#183 The Elmo Slide
01 July 2020 // San Diego, California
I remember spending New Year’s Day 2020 in Joshua Tree, walking in the snow, deciding that the annual parks pass would be worth it with all the adventures we’d be doing this year.
How differently things turned out.
🌵🌵🌵
Now we’re at the halfway point and it’s clear that we’re in an absurd year of historic significance. And since we’re only at halftime... I don’t want to be so quick as the worst year ever. There have been so many terrible losses, that’s for sure, but I hope we’ve also lost a lot of the illusions that we’re holding us captive.
What do I mean?
⚡️The illusion that our lives aren’t as vulnerable as they really are.
⚡️The illusion that our lives are separate from one another, blocked off by borders and housing codes.
⚡️The illusion that there aren’t consequences for abusing and exploiting natural resources.
⚡️The illusion that personal responsibility is all it takes to overcome systemic injustice.
⚡️The illusion that one can remain neutral during situations of injustice.
⚡️The illusion that economic strength equals invincibility.
⚡️The illusion that taking the time to be still is wrong, and that we’re only meant to keep producing.
⚡️The illusion that the people harvesting our food, delivering our supplies, stocking our stores, keeping our healthcare services running, and teaching our children aren’t doing purpose-filled, meaningful work.
2020 has been teaching us otherwise and it’s time for us to learn! Now let’s put these lessons into action for the second half and beyond.
What other illusions have you seen 2020 shatter?
#184 Black Lives Matter
02 July 2020 // San Diego, California
I left Carson two weeks ago with 880 followers on Instagram- a number that had been pretty stagnant for about two years. Now? I’m looking at 5,000+.
Followers aren’t everything, but having enough can open quite a few doors. Especially in the areas that I work in. And for years I’ve wanted to see growth in that area, without much luck.
What happened? Well, I drew a flowchart of book recommendations that went viral.
But also…
At the start of the month, I decided to start being very vocal about racial justice. I wanted to be vocal enough that people following me hoping it would just be a post or two would be frustrated with how unending the conversation was. I wanted to challenge just about every social circle I had the ability to speak to.
Honestly, comfort was the last of my objectives. I wanted the truth to stir things up. I expected to lose followers, and I did at first. At least a handful, which now seems small. And there were some posts in that span that got very little engagement.
But? The right posts found the right people, and things have since taken off.
What did I learn? Worrying about making people uncomfortable is a poor reason not to say what needs to be said. When you lose your ego, you find your voice. When you find your voice, you often end up finding your people.
#185 Plant Purchase
03 July 2020 // Encinitas, California
The idea of a staycation never really appealed to me.
Like, there are far too many places on my bucket list for me to want to use up time and money on staying home. But of course, that isn’t really an option this year.
And we really need that rest!
A few weeks ago, Deanna and I realized we needed to do something quick to refill our buckets. We were living in close quarters with family, dealing with the weight of national news while trying to have important conversations with loved ones about race. At the same time, Rhys hit a major sleep regression. Our jobs were hectic, as we tried to work from home, all with the threat of a pandemic going on outside.
That’s when we decided to cash in on two more weeks of paid family leave we had left. So now we’re on maternity/paternity leave 2.0!
The next few weeks look like:
📽 Installing a projector and screen in our house, just in time for Hamilton
🎮 Getting to the 2020 World Series... via MLB The Show- who would’ve thought Toronto would be in it??
✏️ Lots of digital drawing
📚 Working through that stack of books next to my bed
🥡 Figuring out date nights during a pandemic- we brought takeout to the lawn of a historic church for a picnic
🎎 Socially distant backyard hangs with people we haven’t seen in far too long.
I’m learning that if you’re committed to working on something for the long haul, you need to have a game plan for taking care of yourself as part of it.
Parenthood, health, sustainability, racial justice, our careers in social work and advocacy, and our relationships with our families all fit that bill.
We need y’all for the long haul- do take care of yourselves!
#186 Who’s That Baby
04 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Well, after having the cast recording of Hamilton in heavy rotation for the past four years, like many of you, I finally got to see it as a whole production last night.
Here are some random disconnected things that jumped out at me:
Of all the characters/performances to get a boost from the live production, it’s probably Phillipa Soo’s role as Eliza that comes to life so much more.
Daveed just seems like he’s having the most fun.
I love that Hercules Mulligan takes the firm of a Dirty South style hype man. Get you a friend who’s got your back like that.
