The following is a collection of resources, spaces, and people that allow room for nuance and full expression of our humanity. You know, people who see that you’re human, I’m human. We’re human. Flesh, mind, energy, emotions, spirit.

Articles/Essays

• “I Didn’t Realize Growing Up Would Feel Like This” by Haley Nahman
  This piece is a reflection on self-identity which resonated with me. Had I found it before I made the zine, I likely would have quoted it inside.
• “The Craft of Writing Empathy” by Nuar Alsadir
  Subtitle: “On Otherness, Analysis, and What I Learned in Clown School”

Books

• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
• Body Full of Stars: Female Rage and My Passage into Motherhood by Molly Caro May
• The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
• Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
  (I put this one in the zine before I read it… and now that I’ve read it, I’ll say most of the book’s in-depth examples are of darker nature: suicides, torture, sexual abuse—so if you’re sensitive to those topics, perhaps stay away; it was almost too dark for me at this time; not an uplifting read.)

Magazines

• Orion Magazine
• SageWoman Magazine
• Witches & Pagans

Music / Poetry

• Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”
• Luke Thering’s “An Object in Motion”
• “Anne” by Mary Oliver

People

• Alexandra Franzen
  Provides much encouragement and light.
• Ashley Hartman Annis
  Fertility awareness educator, full-spectrum pregnancy companion, and awesome zine-maker!
• Cait Flanders
• Elizabeth Gilbert
• Havi Brooks
  Director of one of my favorite spaces/blogs: The Fluent Self.
• Marianne Williamson
  Was a 2020 Presidential Candidate.
• Molly Caro May
  Language matters. What stories do you tell yourself? How do you tell them?
• Nicole Antoinette
  Creates resources and gatherings for folks who crave honest conversations—both with themselves and others. Host of The Real Talk Radio Podcast.
• Tara Brach
  “Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering.”

Podcasts

• Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People
  “1 phone call. 1 hour. No names. No holds barred. That’s the premise behind Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, hosted by comedian Chris Gethard”
• The RobCast – Rob Bell
• Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette
  “Refreshingly honest conversations about the wonderful mess of being a human.”
• RadioLab’s “In The No” (Parts 1, 2, & 3)
  “In 2017, radio-maker Kaitlin Prest released a mini-series called “No” about her personal struggle to understand and communicate about sexual consent. That show, which dives into the experience, moment by moment, of navigating sexual intimacy, struck a chord with many of us. It’s gorgeous, deeply personal, and incredibly thoughtful. And it seemed to presage a much larger conversation that is happening all around us in this moment. And so we decided to embark, with Kaitlin, on our own exploration of this topic. Over the next three episodes, we’ll wander into rooms full of college students, hear from academics and activists, and sit in on classes about BDSM. But to start things off, we are going to share with you the story that started it all. Today, meet Kaitlin (if you haven’t already).”
• Serial: Season 3
  Season 3 of Serial explores America’s criminal justice system by way of Cleveland, Ohio’s courthouse. “… extraordinary stories of ordinary cases. One courthouse, week by week.”
• Tara Brach
• The Marianne Williamson Podcast
  Conversations that matter. “People are ready to go deeper, be more truthful, and face challenges that confront us in far more meaningful ways. We need to talk about causes and not just symptoms, face some inconvenient truths, and have more than prepackaged conversations among us.One question weaves throughout my conversations with guests: how did we get to where we are, and how can we change things now? Listen in as I talk to some of the wisest people I know.”
• The Shadows
  “Kaitlin Prest, creator and host of the Prix-Italia winner The Heart, presents the first audio fiction from CBC Podcasts. The Shadows is a story about the anatomy of a relationship: a crush, a choice, a resentment and an end.”
• Terrible, Thanks for Asking
  “You know how when someone asks ‘How are you?’ you just say ‘Fine,’ even if you’re totally dying inside, so everyone can go about their day? Terrible, Thanks For Asking is the opposite of that. Nora McInerny asks real people to share their complicated and honest feelings about how they really are. It’s sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and often both.”
• Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
• You Can Heal Your Life
• You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
  “Everybody has secret weirdness, Pete Holmes gets comedians to share theirs.” I’ve found these long conversations incredibly refreshing and deep, like Real Talk Radio.

Being

• Breathing
• Conservation corps / trail crews
• Long conversations face to face
• Writing letters to friends (Watch “The Gift That Can Last Forever” by Julie Merrick—guaranteed to inspire you to write a letter!)

 

Please send me an email at rebeccarosethering [at] gmail [dot] com to suggest an addition to this list; it’s merely a starting point we can jump off from. I’ve organized by category to ease navigation, but I do realize that by doing so, I’ve boxed in this resource. That said, I gladly welcome spaces/creations that don’t fit into the above framework!

I’m grateful for any recommendations you may have. Thank you!