lqb2weekly #205 (29 march 2025)

Mar 29, 2025

hey,

omg. there is SO much happening in like a million different directions. i have been ready to hit send on this newsletter for days and every day someone sends something that i feel like i need to get in! but now that i’ve waited so many days, some of the things are passed. turns out: trying to catch everything isn’t possible. 😮‍💨 so, here’s a few thoughts and then a more than usual number of things.

some thoughts on what i’ve been doing/noticing/saying to myself/practicing: doing them bullet style so i don’t overthink it:

thermostat or thermometer: inspired by a quote from mlk jr, i am aiming to be a thermostat, not just a thermometer. i am asking myself in almost every space i’m in: is the way i’m showing up a representation of how things are (which is hard) or is it an energy that is attempting to shape how things are? this is, fundamentally, not an individualist endeavor, but if i am intentional about how i’m showing up, the likelihood i can align with others trying to do the same just feels higher.
in this moment: it’s ok to be tired. i’m noticing lots of tiredness in myself and people around me. and i think it’s not all just not getting enough sleep. these are emotionally taxing times. it is ok to rest.
remember the serenity prayer: O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other.
- all three parts of this are important. doing just 1 or 2 is a no go.
i have found it’s taking much work than usual to find groundedness. i’ve reduced my podcast consumption drastically. the time i spend in mindful movement meditation has skyrocketed. i’m probably mindfully doing something 1-2 hours a day these days.
i started watercoloring (thanks, shaundra, for the coaching) as a creative practice and way to keep practicing working with my perfectionist parts. also because of this insight from martha beck that my friend, gibrán, has been mentioning frequently these days.
i’ve been **gulp** consuming more news. i have a pretty limited news diet, mostly because my training (here, here, and beyond) has helped me see that news media is mostly (at a systemic level) shaped to hold my attention (either via fear or entertainment dynamics) without giving me helpful things to do or ways to process what comes up. that said, it just feels like a moment to be paying more attention there. these days i most often look at breitbart, the new york times, democracy now, 1440, and tangle.
so much more to say but i’m gonna press pause on sharing my thoughts for now.

ok, now that i’ve got some thoughts out, i think i wanna start with sharing other updatey things on the more difficult side of life and then share other things that are lighter/more dope/generative/possible. up first:

the harder things

on ICE warrants (from some neighborhood threads): It is important to know the difference between a judicial warrant that gives the agents the legal right to enter your house and an ICE or administrative warrant which does not. That difference is illustrated here (scroll down to images).
go bag resources: even if you’re not that worried (maybe especially when you’re not worried), it’s never a bad time to make sure your go bag is ready.
Birds Before the Storm
Get Yourself a Go Bag
It’s the go bag! You need a go bag. Whoever you are, with few exceptions (like if you live out of a go bag already), you should build a go bag. It’s the bag you grab if you have to go. Wildfire, hurr…
Read more
2 years ago · 1533 likes · 57 comments · Margaret Killjoy

commonsearth

A post shared by @commonsearth

end of the world show: from parable to practice

on mahmoud khalil:
- “The Encampments”: New Film on Mahmoud Khalil & Columbia Students Who Sparked Gaza Campus Protests
- Letter from a Palestinian Political Prisoner in Louisiana March 18, 2025
important job posting:
- As y'all know, the statewide LUCE hotline has been quite active these past 10 days and we are currently holding it down in the interim thanks to many of the people on this thread but we're excited to hire someone who can dedicate even more focus and time to this in the weeks ahead! Legitimately received four hotline calls and two texts to the hotline just while typing this email.
  