It’s hard not to look at Aaron Burr’s character in the light of present day struggles as an indictment on serving your own interests by refusing to take a stand on certain issues.
Simultaneously, A.Ham starts off at a very different point- a vocal, idealist seeing things in black & white, which also has its flaws. He evolves more than Burr, in the direction of strategy and compromise.
Movies should have intermissions.
There’s a bit of talk happening around the founding fathers’ unsavory legacies of owning slaves, etc., and if Hamilton glorifies that or not. Handle that however you want to, but I think the production does quite a good job of elevating ideals while showing how the personal flaws of each character- vanity, pride, etc led to their tragic undoing.
Thinking of how this was written around ‘14, and landed in late ‘15… it’s amazing how many lines lend themselves to the years that followed: Not a moment, it’s a movement. Immigrins, we get the job done. All cause LMM took a dense historical nonfiction read on vacay.
This is very, very rewatchable. I get the people who saw this on Broadway two dozen times (well, I get their motivation. Not their financial status, ha.) You’d pick up on new stuff each time.
#187 Ube & Pandesal Toffee
05 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Month number eight of adventuring with Rhys. Honestly, it feels like he very quickly leveled up from the small baby stage of always dozing off in my arms to the big baby stage of turbo crawling everywhere.
This is stating the obvious but the #worldofrhys so far has looked very different than I thought it would. But this morning I found this Tweet from @andyslavitt moving:
🔻
We need to remember this is months of hardship. Not decades. And that kids are sponges.
Maybe they will miss some math. And maybe they will learn real human compassion.
Maybe they will miss some history.
And maybe they will live some history.
🔺
I know this is a really challenging time, parents, and those of y’all with slightly older kids have it much harder than I do. But this can be such a moment to show the kiddos what human compassion looks like.
💪🏽👶🏽💪🏽
On a way different note and tone... my kid is jacked. Like, I’m kinda jelly of those biceps. I guess that’s what happens when you spend all your waking time using your arms to pull yourself up on furniture. Anybody else wind up with an oddly buff baby at this age??
#188 Coronado Central Beach
06 July 2020 // Coronado, California
One of the best decisions I made as a student was to spend a summer in Italy.
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
Here are some of my favorite shots, remastered.
It’s mindblowing how all this was now a DECADE ago.
My memories of that semester are still so vivid. The route I’d walk every day. The spot on the balcony where I’d start mornings by people watching. Walking to the tourist spots at night after they’d emptied out.
🍷
It’ll always be impossible to say which trip made the biggest impact on me, but Italy has a strong case. There’s so much I gained from that summer that still carry with me. Better photography skills. A desire to slow things down more regularly. Confidence in myself. An appreciation for quality ingredients over complex recipes. A renewed love for slow travel and getting to know places intimately. A wetter appetite for all the places left I have yet to see. Some basic Italian.
So many customs like aperitivo hours, district dinner parties, and the presence of ornate art in practically every direction taught me what it looks like when a culture community, friendship, and beauty over the rush to be productive.
Most of all, I learned a sense of wonder in knowing what it’s like to wake up feeling like you’re in a world full of history, legacy, and possibility.
I can’t wait till I get to go back again.
What spot away from home do you think had a big hand in shaping you?
#189 JB Hikes Cowles
07 July 2020 // San Diego, California
There are so many reasons to be frustrated during this pandemic- furious during this pandemic. Seeing the statistics loudly spell out just how much deadlier this disease spread has been for Black and brown communities is worthy of all the righteous anger. Same with the lack of solid leadership.
It’s easy to compare our situation to how things are better in other countries. To compare our lives right now to our lives six months ago.
But the key to making it through this is being radically present, to the point of finding joy in the here and now.
I love this prayer from Nadia Bolz Weber:
Today’s prayer: If comparison is the thief of joy, then Lord, help me to not compare my life today to my life 6 months ago. Help me find the joy in THIS life, and in THIS day and to know that it is from you, and it is enough. Amen.
#190 Miramar Biking
08 July 2020 // San Diego, California
When in a contentious conversation over an important issue, remember that your goal isn’t to tear down another person. It’s to set them free.
It can be difficult to want to humanize somebody who refuses to humanize others. I also want to be clear that I’m not at all in favor of “giving equal attention to both sides.” In matters of antiracism, there’s one side I firmly want to be on.
