This is so amazing to read. I was slowly leaving social media, saw your post about fave books of 2023, read Stolen Focus, and then slammed the door on it. I cannot believe how much my LIFE has changed. I’ve gone through the same experience with reading books. I can’t get over how much depth I was missing, how my brain processes information now, and how much happier my nervous system is. I am having so much fun LEARNING again. I’m also sober (drugs & alcohol), but now I’m back to truly being *emotionally* sober. For anyone questioning leaving, I can’t recommend it enough.
Definitely doing more books than social media this year while recovering from long COVID and enjoying the space. I also have been connecting with friends I know are readers, suggesting them a favorite of mine and reading a favorite of theirs, then we will often text each other during our read and connect afterwards and it's such a beautiful way to bond with humans you love.
Loved getting these bite sized reviews! Can't read them all but one or two are definitely going on my list. Right now it's "Rest As Resistance" which I'm excited for, cuz I really need to let that sink in. My Inner Achiever (who thinks we get self worth by achieving, not just existing) has been so studious and helped me do so much but she needs some love and comfort and time to rest and play.
You inspired me to quit social media. I'm on day 7 now, and I echo everything you have said. I read before, but now I'm really READING. I feel so immersed in it, so connected! I've had ideas for writing, and I haven't written in years! Everything is slower and more spacious. I'm filling that space with things that are joyful. All the annoying social justice rhetoric that I would consume masochistcally, deriving some sick pleasure in infuriating myself, is gone from life! It sure as hell hasn't shown up here in the real world yet, and that shit was taking hours a day from me! I too have missed keeping abreast of world affairs though, so thank you for sharing that news app recommendation. Somewhat hesitant to invite the world back in and risk of having this new found peace disturbed, but I know I can't handicap myself in that way forever. Ultimately, I do care about my fellow humans, even if they are a disruptive bunch!
I'm really looking forward to your podcast about AMB's book. I'm sooooo tired of the narratives that tell us that humans need to earn our dignity. And I will die on the hill of inherent worth and value and infinite possibility for redeemability of every being.
And thank you for the book recs! I quit social media cold turkey following a particularly powerful plant medicine journey last summer. It truly feels like I gained back agency over my own brain and body. Never going back. I now get to enjoy writers like you here on SS!
Thanks for all the amazing work you do in the world, Clementine. It's really invaluable. I unhooked from my last bit of social media in 2020 and it was the best thing I've done for my mental health, so I know about the satisfaction and relief you describe and am stoked for you.
I'd like to offer a book suggestion to you, but I don't want it to be taken as a backhanded suggestion or a negative commentary on anything you've shared here. I'm suggesting the book because I can tell how deeply, sincerely you care about the fate of the planet and the well-being of our nonhuman kin. I also care about those things but am coming at it from a different angle. I would like to see more people on the Left consider what this book and others like it have to say.
I'm a regenerative farmer who, after many years of working on various farms, am about to finally start my own farm business for the first time on some leased land this Spring. Wish me luck. I'm primarily drawn to this work out of a desire to set the world right, to nourish people and to nourish the land that nourishes them and to push things in a restorative, healing direction. But I feel a deep disconnect from my first hand knowledge and experience of ecology, agriculture, and history and what most folks on the Left are prescribing as solutions to our ecological crisis. I've yet to read a book that more succinctly, passionately, beautifully speaks to that disconnect and my concerns than the one I'm recommending.
It's called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability. It's by Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for twenty something years. Despite how the title sounds, she in no way condones factory farming. She condemns factory farming, she condemns CAFOs, and she tries to get to the deeper roots of what is destroying the planet and driving hundreds of species into extinction. She cares deeply about animals. She just goes deeper about it. She's an author that's super canceled because she is a transphobe and since her publication of this book has become super involved in TERF organizations. Honestly, that part of the story is super heartbreaking for me. I was super disappointed to find this out about her after I read the book years ago. I'm queer, in queer community, and have deep running bonds with a number of trans people. I absolutely do not condone anything she has to say about trans people. And I also totally love everything she has to say in her book, which doesn't mention trans people at all. I know that you know that people are messy and that we can learn from people about some things while also disagreeing with them on other things. Frantz Fanon is a homophobe who taught me a lot about colonialism. I feel the need to say all that because most Lefties won't give this book a chance, which is a shame. Because I can think of no better an impassioned primer on ecology, food, justice, animal dignity, and the crisis that is agriculture than this book. Again, it never talks about her stances on gender.
Anyhow, here is a link to a free PDF if you're interested. I think it's a fantastic, moving read. I hope you give it a read and I look forward to reading from your list of recommends as well.
