October is for book gobblin'

Readin', birdin', leaf-peepin', percolatin', and votin'.

🐦 Quick announcement for early birds! A very fun update on my New Year’s retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains: we are now offering an early bird rate with 25% off the fee if you sign up to attend through November 1. The early bird rate is $875, slightly more affordable than last year’s — with the same wonderful offerings of daily yoga, workshops, nature, great food. We hope if you’re on the fence, this might be some inspiration to celebrate new years with some amazing women. Reach out if you have any questions 💕.

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Have you ever heard of a beverage goblin? Or perhaps you have been a beverage goblin before many times? If not, let me introduce you to the jingle by including this newsletter’s very first TikTok video (I do not have TikTok on my phone because despite working in social media marketing… #boundaries):

@cherryrachaelcaught myself making 3 silly little drinks so ofc i had to make this #beveragegoblin #beveragegirlies #sillylittledrinks #bobatea

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One to hydrate. One to energize. And one just for fun. A beverage goblin needs her beverages to make her brain run!

The other night in bed I realized: I was a book goblin. I had three books in bed with me, trying to decide which would take the role of bedtime read. Which is basically an apt metaphor for my collective vibe right now: equal parts distraction and percolation. Something about digesting pieces of each one by one, among this sort of ecosystem of knowledge, has been helpful though. It’s helping me see the bigger picture.

Early last week at 2am I woke anxious and worried for my family in the path of Hurricane Milton, as Ben’s parents in WNC still meanwhile didn’t have power from the wake of Helene. It’s a week later so I can with share with relief that they were all as prepared as possible and are fine and safe. (That said, many are still not, and let this be my little plug for World Central Kitchen for their amazing ongoing efforts. I am a monthly donor and past volunteer and really believe in their work both domestically and abroad, such as in places like Gaza.)

Rather than further fuel my anxiety with useless doom-scrolling and cortisol mainlining with a live-feed of the Englewood, FL beach cam, I decided to read NK Jemisin’s short story, “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” (from her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?) which then inspired me to read Ursula K LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” I'm still letting these stories, letting what they mean, drip through my psyche. They were percolating on my brain’s little stovetop as I climbed 10 miles through the Aspens up in Flagstaff over the weekend, and while we knocked on doors last night to get out the vote — talking to a man named Ken who didn’t have a license and helping him out with steps so he can still cast his ballot early, and meeting people like [name unknown/not on our list] who said of the woman who was on our list (presumably his wife/girlfriend) that “he would never let her vote for her.” There’s certain moments that just…stick with you.

Overall, it has been good to DO things, and I include long-form reading on that list. Scrolling is not enough of an action, taking the day off to read a book of poetry and feel the heaviness and the lightness and the wetness of your eyes is an action. Or at least I’m telling myself that — and I’m also recommending that if you are someone like me who enjoys science for the sake of the wonder and awe that it evokes, you should buy Maria Popova’s new book, The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science and Poetry. It broke me and delighted me. I also loved the format, because sometimes I need a little digestion around a poem, and she does this in such a terrifically delicate and earnest way, illuminating the context of the piece without giving away all of the impact.

Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime is the most recent addition to the book goblin trifecta, recommended by my friend Caitlin and later found as an advance uncorrected proof copy in a little free library. I’m not sure if this one is to hydrate, to energize, or just for fun yet — maybe all three at once. The very first page is a reminder of the strategy of apartheid (Apart hate) that was to systematically create division among its people and turn them against one another.

Let us never forget that we are living and creating history, moment to moment, action by action. Resist the pull of distraction and despair. Your action has meaning and your attention is your most valuable currency. Don’t waste it.

Love,

Kelly

PS - Please vote.