Five Things to Tell You Vol. 35
favorite passages you really must read
Well, hello there! So happy to see you today!
If all went as planned (fingers crossed!), I’m still in Denver today with my whole crew doing the super fun things we had planned, and then I’ll be starting the drive home tomorrow. I’ll be telling you all about it once I have been home long enough to unpack, process, and put it all together! If things didn’t go as planned, well, that’ll be a story to tell too?
Today I am bringing to you some quotes I have been saving up, from books, articles, and newsletters. These are things I have had open in tabs for weeks, some saved in my email, and one that is just PERFECT for this week.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and please do click through to read the full articles and newsletters where applicable.
Settle in with your favorite snack and let’s dive in …
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I revisited Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt at the beginning of the summer for Battle of the Books, and was reminded of what a master she is at descriptive writing. And oh, how very, very seasonally appropriate this passage is:
The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.
I loved this book even more this time around, and was ecstatic to find that there is a graphic novel edition releasing on September 2nd to celebrate the novel’s 50th anniversary. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy - the cover is gorgeous!
This paragraph by Ann Carson in the London Review of Books has haunted my brain since Ann Friedman shared it in her newsletter not too long ago, and I have kept the tab open ever since…
Let’s start with life, your life. There it is before you – possibly a road, a ribbon, a dotted line, a map – let’s say you’re 25, then you make some decisions, do things, have setbacks, have triumphs, become someone, a bus driver, a professor, a pirate, years pass, maybe in a family maybe not, maybe happy maybe not, then one day you wake up and you’re seventy. Looking ahead you see a black doorway. You begin to notice the black doorway is always there, at the edge, whether you look at it or not. Most moments contain it, most moments have a sort of sediment of black doorway at the bottom of the glass. You wonder if other people are seeing it too. You ask them. They say no. You ask why. No one can tell you.
It’s no secret that I like to travel and am desperately trying to make up for the lack of it in the first part of my life. That’s why this piece by Thor Pederson and Rachel Chang in Travel and Leisure struck such a chord with me … not just traveling, but EXTREME traveling:
I set three cardinal rules. First, I had to be in each country a minimum of 24 hours, but I could stay as long as I wanted. Second, I couldn't return home until I reached the final country. It had to be one journey. And lastly, no flying for any reason whatsoever. So if I was evacuated in an airplane, I'd have to reset to start all over. There were also three side rules. I couldn't pay any bribes the whole way. I also had a budget of an average of $20 a day. So if I had to pay $50 or $100 for a visa, I didn’t spend any money other times. The third rule was I couldn’t eat McDonald’s the whole way.
A newsletter from Angela Watson is always a treat in my work inbox, and I actually forwarded this one to myself, from school inbox to personal inbox. The full conversation is one between Watson and Neela Kaur about self-advocacy for conflict avoidant personalities, and is definitely worth reading or listening to in full. The below quote is a summary Watson shared in her email:
Self-advocacy isn’t selfish--it's creating a path for others. One of the biggest mindset shifts .. is that advocating for yourself isn’t just about you. It’s about modeling for others—your students, your colleagues, the next generation of teachers. If you’re a woman in education, or if you come from a background where you were taught to not draw attention to yourself, it can feel uncomfortable to ask for what you need. But when you do, you’re creating a path for others to follow. When students see a teacher respectfully ask for support, push for better working conditions, or stand firm in their expertise, they learn that they, too, can advocate for themselves.
This rang so true for me recently when someone I have been very intimidated by told me she was impressed by my ability to set boundaries and focus on my priorities rather than suffering through and not speaking up. She said she didn’t think she herself would have been brave enough to do so.
Creating a path for others indeed.
I have been reading Molly Ella’s newsletter for several years now and love her soothing tone and minimalist lifestyle. Her recent piece about her unconventional relationship hit close to home given that so very many people don’t understand how my husband and I (happily) live our lives … together AND separate:
One of the main reasons my partner and I work so well together is that neither of us were built to be in a relationship. We are both exceptionally independent and this is not something either of us is willing to give up. It’s what makes us who we are. This means that, despite the fact that we cohabit a Tiny Home, we both respect each other’s personal space. This was one of the primary reasons we built two lofts. Although we can still hold a conversation between them, without even remotely raising our voices, it’s a small separation that means we both feel like we have our own space. We also spend time apart away from home, including trips away, either with our respective friends/family or solo.
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡
Thanks for stopping by!