But, when you’re talking to a family member who espouses racist views, sometimes it can be tempting to want to unload all your feelings and knowledge and on that person to forever silence them. More often than not, this is more cathartic than strategic, and it ends up serving your feelings more than it contributes to the ultimate goal.
Shifting a person’s viewpoint doesn’t happen quickly. In early conversations, being able to plant a few seeds of doubt (even if they aren’t acknowledged) is progress.
Popular media might have you believe that winning a debate looks like dropping enough truth bombs on to another person until they’ve been totally defeated. However, a defeated person usually retreats further into their own beliefs, making that approach frequently counterproductive.
The long, hard process of listening, asking clarifying questions, acknowledging any and all points of agreement, and repeating back the other person’s ideas with your own failure to understand how it makes sense are all more pragmatic approaches.
This isn’t to say there aren’t times we need to go hard against certain points. Those are there too, especially when others are involved in the conversation than the person you’re directly talking to. But always consider the probable effect of your approach.
What has always helped me keep patient has been to remind myself that the person I’m talking to was created for such intense good, and I’m in the process of helping set them free of ideas that hold them back from their truer purpose.
#191 Discovering Sufjan
09 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Here’s the thing about walking towards justice. You pick a path, whether it’s gender or race or sustainability, and inevitably, it connects with all the other paths.
Here’s a short summary of how I discovered just how connected the pursuit of racial justice and environmental justice are:
🌿It can be easy to think of environmentalist movements as very white, especially when you look at the marketing of sustainably branded products, the ZIP codes where natural grocers are located, or the fact that nearly 90% of leadership roles in environmental organizations are filled by white people. These are actually symptoms of environmental racism and they obscure how connected these issues are.
🌿In reality, racism puts BIPOC communities at the front lines of environmental injustice, both domestically and globally. Majority Black and Brown countries are the most affected by climate change, deforestation, and rising seas. Black and Hispanic neighborhoods see the worst pollution in the US. And indigenous communities manage most of the Earth’s biodiversity.
🌿The most effective solutions to these problems usually come from the leaders of these communities, but racism keeps them occupied in the struggle for survival across other fronts.
🌳🌲🌳
If you’ve been invested in either of these causes, but haven’t taken much time to look into the other, it’s a good time to start. I can’t say it any better than Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — if we don’t work on both, we’ll succeed at neither!
🌲🌳🌲
This is a repost of an info slider I made for @plantwpurpose and shared over there the other week. I’m eager to continue digging deeper to integrate two of the causes I’m most invested in. If you’re more interested in the crossroads of faith, justice, and the environment, give us a follow over there— we get to plant a tree with each new face!
#192 Walking Golden Hill
10 July 2020 // San Diego, California
This movie is four years old, yet it holds up so well. We need a lot more linguistics-based sci-fi.
I love that the movie is so quiet, still, slow in how it unfolds. The happenings seem so simple, but the implications of everything that happens are pretty huge.
There are so many messages somebody can get out of the film. But the ones that stand out to me?
+ We need each other. To solve problems, to survive. It’s all about mutual cooperation.
+ Learning how to communicate, learning that different symbols have different meanings to different people, are such important building blocks to taking care of our world.
+ Time is less linear than we think.
+ The way other cultures think, process ideas, and speak, can help us see things in innovative ways we never would’ve thought.
+ Pain in the future doesn’t eradicate joy in the present.
+ In the end, life is worth showing up for. In spite of its very worst parts.
#193 Stelzer Peak
11 July 2020 // Lakeside, California
Today we discovered a cave on top of Stelzer Peak. It felt like the first moment of discovery, exploration, and wonder that we’ve experienced in far too long.
It felt good.
I mean, the hike was hard, and Beignet kept wanting to give up every other minute, but being up top in the shadow of the rocks was simply wonderful.
#194 Tide Pools Visit
12 July 2020 // La Jolla, California
Some quick climate change reading recs:
An extremely practical/informative read is Project Drawdown that lists off the top 100 solutions. A bit technical, but I still find it hopeful.
The Future We Choose - Figueres & Rivett-Carnac
The Future Earth - Holthaus
#195 Game Controls
13 July 2020 // San Diego, California
What now?
Last month was such a whirlwind of reflection and spoken commitments to racial justice. I loved it. So much of the conversation happening was long overdue. But what happens now? Personal posts are no longer paused. We’ve seen big wins alongside token gestures. The short attention span of popular media has been pulled away by other things.
