My Fourth Weekly Reading List

I.  Love.  Roger.  Ebert.  What balls, what beauty.  This is a man you want in your corner.

On a totally different note, this book on women's health sounds pretty fascinating.  Healthy and happy at 80?  Cool.  I'm in.

You gotta love this from Zen Habits.  Permission to STOP WATCHING THE NEWS.  I love this man almost as much as I love Roger Ebert.

Okay, I know the odds of me EVER being an Urban Farmer are incredibly slim.  Close to none. But I still like the idea, and I sort of think I could maybe manage a few chickens.  But bunnies?  From an ecological perspective, I get it.  I just don't think I could do it.  Still, thanks to the people at Good for... making me think about it?  I guess?

Also from Good, deconstructing a taco.  You'd never guess how many miles all the ingredients have to travel.  Craziness.

And, finally, from Nancy Jane Smith, this thought-provoking piece.  I would actually go a couple steps farther and say that believing we need to be humble and modest can be just as damaging as beating ourselves up.  I think teaching young women to be humble and modest IS, in fact, another way of keeping them small.  Which doesn't mean we should all be trotting around like cocky a-holes-- it just means that we need to value ourselves enough to NOT be small.  

I'm neither religious, nor a Maryanne Williamson fan, but I do love this quote so much I framed it and put it in my living room:  

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.  We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?'  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us.  And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOES NOT SERVE THE WORLD.  

I love those words.  I wish I had the courage to live by them every moment.

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Oh!  And THANK YOU for all the wonderful post ideas and for letting me know what arenas are most interesting to you!  You'll definitely be seeing more on the remodeling front (there's a lot and nothing going on on that front right now, which I will eventually explain, but can't yet), and on the baby-having front, and I will happily write more about my wonderful neighborhood and LA-ishness in general.  

I'll also do some more specifically informational posts about the process of having a baby on my own-- donor stuff, books I've read, SMC blogs I love, etc.

And, Jeanne, you can call me Babycakes anytime!

Comments

[Chris]

I can't reply at all until I say....I love Vladstudio! LOL

[Liz]

I love that quote, and I kinda needed to read it again right about now...I realize that I'm playing pretty big by a lot of people's estimates by taking on the single mom thing, but I know in my heart of hearts that I'm playing small in terms of what I'm capable of. Time to take it up a notch!

We had a rabbit in a backyard hutch when I was growing up in Brooklyn, they're really not that hard to take care of.

[Chris]

Nancy Jane Smith's piece was great and I LOVE what you added to it. I look forward to checking out all on your list today!

I have to say I've never heard that quote but I absolutely love it.

Blessings, C

[Nancy Jane Smith]

Just wanted to add Amen, Amen, Amen. That is one of my favorite quotes as well and you are totally right--staying humble is AS damaging as beating ourselves up. Thanks for the reminder and thank you for the link love :)

[Sarah Fain]

Hi Liz-- I had rabbits when I was a kid, too! Snow and Chocolate Charlotte. Every now and then they would somehow get out of their pen, and we'd find them hanging out with the cats. Crazy. But in the urban farming world people are raising rabbits for food! Supposedly it's really good, ecologically. But I just don't think I could kill and eat a rabbit I'd raised since it was a baby bunny. I'd end up with a thousand rabbits in my back yard!

[amy]

I love this quote! Thanks Sarah. Also love Nancy Jane's column yesterday (in fact all of her posts this week have been fab, or even more fabulous than usual!!)

[Joan]

I'm totally crushing on Roger Ebert, too. His profile in Esquire really drew me in. I follow his tweets...and I adore that he tweets late at night! ;)

[Lindsey]

I love your reading list posts! Thanks so much. And fantastic quote as well.
xo

[jeanne]

YAY, BABYCAKES!! Thanks! You brighten my day every day.

[Chris]

Jeanne asking if she can call you Babycakes makes me think that your baby is going to need a "womb name". LOL Like you referred to little Jack as Mixed Nuts.(though I think I missed out somewhere on where that nickname came from).

I'm thinking it might have to be Little Starfish. We'll see. :-)

[Emily on the Southern Prairie]

I love the permission to ignore the news. It's so hard to quit.