Weekly Roundup: November 18, 2022

Happy Friday! I don’t plan on doing a roundup next week while I’m enjoying holiday time with my family, so I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Quote of the week:
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is one of my favorite quotes on gratitude:
“…the more you become a connoisseur of gratitude, the less you are a victim of resentment, depression, and despair. Gratitude will act as an elixir that will gradually dissolve the hard shell of your ego—your need to possess and control—and transform you into a generous being. The sense of gratitude produces true spiritual alchemy, makes us magnanimous—large souled.” –Sam Keen

What I’m reading:
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli. Liking it so far.

What I’m listening to:
I’m just about to finish Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery by Catherine Gildiner. If you’re into psychology and case studies, you’ll like this one.

What I’m watching:
I watched a couple movies this past week. I saw Smile in the theater (I love horror movies!) and I watched Don’t Worry Darling at home (which I really liked; not sure why it got panned). I started the third season of Dead to Me last night, and I’m also watching Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake.

Writing news:
Nothing right now, but I think 2023 will be an exciting year.

What I’m talking about:

Love languages! I listened to this great episode on Glennon Doyle’s podcast which talks about how the 5 traditional love languages are really quite limiting. All of us have unique ways we want to feel loved. One of my love languages is people reading my blog and being curious about my random thoughts (so, thank you!)
Trump announcing he’ll run in 2024. Barf. It gives me some comfort that his announcement was a flop, but I still worry about the craziness of the next election cycle and how that will affect our already-divided country
The University of Virginia shooting. I’m so sick of these tragedies and I can’t stop thinking of the families who are left to mourn. It’s senseless and I don’t know when enough will be enough
The ongoing uprising in Iran. It’s been more than two months now, with more than 16,000 people detained. Nearly 400 protesters have been killed (including more than 50 children). Two weeks ago, the majority of Iran’s parliament signed an open letter to the country’s judiciary asking that it issue death sentences to protesters who have been arrested. So far, 21 people have been charged with crimes that carry the death penalty. Visit mideastmatters.carrd.co for ways you can help

Interesting things I learned this week:

The world population hit 8 billion this past week. In the past 12 years alone, 1 billion people have joined the planet
More than 100,000 Americans missed work in October due to childcare problems. That’s an all-time high, even greater than during the height of the pandemic. The viruses going around right now are NUTS
An 11-year-old British Muslim boy outscored the IQ of Einstein and Stephen Hawking (read here)
During Trump’s presidency, hate crimes increased by about 20%

Since Thanksgiving is next week, I also wanted to share some facts I learned while researching “Truthsgiving,” coined by Indigenous activist Christine Nobiss who decided she’d had enough with whitewashed history. Here are some truths:

While records indicate there was a “first Thanksgiving” in 1621 between the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag tribe, there is no evidence the Wampanoag people were even invited. Some experts believe those present were an army sent by Wampanoag leader Ousamequin at the sound of gunshots (which were part of the celebration)
In their first encounter with the Wampanoag people, the Pilgrims stole from the tribe’s winter provisions
An alliance was formed between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, but only because Ousamequin thought it was needed for survival after his people were ravaged by diseases brought by European colonizers
The first harvest was followed by deadly conflicts between colonizers and Native people. The Europeans seized Native lands and imprisoned, enslaved, and executed Native people
Following “Thanksgiving” celebrations by European settlers often marked brutal victories over Native people, like the Pequot Massacre of 1636 or the beheading of Wampanoag leader Metacom in 1676

Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“How many palm trees are in Palm Springs?” My daughter and I were counting the palm trees on our street and I wondered how many are in Palm Springs, arguably the palm tree capital. According to google, there are 6,000!

What I’m grateful for: