I have also used my digital library card to use sites like Coursera to learn a new skill, etc. I’m a big fan of libraries over here!
Oh my goodness, I didn’t know about Coursera and was bummed to go look it up and find my library doesn’t participate. But then I saw my library DOES participate with Transparent Language which has ASL as one of its options! You just saved me the $100 I was about to spend on a year of Lingvano. (Well maybe - if the lessons aren’t great I did love Lingvano when I was subscribing to it but I hate to pay subscriptions)
Hello All,
Wouldn't it be great to share the uplifting articles, books, podcasts, e-subscriptions that we're reading these days! Could we develop a separate thread called Library and share this information in one place?
Tell me what you think by giving me a thumbs up, please!
@dannyboy that’s great you found something!
I think they come and go which programs they fund so perhaps Coursera will come back!
I’m not sure what state you are in but in CA they allow you to sign up for a library card at any location in the state. Perhaps another library will have something you are looking for. I currently have City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles which do, occasionally, have different options.
I don't think it's necessarily uplifting, but I am rereading Don Delillo's, "The Body Artist."
Libby is GREAT! I use it daily almost. Voracious reader rather than audio book person, but the app is wonderful. I am also big fan of libraries in general. Mother, Uncle, Sister, and Nephew all librarians! Me, I worked in one in my 20s but did not follow into the family industry 😀
Good evening everyone, Today, I gave a HOW (Helping Our Women) client a ride to a dr appt. I volunteer throughout the year for this vital organization. Living on Outer Cape Cod limits access to many choices in medical care. However, we do have dedicated and talented medical personnel and facilities. Today, I met a senior woman who chose to forgo having children and at 25 went through 7 drs before finally finding #8 who agreed to tie her tubes. She knew she never wanted children and never regretted her decision.
Her suffragette grandmother was instrumental in the Seneca Falls convention. Her mother, an active feminist, was highly influential in setting up the first day care, I believe in ny state, and also was recognized by state Dem leaders for her contributions to women and children. Shes said that the dinner table always included lively political discussions.
What a gift this day was for me. We shared histories, experiences, laughed, and commiserated. Bc I’m retired and the Outer Cape becomes “sleepy” in winter, volunteering is an empowering way to help ourselves as well as others. And, bc I had another feminist woman to talk with, my anger released later in the day. It was a therapeutic, emotional, uplifting, empowering experience.
I tend to cocoon when I’m most hurt but I’ve worked on breaking that pattern since we moved here in ‘17 and have branched out. It’s easy to be outside here surrounded by woods and the sea. But in winter when the wind cuts like a knife and takes one’s breath away, it’s also easy to stay indoors.
My point is that I feel it can be therapeutuc for healing, strengthening, and thriving to help others when possible. It also gets me out of my head gymnastics. We just don’t know whose paths we’ll cross when we stretch beyond our usual comfort zones and add value to our days. Be well, friends
@tesseract oh I love this connection to librarians that you have!
I manage blood drives for the Red Cross and am always seeking out new libraries to ask if they would like to be hosts because I always love being in them ☺️
Sometimes in the process of moving forward, you need to process what you are feeling and noticing first.
I am taking note of things (thoughts, feelings, phases) that are repeatedly coming to me right now and am making some observations I would like to share. I am wondering what your own observations are as well.
First- the obvious. The near universal feeling so many intuitive people have express about feeling stunned/blind sided about the results of the election. Not just here on this site but across many platforms and around the world. For so many intuitive people to not see/feel something this huge opens up many questions. Nobody is infallible on these things ( and nobody should ever tell you they are, red flag warning). I have so many questions on this but I will leave them for another day...
Next- the word resist. I have been hearing that word repeatedly. It is quiet but has been popping into my head for days. I then noticed others here mention it in some posts here and I have seen it written other places. I also frequently hear the words "resistance is futile" following the initial word resist. (Yes , the phrase was made famous by The Borg on Star Trek and first used as a phrase by the Cybermen in an early black and white episode of Doctor Who.) Resistance was never futile in these sci fi stories. In the end, no matter who bleak, resistance (combined with persistence) won. As I ponder this, the Cybermen and The Borg were both "collectives". The people choosing to vote for the former president remind me in a weird type of political collective. (Note to self, resistance is NOT futile no matter what the Borg say.) You know, I wonder what type of resistance is being planned and acted upon as I type these words.
Last- peace. Many of us have been feeling a strange sense of peace/calm. I don't understand the "why's" of it but I love the thought of angels holding space for us until we are ready to hold our own space once again.
Oh, one last thing. Did anyone else have a weird wind or storm event the day following the election? I did. It was eerie and almost other worldly.
posted by @lovendures:
I love the thought of angels holding space for us until we are ready to hold our own space once again.
@lovendures, thank you for those words. I really needed to hear them this morning.
I just woke and the thing that popped into my mind was that the election defeat provides a way for people to be triggered and turn against each other. If there was a coup, this may open space for a shock and awe incident. Just a warning.
What do you mean? Ever since 2016, there has been hatred between the parties with Republicans being gleeful bullies while Democrats try to take the high road but are simmering with rage.
If there is a coup at some point, it may start with the military. I don't see them agreeing to round up Trump's enemies or go door to door rounding up immigrants. Next, I don't see blue state governors doing that either. Red state governors may try, but they honestly lack the resources to mount any sort of statewide initiative.
