Here's Your End-of-June Care Package

It's vibe shift season, baby – and about time, too.

Happy summer, aunties! I am loving all the pieces I’ve seen lately about a vibe shift in the direction of love, joy, caring, and community. No false modesty necessary here: we aunties have been on the hope train all along, so let’s give ourselves some enthusiastic pats on the back!

It’s officially summer. The World Cup just keeps on being a joy bomb. The U.S. recently celebrated the courage and freedom of Black people, and while many people hadn’t even heard of Juneteenth five or ten years ago, it’s now an actually-celebrated municipal holiday in communities all over this country. Yesterday I sat with a bunch of neighbors at the farmers market eating overripe strawberries while kids swirled around covered in dirt and popsicle juice and a guy played bossa nova on the trumpet. And the joy and love aren’t slowing; they’re accelerating.

So now it’s time for your monthly care package: a collection of writers and others communicating wise, compassionate, funny, insightful, surprising, and/or useful stuff. Guest curator Kaitlyn Teer kicks us off this month with several wonderful recommendations apropos of her areas of expertise – raising children, climate change, and hope – and then it’ll be back to me with a bunch more great links to recommend.

The kids-and-families-focused links are toward the end of this month’s roundup; make it all the way to the end to watch our monthly cute kid video. It is a child who loves chickens.

June Around The Auntie Bulletin

I interviewed Darby Saxbe about her new book, Dad Brain, including her findings’ very cool implications for alloparents.

We had a guest post from Lexi Weber Johnson about how sobriety prepared her for infertility, and what came next. (Does it involve auntiehood? Of course it does). Readers loved this one: so many likes and shares and appreciative comments. ♥️

I wrote about why there aren’t any trad aunties.

And heads up to my fellow newsletter writers: I started an online community where we can talk shop. It’s $2/month to cover my labor and create a little friction against creeps. If you’re out here trying to make it in the newsletter-writing business, join us!

NEW CARE PACKAGE FEATURE: Guest Curator!

For our inaugural guest curation of the Auntie Bulletin care package, I invited author Kaitlyn Teer to recommend some links. Kaitlyn’s newsletter is Oh, Good, and she is the author of the lovely new book, Little Apocalypses: Essays on Motherhood, Climate Change, and Hope at the End of the World. Being real with you, when a book has “motherhood” in the title, I don’t always gravitate toward featuring it in this newsletter. But as we all keep realizing over and over again, the interests and destinies of mothers and of alloparents are fundamentally intertwined – and truly, boy is this book ever aligned with our mission at The Auntie Bulletin. To wit:

I want to raise my children to know the hope that comes from taking collective action and the resolve that comes from believing that anything is possible, and to preserve, for as long as I can, their ability to hear in that uncertainty not just a threat, but a promise.

Amen — and may it be so for all children.

Kaitlyn Teer Recommends

If you’re a Rebecca Solnit super fan like me, then her recent conversation — “Why Cynicism Feels Smart — And Isn’t” with Atmos magazine editor-in-chief Willow Defebaugh — is a must listen. Solnit’s new book, The Beginning Comes After the End, is sharp and hopeful. While promoting it, she mused that “changing the world is more like caregiving than it is like war.” I couldn’t agree more.

Rachel Carson is one of my favorite aunties of all time. Though the legendary Silent Spring author never married or had children, she was a primary caregiver for much of her life — first for her mother, then her two nieces, then her grandnephew, Roger, whom she eventually adopted. Every summer, I like to revisit her essay “Help Your Child to Wonder,” about the nature walks she took with Roger through the woods and along the beaches of coastal Maine. Her writing on encountering the natural world alongside young children is absolutely magical.

On that note, my top two apps for identifying plants and animals and bird calls while venturing outdoors with kids are Seek and Merlin Bird ID. These are absolute keepers. We reach for them all the time when we’re camping, at the beach, or even just walking around our neighborhood.

If you’re headed to the beach, check out marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s love letter to the ocean, which celebrates “salty climate solutions and ocean justice.” She writes, “[T]he ocean can be a core element of our climate solutions — sequestering carbon, protecting shorelines, producing renewable energy, providing nutritious and sustainable seafood, and supporting hundreds of millions of good jobs.”

