📚 Reading is cool again!
Observing Hope March 31st
Dear friends,
I hope you all have had a lovely week 🩷 I am coming to you today from the train to D.C. where I will be spending the next few days on Capitol Hill meeting with Congresspeople about funding for science. I am grateful for the opportunity, but feeling intense anxiety and pressure as the world shifts around us daily. I’ve been finding comfort and stabilty by leaning back into the routines that got me through the pandemic. Getting up, meditating, visualizing, working out, all phone free, before starting the day have helped tremendously. I also have been reading at an olympic level and am grateful that I have the time for that post-Ph.D.
This week’s newsletter is full of the outcomes of that reading sprint, as well as some reflections on what it means to read about dystopian worlds and a fun bit about the muppets. I hope you enjoy reading this like a coversation with a friend.
With my eyes on the stars and hope in my heart,
Emma
In My Library
Books and words that showed up exactly when I needed them. The passages I've underlined twice and why they might be exactly what you need right now too (contains affiliate links).
This has been a busy reading week for me so this section is going to be rapid fire.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins — I was so excited for this next installment in the Hunger Games universe to come out and Suzanne did not disappoint. The prequel showing Haymitch’s journey brought me right back into the world of the reaping and was full of beautiful connections to the lore and stood on its own as a powerful story.
The Horse by Timothy Winegard — This book has been on my TBR for a long time and I’m so excited to dig in. Described as “the incredible story of how the horse shaped human history” and marketed as “a gallopping history of humanity”, 150 pages in this book is already satisfying the curiosities of the horse girl in me and is a unique lens into history. Great for anyone looking to cleanse their reading palette.
Start Your Engines by Rebecca Chase — At the recommendation of
I have recently started watching “F1: Drive to Survive” and my latest Kindle book to go along with that is a rom-com set on the racetrack that is great for anyone who has enjoyed Running Point on NetflixThe Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins — Full confession, while this book is a bestseller people have been flocking to read, I’m not the biggest Mel Robbins fan. Normally I find her better in podcast form than book form. BUT, this book was an exception for me. I really enjoyed her take on personal responsibility and how we exist in the world.
|glim mer | noun a moment in your day that makes you feel hope, peace, joy, or gratitude
The moments, stories, and discoveries that made me pause this week. The kind of good news I'd text you about immediately because it's too smile inducing not to share.
A glimmer in my week was finding out that Kermit the Frog will be delivering the commencement address at the University of Maryland this year. No one will be able to top that, except maybe Miss. Piggy.
On My Mind
Questions I'm sitting with and thoughts that won't leave me alone. The stuff I'd bring up at a coffee chat.
I wish that I could go back to middle school and tell that awkward lonely nerdy version of myself that when she gets older, reading will be cool. She would be amazed that #BookTok and #Bookstagram have all the it girls running to Barnes and Noble for Sunrise on the Reaping and Onyx Flame launch parties. For me, all the hours of reading when I was a kid (and today) were my time to explore other worlds, new perspectives, and wrestle with big ideas.
I’ve been thinking a lot about all the teens reading the Hunger Games for the first time after the series has regained hype and popularity. Reading Sunrise on the Reaping this past week was heavy but also hopeful. Suzanne Collins shows how terribly wrong humans can be and how to craft and exercise hope under brutal circumstances.
I carry a lot of hope that the generations raised on the dystopian novels of the mid-2000-2010s are going to be able to tap into all that we learned and that spirit of fight and moral courage as we go into this next era in the U.S.
One Small Action
A simple practice that's helping me right now. The kind of gentle nudge I'd give if we were walking side by side through whatever you're facing.
When I am anxious, as I have been recently, one of my go-to tools is getting off my phone. The Forest app has been my go-to for locking my phone since college. Something about the idea of killing a tree if I break the timer that is keeping me out of distracting apps really works. I’ve been pairing that phone free time with reading (surprise, suprise) and trying to play one board game a night with G. These moments of grounding and presence make a huge difference in our ability to show up everyday.
I’d love to hear from you 🩷 Let me know in the comments:
What you’re reading
What your favorite board game is
Who your favorite muppet is
I'm so glad you're enjoying DTS and Start Your Engines! Also, just loved this entire Substack.