This is so amazing to read. I was slowly leaving social media, saw your post about fave books of 2023, read Stolen Focus, and then slammed the door on it. I cannot believe how much my LIFE has changed. I’ve gone through the same experience with reading books. I can’t get over how much depth I was missing, how my brain processes information now, and how much happier my nervous system is. I am having so much fun LEARNING again. I’m also sober (drugs & alcohol), but now I’m back to truly being *emotionally* sober. For anyone questioning leaving, I can’t recommend it enough.
Definitely doing more books than social media this year while recovering from long COVID and enjoying the space. I also have been connecting with friends I know are readers, suggesting them a favorite of mine and reading a favorite of theirs, then we will often text each other during our read and connect afterwards and it's such a beautiful way to bond with humans you love.
Loved getting these bite sized reviews! Can't read them all but one or two are definitely going on my list. Right now it's "Rest As Resistance" which I'm excited for, cuz I really need to let that sink in. My Inner Achiever (who thinks we get self worth by achieving, not just existing) has been so studious and helped me do so much but she needs some love and comfort and time to rest and play.
You inspired me to quit social media. I'm on day 7 now, and I echo everything you have said. I read before, but now I'm really READING. I feel so immersed in it, so connected! I've had ideas for writing, and I haven't written in years! Everything is slower and more spacious. I'm filling that space with things that are joyful. All the annoying social justice rhetoric that I would consume masochistcally, deriving some sick pleasure in infuriating myself, is gone from life! It sure as hell hasn't shown up here in the real world yet, and that shit was taking hours a day from me! I too have missed keeping abreast of world affairs though, so thank you for sharing that news app recommendation. Somewhat hesitant to invite the world back in and risk of having this new found peace disturbed, but I know I can't handicap myself in that way forever. Ultimately, I do care about my fellow humans, even if they are a disruptive bunch!
I'm really looking forward to your podcast about AMB's book. I'm sooooo tired of the narratives that tell us that humans need to earn our dignity. And I will die on the hill of inherent worth and value and infinite possibility for redeemability of every being.
And thank you for the book recs! I quit social media cold turkey following a particularly powerful plant medicine journey last summer. It truly feels like I gained back agency over my own brain and body. Never going back. I now get to enjoy writers like you here on SS!
I love reading recommendations! I put a few on my to-read list, thanks. And I'm happy you enjoyed To Paradise! :)
Thanks for all the amazing work you do in the world, Clementine. It's really invaluable. I unhooked from my last bit of social media in 2020 and it was the best thing I've done for my mental health, so I know about the satisfaction and relief you describe and am stoked for you.
I'd like to offer a book suggestion to you, but I don't want it to be taken as a backhanded suggestion or a negative commentary on anything you've shared here. I'm suggesting the book because I can tell how deeply, sincerely you care about the fate of the planet and the well-being of our nonhuman kin. I also care about those things but am coming at it from a different angle. I would like to see more people on the Left consider what this book and others like it have to say.
I'm a regenerative farmer who, after many years of working on various farms, am about to finally start my own farm business for the first time on some leased land this Spring. Wish me luck. I'm primarily drawn to this work out of a desire to set the world right, to nourish people and to nourish the land that nourishes them and to push things in a restorative, healing direction. But I feel a deep disconnect from my first hand knowledge and experience of ecology, agriculture, and history and what most folks on the Left are prescribing as solutions to our ecological crisis. I've yet to read a book that more succinctly, passionately, beautifully speaks to that disconnect and my concerns than the one I'm recommending.
It's called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability. It's by Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for twenty something years. Despite how the title sounds, she in no way condones factory farming. She condemns factory farming, she condemns CAFOs, and she tries to get to the deeper roots of what is destroying the planet and driving hundreds of species into extinction. She cares deeply about animals. She just goes deeper about it. She's an author that's super canceled because she is a transphobe and since her publication of this book has become super involved in TERF organizations. Honestly, that part of the story is super heartbreaking for me. I was super disappointed to find this out about her after I read the book years ago. I'm queer, in queer community, and have deep running bonds with a number of trans people. I absolutely do not condone anything she has to say about trans people. And I also totally love everything she has to say in her book, which doesn't mention trans people at all. I know that you know that people are messy and that we can learn from people about some things while also disagreeing with them on other things. Frantz Fanon is a homophobe who taught me a lot about colonialism. I feel the need to say all that because most Lefties won't give this book a chance, which is a shame. Because I can think of no better an impassioned primer on ecology, food, justice, animal dignity, and the crisis that is agriculture than this book. Again, it never talks about her stances on gender.
Anyhow, here is a link to a free PDF if you're interested. I think it's a fantastic, moving read. I hope you give it a read and I look forward to reading from your list of recommends as well.
https://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Food/The_Vegetarian_Myth.pdf