File under remarkably good news: For the first time ever, the U.S. produced more energy from solar than coal last month.

File under even better news: “the worst climate change scenario was canceled.” Writes climate journalist Anya Kamenetz, “This is amazing, amazing news! It is a reason to keep going, to have hope, to believe in the possibility of leaving a livable future to our grandchildren.”

Native plants have gone mainstream: “Once dismissed as weeds, native plants are now flying off the shelves.” More than just a trend, home gardeners are embracing climate-resilient and ecologically-beneficial native plants. In my own yard, the checkerbloom along my fence is blooming and bringing me so much joy.

My kids can’t get enough of Julia Rothman’s illustrated, informative anatomy books. They’re so detail-rich and fascinating that I’m all too happy to page through them together as often as they’d like. We especially like Ocean Anatomy and Nature Anatomy and already can’t wait for her forthcoming Bird Anatomy.

One of our family’s most beloved picture books is Pacific Northwest celebrity Phoebe Wahl’s Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest. Over the weekend, my daughter and I were lucky enough to attend Little Witch Hazel Live. Ensconced in a comfy armchair, Phoebe Wahl herself (!!!) read aloud while the story was brought to life by a charming cast of actors, musicians, and puppets. Rumor has it, she’s taking the show on a regional tour this fall.

Join Kaitlyn Teer in conversation with Chelsea Bieker at Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe in Portland, OR on Tuesday July 21 at 6:30pm.

Back to Lisa

The vibe shift is here. I know I linked to this above, but you might not have clicked on it, and you need to click on it. Trust me.

“The events impacted the Latino community so directly that ‘L.A.’s number one party station,’ as La Mega dubs itself, found itself regularly putting the party on hold — and becoming both a community lifeline and a forum for processing ICE’s activity in the city.” I love this story about a raggaeton radio program that started reporting ICE raids in real time, and what befell thereafter.

The map that keeps Burning Man honest. This is freaking amazing.

Nancy Reddy wrote the best post about going to community meetings for the neighborhood gossip: “But here’s what’s great about even a total wackadoodle turn: nothing unites a room like a common enemy. I’m currently tending several hyper-local grudges, but even so, I’m on those people’s side over this guy who’s driven in to yell at all of us. It was a real ‘he doesn’t even go here’ kind of moment.”

Speaking of being fat, I usually avoid reading posts with titles like “The Fitness Self-Check You Didn’t Know You Needed” because I worry they’ll trigger my body shame and make me feel guilty and inadequate. This is not that! It’s lovely!

Now let’s check in with friends-of-the-newsletter and platonic co-parents Amrita Vijay and Andrew Stephens, newly into life with baby #2. The family was recently featured on Nightline and it’s great and you can watch it. This post ends with “a few stray thoughts from Newbornland that apply to any phase of life, not just parenthood,” and I laughed out loud at #3 even though it is scandalous.

Speaking of books, here’s one I want to read.

Unlike lots of legacy media in the United States, The Guardian has not, at all, cancelled its books coverage. I also actually trust their recommendations, which always include a refreshingly high percentage of genre fiction and other books I want to read. Here they are recommending 70 books for summer. (I also love it when they get writers to recommend books, which they do often). Guardian subscriptions are free, BTW.

“Annie Dillard wrote, ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.’ I re-read this recently and felt personally attacked.” My lifelong friend Irene Keliher has started a newsletter about the ethical conundrums and mindf**kery being a writer in the tech sector, and it’s so good.

Hey, if you’re a rich person, here’s some food for thought.

“But the brand has sold so many kilotons of nylon junk — not just bags, jackets, hats, shorts and skirts but also wallets, phone cases, key chains, scrunchies, belts, bandanas, neckties, laptop sleeves, hair clips, headbands, lunchboxes and beyond — that it’s tempting to call Prada a petrochemical firm masquerading as a fashion company.”

“There’s a Catch 22 with people recommending a lasts-a-lifetime product: Once something has lasted for decades, it may no longer be available to purchase. Or a very similar new product may not be matched in quality to the item purchased years ago. Manufacturers change how they make things; for example, vintage Pyrex was made from durable, heat-tolerant borosilicate glass, but nearly identical looking contemporary Pyrex is made from tempered soda-lime glass, which can shatter when hot.” Laura Fenton of Living Small on how to buy things that will actually last for years.

