10 Things: On Decks

Things to do, read, think about, look at, cook, and shuffle this week.

For the second week in a row, I come to you on a Saturday. (This email may permanently migrate to Saturdays; my teaching schedule is unreal this year.) I am writing from a new “desk,” which you can hear more about at the bottom of the email, with item number 10. Free subscribers: enjoy three wonderful things that I love very much. And I encourage you as always to upgrade for a good podcast episode, some music, the aforementioned non-desk-desk, an autumnal recipe, and more.

1. Feminist Bird Club

   feministbirdclub

   

   A post shared by Feminist Bird Club (@feministbirdclub)

   There was a nice write-up in Teen Vogue (which is I guess still a thing? Go ahead, Teen Vogue!) about Feminist Bird Club (I stan) and their efforts to make birding “more accessible to LGBTQ People of Color.” I like that this is out there, and that they’re doing this. (And also, there are a lot of birdwatchers who aren’t white on Instagram and beyond, many of whom I’ve written about before, but here’s a nice catalogue of organizations to click through, provided by Feminist Bird Club: Latino Outdoors, Hike Clerb, Outdoor Afro, Flock Together, In Color Birding Club, Birdability, BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin.)

2. Adam J. Kurtz’s OK Tarot

   

   Via the site above.

   I don’t have this tarot deck, but it looks like what I would want a tarot deck to be: simple, with a straightforward (short) book that is written for anyone, and not in a high-minded kind of way. My tarot deck is the Modern Witch Tarot Deck, and I really love it. It’s not that I *believe in* tarot, per se; it’s that I appreciate the way tarot invites you to think about your life through a specific lens for a little while, and then discard that lens and try on a new one tomorrow. I also like anything that is mostly about pictures.

   My tarot practice, which you may borrow, is a creative thinking practice. I take a deep breath, then draw-a-card-any-card, then read the card’s meaning, and I spend about five minutes quietly thinking and letting my mind wander over what the card and its description makes me think about in my own life. I do not glean future-telling or advice from these cards; I just invite myself to be with my own mind for a little while, and a lovely illustration. It is a good resting activity, especially if there is tea.

3. Tape with birds or mushrooms on it.

   

   Image via JetPens.com, a shop site that is equivalent to porn for people like me.

I use this every day, multiple times a day. If you’ve ever ordered anything from my store (thank you — both for supporting me and for being patient as I am a one woman operation and can only mail on Thursdays), you’ve seen this on the backs of my envelopes. It’s quite durable and very cute, and between $3 and $7 for a lot of tape.