While it’s easy to get excited over moments, one of my biggest lessons has been that the real and lasting change doesn’t happen overnight. It happens during the long haul. Before the cameras show up. Long after they leave.
It’s easy to feel a sense of defeat or discouragement during those quiet moments. Like… that’s it?? But I found these words from Andre Henry’s newsletter encouraging: “Between the mass demonstrations, movement newcomers are developed into leaders. Organizers reflect on the successes and missteps in the uprising and refine their praxis. Organizations champion the instrumental, tangible, local changes that are necessary to accomplish the big slogans of the mass movement.”
The Greensboro sit-ins went on for 175 days.
The Montgomery Bus Boycotts went on for 382 days.
The Freedom Rides went on for 584 days.
But white supremacy has gone on for centuries, so it simply isn’t realistic to expect one month to undo all that. When we buy into the idea that the hard part is over, it actually creates hiding spaces for racism to persist.
This year is a great test in our ability to play the long game. To commit to things beyond the immediate present. It’s easy to get tired during the long haul, so it’s important to come up with sustainable ways to keep up the momentum.
#196 Mask Up
14 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Things will get better, but most likely, they’ll first get worse.
🏙
But nobody died of COVID-19 in New York City the other day. It’s the first time since early March we’ve been able to say that.
Meanwhile, I’m in San Diego, where our case rates are setting new records. Like a lot of other spots, there’s no good reason why we shouldn’t be taking things as seriously as we were in early April.
🏙
There’s a lot to be frustrated with. Individualistic selfishness, the threat to kids in schools, the disproportionate toll this disease has on Black and brown communities, and the fact that it looks like most other countries have made much better progress. Yet, in spite of all this, I’m hopeful.
My family is at a higher risk, so I’ve had to keep tabs on what we’re learning about the virus and potential treatments pretty closely. Vaccine trials are showing good results so far, testing innovations will open more doors (like literal doors), and 80% of new cases come from outbreaks in hotspots. Figure out how to get those under wraps will help a LOT. Rolling out a vaccine won’t exactly be a reverse-Thanos-snap, but it isn’t far-fetched to see how that, plus a combo of strategies could make COVID-19 less deadly and less infectious.
📊📊📊
I get it. So many of you are tired, and I am too. But try not to look back too much, comparing summer 2019 to summer 2020. Be present and look forward. Let the current chapter be a difficult one so that the next one can bring life and liberation.
▪️ We take a break from our usual travels and adventures, so that we can venture into a healthier, more sustainable world in the near future.
▪️ We have tough conversations with our loved ones so that parents of Black kids no longer need to have “the Talk.”
▪️ We deal with our summer plans being cancelled so that others may have more summers ahead.
🌐🌐🌐
Arundathi Roy points out that, “historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”
I’m with Arundathi on this one. Mask up, wash up, stay in, order out, keep doing the right thing.
#197 Lola’s Houseplant
15July 2020 // San Diego, California
There are promising developments related to a potential vaccine
This is just one
Here’s my cautiously optimistic take on a vaccine
It’s true that vaccines usually take a lot of time to develop. There are often roadblocks and uncertain side effects. There’s a good reason they usually take 4-5 years to create, test, and distribute.
But at the same time there’s never been such a heavy worldwide demand for a vaccine at a time when science has been capable of producing one. You have numerous projects going on six continents. A lot of tech has been developed in the past 5-10 years to help us understand genetic composition, and that could help immensely.
DON’T expect a vaccine to be an overnight solution that makes everything like January 2020 all over again.
DON’T be surprised if there’s a lot of drama over access and distribution when one is approved.
BUT it will still be a big game changer. Especially for medical professionals and the medically vulnerable.
A COVID vaccine probably won’t wipe COVID off the Earth, just like a flu shot doesn’t mean the flu no longer exists. But it is a powerful and important safeguard.
I can imagine a time, within months, where this disease is less lethal and less infectious.
#198 Cabinet Corner
16 July 2020 // San Diego, California
One of the biggest ways to make the pursuit of racial justice sustainable is to find where it intersects with your everyday work.
Because racial justice has unfortunately infiltrated just about every area of life, it means that our life’s work and purpose is affected by it, no matter what that happens to be. If you are a minister, it means examining the way religious communities have failed Black and Brown communities in the past and seeking to do better. If you are an athlete, it means investigating racism in the culture around your sport and seeking to create opportunities for whoever that affects. If you are a chef, that means understanding the culture and justice issues that go into the food you prepare, and how people are affected by the process of getting it from farm to kitchen to table.