Bluetooth trackers placed in Starbucks’ in-store recycling bins followed supposedly-recycled cups to landfills and incinerators. I know this links roundup is supposed to be largely good news, but in my defense I feel a pleasant frisson of Schadenfreude every time a company I dislike is exposed for its hypocrisy, and I dislike Starbucks because they’re union busters.

While we’re throwing shade at capitalism, did you know that researchers developed something called the “Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale” (CBRS)? Turns out workers who love synergizing paradigms might also be bad at their jobs.

I like my compliments to be announced in advance.

An eruption of the sacred while deplaning, from the righteously heartful Courtney Martin.

GLP-1s are not the enemy, from the righteously insightful Corinne Fay.

The end is not nigh, from the righteously wise Oliver Burkeman.

“When we narrate what we see – Charlie’s shoulders dropped when you said that. Your brother went really quiet then, I wonder if he’s enjoying this joke? – we are doing something psychologists call emotion coaching and mental state talk, and the research on both is genuinely lovely.” How to teach kids to read the room. I read this and made a mental note to try it and then I forgot and now, putting together these links, I’m remembering again and making another mental note because, it’s a very good idea.

A 9.5 year old I love got her period recently, which feels very early to me. (Her pediatrician had done a good job preparing her mom, fortunately). Lots of the kids in my life are already teens or are entering puberty, and while I’m not typically the point person for kids’ comments and questions about their changing bodies, their parents often need to process what’s happening. Here’s a resource for kids and families that I’m excited about. I sent it to a couple of the moms in my life.

“When I recently stopped and thought: “Why, really, did I have kids?” the answers were hardly obvious, which deeply intrigued me, as I have been professionally writing about motherhood for 13 years…. After creating my list of reasons, I then began to reckon with how things actually turned out. How did my expectations and desires surrounding having kids match the reality of having them?” Elissa Strauss with a fascinating and ultimately lovely look at her expectations for motherhood versus the reality.

“Stranger danger” is BS and it’s making families miserable.

Even though I’m a former public school teacher and teacher educator, I still found Diana Fox Tilson’s story about trying to get an Individualized Education Plan for her child eye-opening. If you’ve got a kid in your life with a disability, you should read this. Also, if you’re in education, you should read this.

Okay, so I don’t usually include 30 minute films in the monthly care package, but this one is so sweet and lovely. Documentarian (and Auntie Bulletin reader!) Joanna Zelman made this film about rescuing two calves who were otherwise headed for the slaughterhouse. They needed to get to a farm sanctuary, so Joanna and her dad loaded two actual baby cows into the back of her Subaru and drove them 600 miles. A-freaking-dorable. Also, educational! And Joanna’s dad is an absolute delight. Watch it with the kids in your life.

When I was a kid, I hated Sunday evenings because my parents would spend a whole hour ignoring me and watching 60 Minutes – the nerve! Forty years later, they still watch the storied news program every week, although nowadays I’m happy to watch it with them. It’s an institution, and very often a great watch. Unfortunately, over the several months, things have been going somewhat to hell at 60 Minutes.

• New CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss fired the show’s first female executive producer, Tanya Simon – under whose leadership the show’s ratings had risen 9% in one year – and replaced her with Nick Bilton, a guy who has no experience in television or news media.
• Bilton then fired Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent responsible for the now-infamous segment about the Venezuelan immigrants falsely imprisoned in a maximum security prison in El Salvador, which Weiss pulled at the eleventh hour, apparently to appease the Trump administration.
• Bilton also fired 60 Minutes’ first Latina correspondent, Cecilia Vega.
• Anderson Cooper left, then CBS had to debunk a rumor – weirdly credible-sounding – that they were replacing him with Joe Rogan.
• And now the great Scott Pelley has been fired after accusing Weiss, in an all-staff meeting, of “murdering” the show. He said later, “My impression was that she was putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration.”

W. Kamau Bell breaks it all down with his usual insight and humor.

And now, your cute kid video of the month. In a short edit just for us, here’s Joanna Zelman’s nephew, who is more interested in chickens than in cows. Really, though, how could anyone choose?

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