recommend walking as fast as you can on a steeply inclined treadmill while listening to this song on repeat? You’re welcome.
I am always intrigued by the different ways people approach the question of “what’s for dinner?!” and so of course I enjoyed this piece on The Mental Load of Feeding a Family.
Last autumn I took a class with Liz Migliorelli of Sister Spinster called Veil Opener: Autumnal Plant Magic, and the recording is now available for $33. It’s such a lovely and informative class, and it tangibly shifted how I felt and what my personal practice came to look like in the autumn season. A+ recommend!
“When you see the term mutual aid thrown around like a progressive synonym for charity, it helps to remember its roots — which are anti-establishment and anti-police.” This!! From Cheryl Rivera’s piece about whether mutual aid can be more than a crisis response/survival strategy.
I’m a big fan of Carmen Spagnola (particularly her work around collapse), and this conversation she had with Megan Leatherman of A Wild New Work is so juicy, sharing the frameworks and practices that can help us metabolize what’s happening in the world right now and find the deliciousness that’s available. (Speaking of Megan, I’m all signed up to take her upcoming 8-week class, Composting Capitalism, and I can’t wait!)
I’ve been thinking so much about aging lately, and I found myself enthralled and delighted by this interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on how she feels at 54.
It’s not just aging, I’m also thinking a lot about death, and I’m intrigued by Recompose, a full-service green funeral home specializing in human composting.
Hanif Abdurraqib’s recent episode of This Is Uncomfortable — a wide-ranging conversation about the moral judgments we’re quick to make about people’s financial circumstances, notions of success and legacy, and more — is a powerhouse of a conversation in just 36 minutes. Loved it. (I also really recommend listening to this episode of the same podcast, which is an update from past guest Hana Albaioumy about the agonizing decision of whether to spend $10,000, most of her savings, and leave her family to cross the border into Egypt to escape Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.)
And then 3 bonus links filled with big celebration energy for some beloved friends:
has a new book coming out! just started the fourth season of her incomparable podcast, Off The Grid! And recently launched Rest Day Creative, a cooperatively owned branding micro-agency with a community-oriented, anticapitalist lens. Congrats, friends!Cooking & Baking
My garden is in Big Eggplant Mode right now and so of course I made Eggplant Parm and Eggplant Bolognese.
And then for my little autumn equinox party yesterday I baked these apple cinnamon scones (with added butterscotch chips!) along with this bonkers delicious pumpkin cheesecake.
Okay, your turn!
Comments are open: What’s been working well for you lately? Do you have any reading/listening/watching/cooking recommendations of your own to share? Tell us, tell us!
I live for these "What's Working" volumes - thank you! My own "what's working" for the past week...Miles Davis' album Sketches of Spain, Adrienne Maree Brown's new book "Loving Corrections", and Elizabeth Gilbert's weekly LETTERS FROM LOVE newsletter.
this combo of cozy autumn adorableness coupled with radical reads/listens on mutual aid and community as survival is soooo up my alley. love this & you!!! <3