Volume 2, Resources 24: Supporting Native Orgs, Black Friday, Giving Thanks, and NPR's Books We Love
Hi friends! First up, we’re getting to the end of November and to keep myself accountable I want to check in about the habits that I have been trying to cultivate this month. As of writing this sentence, I have managed to do some writing every day this month. I’ve written a piece of snail mail almost every day (I missed one day) and I have stretched every day except for 2 days.
The missed days were the day of the Rittenhouse verdict and the day after, which is totally understandable. It was the verdict I expected as white supremacy will always do what it needs to do to preserve itself, even if that means allowing the murders of other white people if they align themselves on the side of Black lives. Even though I expected it, it still made it rough to hear so I ended my work day early to be kind to myself.
I am still pretty chuffed that I have managed to write daily, though! Honestly, I didn’t think I would do it and yet here I am. Wow. Will wonders never cease?
Also, last week I wrote about not over-explaining my “No” and this week, Nedra Tawwab wrote about the same thing in her newsletter which is also definitely worth the read. I stand behind it. “No” is a complete sentence.
It’s a resource week and we’ll get to it after this amazing image:
Resource #1: Twitter thread on supporting Indigenous communities via Kelly Hayes
Click through for a great thread of orgs and folks to support
Also, here is a list of Indigenous owned businesses, creators, and organizations to support via Femislay:
Resource #2: Black Friday
Last year on Black Friday I did a round-up of Black-owned businesses. I’m not doing another round-up of businesses but the 15 Percent Pledge has a nice one and here’s a lovely list of sustainable, ethical, BIPOC-owned small businesses. I will, however, give a shout-out to one business in particular. Earlier this year, I went on a coffee purchasing spree and bought coffee beans from 6 different Black-owned coffee roasters. My favorite has been Kahawa 1893, so much so, that I now get their beans by subscription bi-weekly. I am not paid for this advertisement. I am getting nothing out of recommending this company. This company is a Bay Area company owned by a Black woman who works specifically with women farmers in Africa. The company also allows you to tip the farmers (which the company matches) via the website. For more Black-owned coffee companies, see these MindBodyGreen and Refinery29 articles.
This year I’ll be supporting the Black Friday Blackout in solidarity with retail workers.
Resource #3: How Giving Thanks Changes the Brain
I wanted to share this article: “How Giving Thanks Changes the Brain or Psychological Benefits of Gratitude.” I recognize that your mileage may vary with this one. I have had the phrase, “You should be grateful!” wielded as a weapon toward me (13 years of Catholic school ecc.) and I am the last person to tell anyone to keep a gratitude journal or anything similar. That being said, this article was interesting and I figured at least a few people might benefit and that’s good enough for me.
Resource #4: NPR’s Books We Love 2021 (formerly Book Concierge)
If you’ve been a subscriber to this newsletter for a while, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of NPR’s Books We Love (formerly Book Concierge), which I wrote about here. They’ve rebranded to Books We Love and they now have their almost 400 2021 picks available for your browsing pleasure.
As always, you can also purchase a paid subscription to this newsletter or buy a subscription as a gift. I love being able to keep this newsletter free and I recognize it does cost me many hours of time to produce as well as the tips I send to folks who make some of the resources I share such as Twitter threads, resource round-ups, and Instagram posts. Thank you, too, to those of you who take the time to share my newsletter with others or send me kind words. It helps keep me going!
That’s it for this week! You can shop any books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481. If you want me to send you some happy mail, feel free to give me your address.
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That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
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