The Federal Reserve may be an issue as well. If Trump rocks the boat too much, the economy will become unstable, hurting the voters (which I actually hope for, because if Trump's reputation as an economic genius is destroyed, he will have less support).
In other words, Trump has promised things that he can't possibly deliver on. He can't deport millions of illegals because he simply doesn't have the manpower or money in place to make it happen. Remember the wall Mexico was supposed to build? Never happened.
But honestly, if Trump tries to arrest his enemies or use the military to deport immigrants, I think military leaders will balk. If Trump persists, Republicans will freak out. What happens next is anyone's guess, but I suspect that Trump may end up having an "accident" based on his age, at which time Republicans will put Vance in. If Trump is just utterly incompetent like he was last time and fail to accomplish his goals, then we can retake government and do what we need to do to Trump-proof the nation to ensure we never have a repeat.
Cross posted from 2024 U.S. Presidential Election in the hopes that we can also move discussion over here to include ways to honor MVP's statement on filling the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars.
As Harris herself put it yesterday: “There's an adage a historian once called a law of history, true of every society across the ages. The adage is, only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here's the thing, America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars. The light, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service.
And may that work guide us even in the face of setbacks toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America. I thank you all. Make God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. I thank you all. “Again, let's use THIS thread to talk about ways we can continue to be the light. We've commiserated in the election thread about our fears, let's illuminate our HOPES here.
Kamala's words were brilliant and inspiring.
I tend to find myself among those who feel that we will be 'entering a dark time'. I may write down for myself what I feel the dark times may hold so as to be mindful of the challenges. (Happy to share those in the proper forum at some point so others can ponder them)
I do feel that many of those who have enabled the darkness will at some point become part of the 'billion stars' that illuminate our way forward.
@tedp OK, I'm trying to get a grip and be the light, so here is one offering in support of that effort. IMO, we are entering a dark time. Maybe it won't be as bad as I fear, but the reality is that with 45, things are always worse than anyone's fears or imaginations. If anything, the wildest imaginations fail to anticipate how low this person can go, or how much darkness he is capable of. So, I think the times, for the foreseeable future, will be bad. With the said, when have times not been dark, at least for some? The 50s and early 60s were relatively stable (in the US). During that time, my parents lost their country and became refugees in this one. Their world ended, literally. All they loved was gone in an instant, including family members. But they rebuilt, and while they never recovered fully from all that was lost, they still moved forward, lived their lives and had at least some joy. I have some old home movies from the early-mid 60s of some of the parties my parents threw for the many other Cuban refugees who had been resettled in Chicago, where we lived at the time. In those movies our apartment was packed with people dancing and laughing, and that was barely 1-2 years after they'd fled with the clothes on their backs. My mom once told me she and my dad had planned a Christmas party and there ended up being a huge snowstorm that day they thought no one would show up, but everyone did. There was no excuse to miss gathering with their community and celebrate. So much lost, but there was still joy that could not be passed up.
I think about my parents, who are gone now, all the time, but particularly during sad times. I think about the hard lives they had but how they marched forward, into a strange country, language and culture, and they made new lives, raised my brother and me, and looked forward way more than back. They had such courage, way more than I will ever have. I want to honor them and all they endured by getting a grip and moving forward myself. That's what my mother would tell me to do, and no one in their right mind ever said no to my mother, lol.
Happy Saturday, folks. The sun is shining in NYC. I am going to try to pull myself together and be grateful for what I have. I may fail, but I'm going to try. I hope you all have a good day too.
@lovendures I barely slept at all that night. Got up and checked the results again (don't remember the exact time- 3 AM ish) Saw that he was at 266 and felt a wave of fear. Looked out the window and saw very ominous looking clouds... Wed & Thu we had a strong winter storm come through, FWIW
Remember gang - this is the “Path Forward” thread - we want to stay focused on what we’re going to do going forward to keep bringing the light and finding more of it.
To that end, this morning, I was putting my clothes away and sighing that I hadn’t lost the 20 pounds I gained post recovery. The good news, I told myself, was that I also hadn’t gained more since being cleared which means I now know what I can and can’t eat in combination with working out to maintain my weight and that in and of itself is a goal!
I decided that since the cupboard I store my T-Shirts in was full to bursting, that I would go through them all and get rid of all the 2X and 3X shirts there (except for show shirts that I was in, or our Disney trip ones from 2019) , leaving only XL shirts in good condition and the L’s I’ve been buying the last year. I got a big bag full of ratty old shirts I can dispose of. I got more space in my cupboard to buy more L’s. And I have a closet full fo clothes that I can do the same thing to the next time I get antsy about something.
For me, I inspired many during my liver donation journey last spring, and I’ve decided to turn some of my social media presence into more peeks into this journey. And knowing that I removed my safety net of bigger shirts is a motivator to get back on track. This was my step forward today.
There was no excuse to miss gathering with their community and celebrate.
It's funny that you mention this. AOC has a post or story (can't remember which) up today on her Instagram account saying that the most important thing we can do right now is to seek out and build community, with neighbors, co-workers, at our places of worship, and elsewhere. She emphasized that it doesn't need to be political organizing, just communing with other human beings in a safe way.
This chimes well with the incoming Pluto in Aquarius energies, which rule friends, groups, the collective, the community. We have become so isolated behind our phone and laptop screens over the past decades, and I believe it's a contributing factor in Trump's rise. Spending time with other people may be a way forward out of these times.