And so on.
My main work just so happens to be, well, sustainability.
Whatever your “everyday work” might look like, I hope you consider the ways to make the pursuit of racial justice a part of the process.
#199 All The World
17 July 2020 // San Diego, California
“I don't want tomorrow to be today. I want tomorrow to be tomorrow.”
It’s hard to believe Palm Springs wasn’t written with most of its audience being in a months-long quarantine in mind. One of the most fun movies I’ve seen in a while.
#200 New Vons Uprising
18 July 2020 // San Diego, California
I remember when Nelson Mandela passed. I spent the earlier part of that same year in South Africa, and felt a strong sense of gratitude that our time on Earth overlapped.
I’m feeling that way again about John Lewis.
Saddened by the loss of the Congressman and Civil Rights giant. He’s an example to me of what conviction looks like. I know I live in a better world because of his boldness, and I’m thankful for the torch he’s passed.
Spent some time drawing one of his most famous quotes- and a personal favorite.
Want to do a deeper dive into Lewis’ legacy?
🖥 The @johnlewisdoc Good Trouble just released digitally. I believe it’s on Prime and can be rented via AppleTV, YouTube, Google Play or PlayStation.
📚 The book trilogy March (volumes 1-3) is essentially his autobiography in graphic novel form. It’s impressively illustrated for sure.
📺 There are a lot of great interviews of his on YouTube but I would recommend his CBS This Morning message to protestors, recorded on June 4 of this year. It’s one of the last interviews he ever gave at an appropriately important time in our history.
#201 Soft Branch
19 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Adventure still matters.
Even during a pandemic and everything.
🌁
Going somewhere unfamiliar, letting yourself be blown away by nature, and tapping into a sense of wonder makes us better people. Humble. Grateful. Soft-hearted. And our world needs those qualities so badly right now.
Take the precautions, of course. But don’t starve yourself of wonder.
⛰⛰⛰
The other weekend, we found a peak to climb in Lakeside. It was way hotter than we were planning (triple digits, ugh) and while the trail wasn’t long, it got real steep towards the end. I’m pretty impressed with my eight month old’s endurance.
At the peak, a pile of boulders formed the perfect cave. After climbing around, we ducked into the cave where the shade cooled things down considerably. The rocks formed a perfect wind tunnel, letting us cool off while snagging an amazing panoramic view.
It felt so good and right to be out there. To be reminded of that sense of aliveness that I haven’t gotten enough of in a while.
🌄🌄🌄
Adventures are a bit harder to orchestrate these days. But if you need to, figure out how to do something while taking all the precautions to keep others safe. If you need to, reframe what you consider an adventure.
🛶
What are you doing to keep adventure alive, in spite of it all?
#202 lIVING rOOM wANDERS
20 July 2020 // San Diego, California
When you learn how to pursue joy and justice at the very same time, great things happen.
🌐🌐🌐
It’s been great seeing people dive deeper into John Lewis’ legacy. While I’ve always admired the bylines of his life that get printed in history books, it’s been a treat to hear more about his humanity from people who got to work with him.
When the Supreme Court invalidated parts of the Voting Rights Act he fought so hard for, he mentioned wanting to cry. He would tear up when talking about old friends in the fight for Civil Rights who were lost too soon.
He also…
🧥 cosplayed as his younger self at San Diego Comic-Con.
🕴🏿crowd-surfed at the age of 78 on Colbert.
🧔🏾drafted April Fools’ press releases about growing a beard.
📹 showed up in a Young Jeezy video.
He knew how to grieve, and he knew how to celebrate and play.
⛰
It reminds me of something Henri Nouwen always talked about: “We tend to stay away from mourning and dancing. Too afraid to cry, too shy to dance… we become narrow-minded complainers, avoiding pain and also true human joy… While we live in a world subject to the evil one, we belong to God. Let us mourn, and let us dance.” Or as Octavia Butler says, “Make people FEEL! FEEL! FEEL!”
Building a real legacy calls for thick skin and a soft heart. It’s so easy to have one without the other, and so tough to cultivate them both. What helps? Seeing life as an adventure. Caring about something bigger than yourself. Taking the time to play. Letting yourself be humbled regularly.
#203 lUNCH bREAK sASHIMI
21 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Pursuing racial justice doesn’t distract from our efforts towards environmental restoration. It amplifies them.
