An incomplete list of positive changes brought by Black Lives Matter

Ground-breaking movements and protests like Black Lives Matter can get a lot of media coverage, but it can be hard to follow the actual changes that happen in their wake. I’ve even seen some folks question why people protest at all.

Black Lives Matter has sparked tangible, positive change. Here is a surely incomplete list of some of those changes to help foster perspective on this for myself, you and our friends, as well as those family members, coworkers, and aimlessly angry Twitter jerks who still ‘don’t get it.’ Please let me know of any more good stuff I can add to this list.

  • The Minneapolis Public School board just voted unanimously to cancel their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department – The Cut
  • Minneapolis pledges to dismantle its police department – how will it work? – The Guardian
  • Leaders in both the US house and senate have announced hearings to investigate police violence – New York Times
  • A US Senator is talking about a bill to ban the use of military against protestors – New York Times
  • New Jersey is working on new rules regarding tracking police violence and licensing them – Politico
  • Chicago Police Reforms Coming Within 90 Days, Mayor Lightfoot Promises – Block Club Chicago
  • Veto-proof Senate majority approves proposal to strip confederate names from army bases – Talking Points Memo
  • NFL’s Washington Redskins to change name following years of backlash – ABC News
  • Amid protests, Colorado lawmakers introduce bill to address police use of force policies and “qualified immunity” – The Denver Channel
  • New York repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records hidden from the public – BuzzFeed News
  • Dallas police force adopts ‘Duty to Intervene’ policy to prevent abuse – NPR
  • LA City Council introduces motion to reduce LAPD’s $1.8 billion budget – CBS Local Los Angeles
  • Maryland lawmakers make renewed push for police accountability reforms – The Baltimore Sun
  • Confederate monuments are being taken down across the U.S. – CNN
  • Yankees, Nationals kneel in support of Black Lives Matter movement ahead of opening day matchup – Newsday
  • NFL admits ‘we were wrong’ on player protests, says ‘black lives matter’ – Yahoo Sports (although, as of this writing, Kaepernick still hasn’t regained a job in football)
  • What Silicon Valley is—and isn’t—doing to support Black Lives Matter – The Guardian
  • Majority agree with Black Lives Matter and say major police reform is needed – CBS News poll
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Art: Citlalicue by Exellero

via Reddit

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An unorthodox tip for mental/emotional health: create a MultiReddit

My life feels existentially crushing lately. Between my waking nightmare of a country and personal struggles I won’t get into for now, I am wildly varying levels of stressed, (socially) anxious, probably malnourished, sleep deprived, and exhausted both physically and mentally.

Some mental health tactics help. I have meds, I exercise more regularly, and I can deep breathe and meditate. Something else I have found to help lately is Reddit. No, seriously, hear me out.

For all its (gradually improving) faults, I think Reddit has some redeeming qualities, one being a hyper focus on topical subreddits. I can go to r/AnimalsBeingBros or r/ImaginaryLandscapes and know that I will see nothing but cute animals being awesome and gorgeous fictional art—I know that I can get a respite from near-daily mass shootings and Trump’s barrage of hate and racism.

I subscribe to quite a few subreddits, but I recently decided to look into MultiReddits, a way to group multiple subreddits together. Then I experimented with creating a MultiReddit of nothing but happy things—stuff like cute animals, beautiful art, and whatever r/BeAmazed is. I use Apollo on iOS, but I think you can make these on the official site too. See the gallery below if you could use help with getting started.

  • In Apollo, click the (+) button, then Create MultiReddit
  • Give it a WikiWord name (no spaces)
  • Click Edit in the upper right, then the (+) button to add subreddits

Sure, it isn’t a therapist-approved emotionally centering 20 minute walk or relaxed breathing exercise, but I’ve found my little MultiReddit to be… helpful? Relaxing, in its own right. Now, when life annihilates my calm, it’s nice to have a ‘happy place button’ as an option.

My HappyPlace subreddits
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Thank you Oscar

Jessi and I got you before we got married. You came into our lives at eight weeks old and graced us with over 14 years of companionship, caring, and love. You were loyal, friendly, and brilliant, sometimes too smart for your own good.

In fact, you were so friendly and delighted to meet people that you even turned your fair share of “I’m not a dog person” folks into fans. And yet, you could be so gentle and patient that you passed the emotional therapy dog test with flying colors.

Thank you for the tail wags, playing catch, kisses, walks, and naps. You were our first dog and the best dog ever.

Love you buddy. Rest in peace.

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If you have trouble breathing through your nose, go see an ENT as soon as you can

Back when I was finishing college part time in Denver, I gradually lost the ability to breathe through my nose. My left nostril was almost always closed, and my right was mostly closed most of the time. I also was stuffed up fairly often without other symptoms of sickness. It was one of those body things that just happened over time and I never gave it much thought; it just gradually became my reality.

One day, I mentioned it to my older brother. Turns out he had the same problem most of his life, but he eventually went to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor) who diagnosed him with a deviated septum. In short, this is when the inside of your nose didn’t quite form right, and apparently a lot of people have it to varying degrees.

If your septum is deviated enough, like my brother’s and mine was, you might have a septoplasty in your future. It’s basically a corrective surgery to realign the septum in your nose to open the passageway and allow you to breathe through it.

Now, physically, I’m a relatively healthy person. I’m overweight, but I don’t have any serious physical problems. I got diagnosed and had the surgery in 2017 and it is probably the single best thing I’ve ever done for my body. It had been so long since I could breathe through my nose, I forgot how wonderful it is.

If you have trouble breathing through your nose, or you think you might have a similar problem, I highly recommend getting it checked with an ENT. Because of our insurance, I needed a referral from my general doctor first. But I’m fortunate enough that it wasn’t a difficult process, and it truly was a life changer for me. I hope you can treated too.

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I’m going to start sharing art I like

A painting or drawing of a tree and a figure on a floating cliff

In my efforts to get back to blogging, one thing I want to do here is share more art that I like or find inspiring. I’m scratching some creative itches again, and one of them includes getting back into art with my iPad and Apple Pencil.

I really like this piece. It’s from Bashabez on Mastodon, and it’s called At the Brink.

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My New Year’s 2019 Resolutions

  • Make my bed in the morning. Once a month. Sometimes
  • Put pants on at least twice a week
  • Look out a window once a day
  • Build a shrine to pizza
  • Read an entire book every single hour I’m not working or sleeping
  • Try to get over my hatred of having to cook food and sharpen weapons in the middle of fights in Monster Hunter World so maybe I can try finishing it
  • Get enraged about something and actually remember what it was three days later
  • Maybe start streaming games because my 11-year-old Ninja-loving nephew told me I could be a good streamer
  • Once or twice a week, go to a gym website’s About page
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An essentials playlist for Mike Doughty and Soul Coughing

My friend Jamie Phelps asked me how to get started with Mike Doughty. I grew up on his Soul Coughing band and solo work, so I said challenge accepted.

I created a playlist of studio songs I felt were emblematic of Doughty’s style, quirkiness, and amazingness. It starts with Soul Coughing greats, then launches into his wonderful solo stuff. I’m no music aficionado, so I’m happy to take recommendations for additions and changes.

You can check out my playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.

Sidenote: I don’t use Spotify, but I used SongShift to sync my Apple Music playlist there.

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