  https://careers.uproottalent.co/job/nonprofit-organization/nonprofit-organizing/19802518/statewide-hotline-coordinator

and now the funner/lighter/more generative/hopeful stuff:

kibilio, the neighboring retreat center to bent birch, is launching a well-being campaign to help increase housing access and capacity and the health and well-being of our community and the activist and healer ecosystems we are connected to. and there’s a matching gift of up to $25k for contributions that arrive before 15 may 2025. contribute if you can!
a work friend sent this course, Rooting in the Sacred: A Journey of Reverence & Reimagining, March 2025 - Feb 2026, and it seems very parallel to the formation project (which i helped steward for a time). registration for rooted in the sacred is on, even though the program started, until 11 april.
the 2025 restival save the date is here! if you already know what this is, definitely STD. otherwise, stay tuned for more info.

a consultant friend, mina kim, has just launched her new website. check it out! mina kim consulting
this offering is a collaboration between him and another beloved, nisha, who i shared some offerings from in previous newsletter: Moving Through Chaos and Complexity: Network Weaving for Social Healing in Times of Great Change
another offering from curtis: food solutions new england 2025 spring gathering
tara roberts, my old spiritual development buddy (from the formation project) has announced her book tour dates!
Tara spent the last six years following, diving with, and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they searched for and helped document slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and featured in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. Tara became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of Nat Geo. In 2022, Tara was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Currently, she is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. And her book Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging hits stands in January 2025.
my dear sweet partner, david, twig daddy, is doing plant consultations and spring plant sales! spring sales close in a couple days so if you’re interested or know folks who might be into plants as way to engage transformation, abundance, and resiliency, check it outttttt.
another consultant friend, ora grodsky is having a book talk for her new book, justice, love, and organizational healing on 1 april at the cambridge public library 6-730p! details inside
a friend and the lead organizer on the liberation tarot deck, elicia, is on the hunt for work!

My name is Elicia Epstein— I'm an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and project organizer, and am currently looking for part-time remote work as I continue toward my goal of teaching art at the undergraduate level (teaching portfolio here). I would be happy for both ongoing work, or shorter freelance / one-off / contract assignments. Here are some of the skills I am experienced in and would love to make use of!
- more details here
our peoples/ancestors have been through hard times before. those of us here are recipients of their work. so i think it’s always possible, even when chaotic to remember that our work to change the world can look like many things, including joy and creative civil disobedience. here’s a lil boston flash mob video from a couple weeks ago from a friend of my partner:

on to the things!

(!!) pick of the pack

writing

some things i’ve written since the last newsletter:

n/a (i’m finding that i’m mostly blocked on writing new blog posts until i get the book draft done. working on the cover now with the support of 3 friends… stepping closer and closer…

quotes

there is nothing new under the sun. also, full transparency, many of these quotes come from james clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter (which i love).

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” But this holds true for leadership in general—give people space and they flourish. — Maria Montessori

Your best performances will come when you are working in a way that is a full expression of you. The work becomes a natural display of your personality. This is when you not only get better results, but also love the activity — because in doing the craft, you feel alive.
— James Clear

When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide’ll turn. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

Beware the student of one teacher. A good idea spirals into dogma when it gets applied to everything and stretched beyond the areas where it is useful. Remain open and embrace a lot of teachers. — James Clear

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. — Marie Curie

You don’t have to be good at everything, you just need to double down on what you’re naturally suited for. — James Clear

There is too much bad news to justify complacency. There is too much good news to justify despair. — James Clear

When accessing all information is common, paying attention to important information is rare. — James Clear

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. The effect you have on others’ lives is the highest expression of your own. — Maya Angelou

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
— Henry David Thoreau

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. The same is true of any endeavor: if the solution you seek doesn’t exist, create it.
— Toni Morrison

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all. — Thomas Szasz

Think about self-control less as the quality of a person and more as the quality of a place. There are some places and situations that lean toward lower self-control and others that lean toward higher self-control. Self-control is about your context as much as your character. Put yourself in good positions. — James Clear

The greatest danger to our future is apathy. We can’t all save the world in a dramatic way, but we can each make our small difference, and together those small differences add up. Every single person makes an impact on the planet every single day. The question is: What kind of impact do you want to make? — Jane Goodall