Like MLK once said, “All life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
Empowering BIPOC communities can make our efforts for a healthier planet even stronger.
Traditional knowledge and local expertise of indigenous communities can help protect biodiversity.
Our efforts against climate change can focus on the communities that are the most severely affected.
We’ll be able to learn from more diverse voices.
Plus, we’ll move closer to God’s vision of justice, which includes both human diversity and ecological flourishing.
#204 cONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
22 July 2020 // San Diego, California
We’ve got to pay attention to what’s going on in Portland right now. One arrested protester describes the experience like being in a Philip K. Dick Novel. “It was like being preyed upon.” D.L. Mayfield describes how the night started out great, with community and camaraderie. With zero warning, she and a group of other moms were tear gassed.
There’s still a need for people to stir up some Good Trouble. Good thing there are more legacies like John Lewis’ and C.T. Vivian’s being written.
You know how serious things have to get before Portlanders bust out umbrellas?
#205 pAY ATTENTION TO pORTLAND
23 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Sometimes I forget about this, but I spent my last day of high school in the principal’s office for publishing an op-ed in the student paper about the high school admin doing nothing about a group of students wearing shirts that spelled out white power.
Hopefully that’s on brand for who I am now. It probably wasn’t the most accurate one representation of what I was like in high school, though. Mostly, a lot of Ferris Bueller antics.
#206 pLAYFUL piECEY
24 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Just got some more travel vouchers for a refunded flight. (Parallel universe me is in Indonesia rn)
Gonna be tough to keep track of all these vouchers/flight credits but they do have me a little excited for when I can travel again.
Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Malindo Air.
Good thing so many of the places that are high on my interest list are around East Asia and the Pacific, where these airliners go.
#207 mISSION bAY bEACH dAY
25 July 2020 // San Diego, California
One part of Scripture that can serve as a lifeline in moments like these is John 16:33 when Jesus reminds his followers to take heart. “I have overcome the world.”
Overcome the world. All of it.
Overcome, as in, prevailed. Dealt with. Outlasted.
But don’t let the vastness of this vision might make us lose sight of the fact that Christ spent his life committed to loving actions that, to us, seem surprisingly small.
He spends his last night before death washing his friends’ feet. He publicly commends an extremely small contribution from a widow who gave everything she had. He made sure people had food. He told stories. He spent time sitting with and talking to social outcasts. He reminded us to learn from the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.
Even when things feel overwhelming, we can participate in overcoming by following this example. Small acts with great love, as Mother Teresa would say.
#208 Little Back Door
26 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Baseball’s back! But should it be? It’s looking like the answer is probably not.
I love baseball a lot, even though the Phillies tend to be a recurring source of frustration. I was just getting ready to gripe about them losing two of three games against the Marlins and all, but now it looks like 14 Marlins have tested positive for COVID.
Nationals pitcher Sean Doolitte pretty much nailed it by saying “sports are like the reward of a functioning society.” And functioning is kind of a struggle for us right now.
⚾️⚾️⚾️
There is one baseball thing going on this year that is much easier to celebrate. It’s the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues. When some of the greatest athletes ever were excluded from the majors, they built their own platform where they could shine.
Monte Irvin played in the league, then went on to the major leagues once they were integrated. He made it to two World Series, but insists nothing was more fun than his time in the Negro Leagues. “We were young, and the world was new to us. It was the happiest time of our lives. They wouldn't let us play in their big leagues, but we had this game of ours... this marvelous, blessed game... and we just went out and played it.”
During some of my time off, I designed some baseball-card inspired drawings of Negro League legends. This was a really fun project because:
▪️Baseball cards were an early gateway for me into design
▪️The baseball aesthetic from the 1920s-40s was sweet. Flannel jerseys. Ridiculous nicknames. Yes please.
▪️I got to learn more about some legends I was pretty unfamiliar with
Like…
🔸 Josh Gibson - The absolutely powerful catcher who may have smoked 1000 home runs
🔹 Toni Stone - One of three women to play professionally
🔸 Oscar Charleston - A guy unfamiliar to many baseball fans, but those who played with/against him swear he’s the GOAT
🔹 Cool Papa Bell - A guy so fast that rumors spread of him being hit by his own batted ball
#209 Black Men Memoirs
27 July 2020 // San Diego, California
#somebooknotes from memoirs by Black men.
Three sons. One father talking to his own son. Two from Baltimore, one from Sweden. A writer, a musician, and an activist. Three firsthand witnesses to the brutality of racism in America.
