Sunday 5

The world has lost so many real ones in the last few weeks! Here are some recs based on their beautiful legacies. (I’m making this one free for everyone, because these losses are just too real to put behind a paywall. If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, FYI, this is the email I send out every Sunday with reading, listening, watching recommendations for folks who are. Convert today and never miss another nerdy endorsements!)

1. Gloria Steinem was the G of all Gs. I was lucky enough to know her a bit, sit at her feet in her living room, and marvel at the way she continually evolved, protected her own sovereignty, and gathered, gathered, gathered. If I believed in heaven, I’d say Dolly, Gloria, and my dad are having a drink right now. I guess I hope their feminist energies are blending and becoming some new cosmic butterfly wing flap that will take down the patriarchy. If you haven’t read Gloria, by all means get to it. You can start by pre-ordering her last one, An Unexpected Life, which comes out later this month. But more importantly, live her legacy by gathering a group of feminists in your living room soon and see what you can do to make the world over in the paradigm of “power with” instead of “power over.”

   

2. Wendell Berry is truly one of my favorites. His lesser known book, The Hidden Wound, on his own racial development, played a key role in how I thought about Learning in Public. And, of course, his poetry is incredible. A friend of mine (a doctor and a poet) sent along this one the day that he died and it feels like it puts words to the ways my dad is with me right now:

   

3. RIP Dolly, who inspired so many people, including this incredible rendition of Jolene by Beyonce.

4. I wrote about brain donation at Vox. It shouldn’t be so damn hard to donate a brain to science, y’all. Read it and weep.

5. I’ll be speaking at End Well with Dr. BJ Miller on November 12th. Come through!