BRAVE LOVE

[andrewgibby]

Love is not the only closet 

I was told never to come out of.  

There was also the closet of Grief.  

The closet of Panic.  

The closet of Terror.  

The closet of Rage.  

There was also the closet of Awe and Want and Bliss.  

Every honest grit that we feel, 

the world will ask for a stencil instead, 

for the chatter of cordial manufactured polite.  

I want to jackknife out of that net.

[abravelove]

Less Advice, More Nina Simone

Swearing off advice and self-help was the most important thing I did in 2013. It was an agonizingly slow and painful year; I was at the end of my wits — and any input on how to cope made me grumpy. So, I systematically removed it from it from my Facebook feeds, default conversation topics and nightstand reading list. Instead of reading blogs about how to feel better, I started reading blogs about how to produce radio stories. I listened to Marianne Elliott’s little “Taking Fucking Care of Yourself” rant often and decided to drink two cups of coffee each morning, instead of one. I returned to anti-depressants. I read and re-read David Rakoff’s The Bleak Shall Inherit essay and then Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things. I went to the arcade and then the ice cream shop. I took a break from the news. I revisited Kanye West’s Graduation album and reveled in my obsession with Nina Simone and Son Lux. I stopped trying to find fellow expats who would understand on Twitter — and, instead, found solace in Kurt Vonnegut’s A Man Without A Country and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. I stopped writing poetry and started reading it. I blew steam and complained more than usual. I embraced my natural tendency toward defensive pessimism and the wry humor that comes with it. I laid on the floor for 20 minutes every morning and called it yoga. I accepted limes in my cheap beer as a suitable alternative for my beloved Left Hand Milk Stout. I asked myself, “What can you do, kid?” And I let myself answer, “Nothing.” No more fighting. No more looking for answers. No more trying to be brave.

Instead:

Reading fiction. Eating kiwis. Listening to Trouble In Mind.

I’ve never been more relieved — or kind to myself.

__

  This post is part of the Thriving Blog Tour, which is spreading self-kindness to the masses. From Coping to Thriving is a six-week journey that will teach you how to turn your coping strategies into self-caring behaviours, leaving behind struggle and learning to thrive. To learn more, click here.

[honestlyabroad]

[mediadiversified]

'When you consider that no black artists from anywhere in the world scored a number one single in 2013, especially in genres created and pioneered by black people, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ all-conquering display was a given.  It was a categorical and poignant reminder that whilst black creations are themselves most welcome, when it comes to marketing them, a white face is preferred. ‘

~ Joseph Guthrie The Macklemore Problem

[abravelove]

Tim Gunn: On And Off The Runway, 'Life Is A Big Collaboration'

"Life is a big collaboration — and when you're tackling something that is painful and troubling and is causing you such desperate grief that you think life's not worth living — you need to reach out. To people who will reach back." - Tim Gunn

[nixellany-blog]

The first TOW assignment is to interview seven strangers. Starting with the question, “What are you afraid of?,” keep asking questions until you get a story with a beginning, middle and end. Then edit the story into three sentences.

I was amazed at the variety and depth of what I got. But...

[abravelove]

"Someone recently tried to kill me. I’m not ready to die. I still have regular American Pie stuff I wanna do, you know — house, car, soccer practice.” David January 19, 2014 Downtown Public Library Omaha, Nebraska

[abravelove]

No Place Like Home: a neighborhood photo essay

I'm over on The Salt Collective today looking at 2013 through the eyes of my sweet little neighborhood: "In a 2013 piece, The Stories That Bind Us, New York Times’ columnist, Bruce Feiler, reported that psychologists have discovered the single greatest predictor of resiliency in children is the presence of a strong family narrative. I think the same is true for neighborhoods. Our neighborhoods thrive or wither, in large part, by the stories we tell about them. So as 2013 draws to a close I’m taking a moment to remember a year in the life of my neighborhood, Barrio Versalles — celebrating the best days and qualities and honoring the worst. I invite you to do the same; take a few moments before the year ends to say thanks for all of it."

[abravelove]

Our neighbors who run the little shop below our apartment gave us a loaf of bread for Christmas. I was so surprised and delighted that I kissed their cheeks. It's a small thing—but to me, an expat so often feeling out of place, that loaf of bread was a gift of disarming generosity and kindness. Thanks to all of you who are looking out for your neighbors; you may never know just how much it means.

[abravelove]

5 Ways To Support Those Having A Rough Holiday Season - The Salt Collective

The holidays can be such a difficult time for so many of us. When gathering around the cozy, perfectly set dining table, for some, the absence of a loved one is painfully clear. Others of us rarely experience healthy family dynamics throughout the year, let alone on occasions when the boundaries of even the happiest families are stretched.

Here are five way to show up in a kind, compassionate way for your loved ones this season.

[abravelove]

Measuring Fukushima's Impact: How Geeks and Hackers Got Geiger Counters to the Masses

Thousands of ordinary people have contributed to a crowd-sourced effort to measure Fukushima's impact.

[abravelove]

It's Human Rights Day — Long live 'em (the human rights)!

“The Olinka girls do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something. What can she become? I asked. Why, she said, the mother of his children. But I am not the mother of anybody's children, I said, and I am something.”

― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

[abravelove]

I'm working on a piece about ways to support friends, neighbors and family members who experience the holidays as a tough time of year. Do you have any input for what helps or hurts when supporting your loved ones?

[abravelove]

Dec 7 is always one of the best (albeit loudest) days of the year in the barrio. The streets are lined with candles!

[abravelove]

I had the happy idea that what I do not understand is more real than what I do, and then the happier idea to buckle myself into two blue velvet shoes. I had the happy idea to polish the reflecting glass and say hello to my own blue soul. Hello, blue soul. Hello. It was my happiest idea. - Mary Szybist, http://bit.ly/1keNYdq

[abravelove]

Strong Men, Riding Horses by Gwendolyn Brooks

(Lester after the Western) Strong Men, riding horses. In the West On a range five hundred miles. A Thousand. Reaching From dawn to sunset. Rested blue to orange. From hope to crying. Except that Strong Men are Desert-eyed, except that Strong Men are Pasted to stars already. Have their cars Beneath them. Rentless, too. Too broad of chest To shrink when the Rough Man hails. Too flailing To re-direct the Challenger, when the challenge Nicks; slams; buttonholes. Too saddled. I am not like that. I pay rent, am addled By illegible landlords, run, if robbers call. What mannerisms I present, employ, Are camouflage, and what my mouths remark To word-wall off that broadness of the dark Is pitiful. I am not brave at all.

[abravelove]

Las Pavas wins National Peace Prize

I'm thrilled to share good news from here in Colombia! The farming community, Las Pavas, that I've shared so much about here on Brave Love won the National Peace Prize earlier this week. Big love to our brothers and sisters in Las Pavas and their partners like the Christian Peacemaker Teams - Colombia who are doing the gritty and slow work of nonviolent resistance.

Full story here.

[abravelove]

Jim's Last Group Run

"This powerful photo says so much about Jim Kelley, and it says even more about running. It was Jim’s last group run. It was exactly the way he would have wanted it, everybody enjoying the camaraderie. He would have thought it was the coolest thing on the planet."

Full story here.