These books were written from three very different perspectives and personalities, but they came together to complement each other so profoundly. They were all personal stories, but they all put words to the task of examining the dynamics of racism and how to confront it. They also all had eyes to the future, and those stepping into the continuation of the fight.
📙 Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates // Written shortly after Michael Brown’s death, I think this is one of the most important books of the previous decade. Writing to his son, Coates reflects on the myth of the American Dream and the way it was built on Black bodies. This book hits hard while also being entirely vulnerable.
📗 On The Other Side of Freedom by Deray McKesson // Deray writes from his experience as an activist and shares helpful insights on policing, organizing, hope, confronting bullies, whiteness, faith, and other aspects of creating change. It’s a very helpful read for those looking to really do the work.
📕 A Drop Of Midnight by Jason Diakite // Swedish hip-hop artist Timbuktu has always embodied a wide mix of different ethnicities and cultures, but in order to get in touch with his Blackness, he goes to the American South where his dad was raised. Here he grapples with the legacy of racism, and the way it still scars communities today. Diakite’s perspective is both as a deep insider and outsider, having spent most his life in Sweden, but also having family roots that go way back into America’s brutal history.
#210 Normal Heights Break
28 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Anyways... for all those dreaming about being able to travel again, where’s the first place you’re off to when that’s a thing again?
Of course the *real* answer has a lot of variables out of our control but there are a few places I’ve been talking about a lot lately
🇻🇳 Vietnam - The dream: our guide gives us the inside scoop as we make our way out of Hanoi towards some waterfalls. But first we gotta stop at this noodle shop. Oh, hey, it’s that same one Obama and Bourdain went to. Whatttttt.
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Australia/New Zealand- Sorry. I know Aussies & NZers aren’t keen on being lumped together like this, but the stuff that interests me about both countries is so similar. Wildlife, outdoor adventures, fun people. Plus most of the airlines I have vouchers for fly there.
🇯🇵 Japan - We were here last in 2014, but a weekend in Tokyo was not enough time. Dreaming of some of its less urban wonders.
🇨🇩 DR Congo - This is one of my trips from this year I’m the most sad to have called off! It was gonna be a work trip, but I’ve felt such a strong sense of connection to the Congo for a long time it’s a bit of a surprise I haven’t been there yet. Of course the DRC has a very fragile health infrastructure so I wouldn’t risk this trip until I can be absolutely sure I’m keeping this virus out of the villages!
🇪🇸 Spain - I’ve caught so many sights and smells lately that give me serious Spanish summer vibes and I’ll take that as a sign.
I could rewrite this list in a week or two with totally different places, though. What places are you eyeballing?
#211 Little Saigon Stories
29 July 2020 // San Diego, California
John Lewis asked the NYT to publish this on the day of his funeral. We are so fortunate to hear from him once more.
"Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe."
“When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression, and war.”
#212 Rhys’ New Toy
30 July 2020 // San Diego, California
I’ve been dreaming a lot lately about the wilderness of Northeastern California.
Hoover Wilderness. June Lake. Mammoth. Alabama Hills.
It might be our most feasible outing we can manage this year. Hopefully we can land ourselves a new car soon. It would be a great time to load up Rhys and Beignet and head out into the outdoors for some time.
#213 Nine Months of Rhys
31 July 2020 // San Diego, California
Nine Months! Rhys just crossed the break-even point – that benchmark where he’s spent more time out of the womb than inside.
Parenting during a pandemic is full of so many curveballs. I usually drop Rhys off at my mom’s while working, but last week my stepdad just got back from a trip to Baltimore and they weren’t able to get their COVID test results right away. That meant a five day work-week of trying to look after Rhys while cranking out projects. I took more than a couple meetings with him trying to nap in my arms or crawling around my feet.
It might sound like I’m patting myself on the back, and… I totally am. Last week was a handful! But I’m glad we went through it, and we had some good times too.
This was both one of the most fun and tiring months we’ve spent together. So much of his personality is coming into focus, and it’s… a lot of what we would have expected from combining DNA from the two of us. High-energy, curious, and determined.
It’s super obvious that Rhys loves the outdoors. Trees. Grass. The ocean.
He keeps teasing us like he’s about to take his first step.
He’s also got two bottom teeth bursting through.
He can chase Beignet around all day.
Also… he’s outgrown a lot of clothes. We’re gonna have to restock on costumes soon.