Weekly Roundup: July 10

Quote of the week:
“Instead of asking, ‘How can you think this way?’ try asking, ‘How did you come to think this way?’ Maintain dialogue. Be curious.” —Esther Perel

What I’m reading:

• The Highly Sensitive Person in Love by Elaine N. Aron
• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

What I’m listening to:

• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo (juuust finished this. It’s a fantastic epic family saga–my kind of book)
• New season of Esther Perel’s podcast, Where Should We Begin?
• Counter Stories podcast, “Sisters in Loss” episode featuring Shannon Gibney and Kao Kalia Yang, authors of What God is Honored Here: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color

What I’m watching:

• Racist Trees (pilot) (short form digital series about a community in Palm Springs fighting for the removal of a wall of trees that many believe were originally planted as a totem of segregation)
• Game Changers (Netflix) (this reignited my desire to eat a fully plant-based diet; I’m about 80% there currently)
• The Most Dangerous Animal of All (Hulu)

Writing news:

• There are 10 days left on the Goodreads Giveaway for All the Acorns on the Forest Floor–sign in to your Goodreads account to enter!
• I’ve been interviewing a number of author friends about their creativity and productivity during the pandemic. I’m hoping to put together an essay soon

What I’m talking about:

• This New York Times article–“I am Going to Physically Explode: Mom Rage in a Pandemic.” The title says it all
• The dramatic increase in COVID-related hospitalizations where I live (see this Los Angeles Times article); I’m getting a little freaked out
• Moving to New Zealand if Trump wins in November

What I’m grateful for:

My sister. It was her birthday this past week. I told her recently that sisterhood has been an extended lesson in empathy for me. We are so different in many ways, and that led to lots of fighting and eye rolls when we were younger. Now, I’m grateful that I had the chance to grow up with someone who sees the world differently than me. What I’ve realized is that we’re actually way more similar than I thought.