What's Feeding Me 🐛 vol. 2

a buffet of creative fodder + a new newsletter name!

Like Watching Butterflies The Webs We Weave is a free weekly-ish newsletter on staying connected to ourselves, finding connections between our ideas, and feeling more connected in the world. (More on the name change below!)

Each month I share a little buffet of things that have been keeping me fed: intellectually, creatively, sensorily, and emotionally. I’d invite you to share in the comments what's been feeding you, too! Both with me, and with each other.

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Photo via Natalie Sum on Unsplash

Before we get into this month’s roundup, you might have noticed some changes around here!

When

Emily McDowell

shared recently that she changed the name of her newsletter, she wrote:

“[The former name] was fun, but it never felt entirely right. Kind of like our cat Aquarius . . . whose name, it turns out, is actually Lady Todd. We just had to get to know her better in order to figure that out.

After getting to know this newsletter a little better, [the new name] feels much closer to the heart of what I write about here, and where my work is ultimately going.”

For me it’s this, exactly this. As I’ve gotten to know this newsletter better and become more attuned to where it wants to go, it’s become obvious to me that the name needed to change. Like Watching Butterflies is what helped me get started, and for that I’m grateful! But really, The Webs We Weave is just so much truer to what we explore here and where my work is headed.

(In that same post, Emily also wrote: “Also, like many other things, it turns out you can change the name of your newsletter and nobody really cares.” and to that I say: fair point, Emily.)

Alright, let's get into it!

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🎙️ Podcast Faves

Where Should We Begin? : Sex, Comedy, and Context

A departure from Esther’s usual ‘therapy session’ format, this live conversation between Esther Perel and Trevor Noah recorded at South by Southwest is such a treat. Their whole conversation is peppered with warmth, humor, and curiosity that had me feeling like I was in the room with two (very funny) friends. There’s a particular segment just after the 22:30 mark about full-body listening that I’ve listened to multiple times, and even shared with my husband.

We Can Do Hard Things: The One Question to Finally Let Go of Control with ALOK

I’ve followed Alok Vaid-Menon and felt grateful to them for a while now, for the ways they’ve opened me up and taught me so much about gender and seeing beyond the gender binary. I was deeply moved by this conversation—in particular, the way they shared about the ‘why’ underneath their compassion practice and the perfect, unlikely rationality behind it… the whole thing just cracked me open. Highly recommend.

Beyond All Repair

I’ll admit, this show is my current podcast-equivalent of a ‘beach read’, but I’m really enjoying it! Hosted by WBUR's Amory Sivertson, Beyond All Repair is a serialized reexamination of a case from the early 2000’s: a woman was accused of murdering her mother-in-law and swears she’s innocent, but was accused by her own brother who claims to have witnessed the crime. The show is both captivating and well-made, and in many ways makes me nostalgic for the early days of Serial (which is also back with a new season, apparently!)

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🎬 + 📔 Great Watches + Reads

📚 We Are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen

As far as my reading list goes, I’ve been on somewhat of a memoir kick this year. (Started off strong with this one and this one!) In her book We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life,

Laura McKowen

tells the unflinching story of her own sobriety journey—though, the book’s power absolutely transcends the specifics of alcohol and addiction. Beautifully written and searingly honest, I also love the way this book is inviting me to figure out what my own thing is.

📜 In Defense of Bookending by Leslie Stephens

Ever since I read

Leslie Stephens

(older) essay, In Defense of ‘Bookending’ Your Days, I haven’t stopped thinking about this idea of ‘bookending’ my morning and evening routines somehow. In Leslie’s case, her bookend takes the form of journaling with a poem in the morning, and then revisiting that same poem with a cup of tea and her journal in the evenings. As she put it, “By bookending my routine with poetry and journaling, I’ve noticed some of the changes people reference with meditation (which I haven’t yet built enough patience for).”

🎬 Cultivating Creative Attention from Cody Cook Parrott

There are some days I wake up feeling creatively stale and uninspired, craving a way to fall back in love with my creative practices. And when that happens, I know reaching for something from

Cody Cook-Parrott

is a reliable way to snap out of my funk. This recorded workshop on Cultivating Creative Attention kept me company one Saturday morning last month, and it was just what I needed on a day I felt really scattered and deflated: some pep talks, some list making, and an overall energetic shift. (Sidebar: Cody has tons of really affordable, wonderful creative classes available at very reasonable prices.)

🪶 What I Didn’t Know Before by Ada Limón

This poem . . . GAH. I first read it in a poetry workshop, and I think it was the first time I encountered the genius of Ada Limón. It’s one I come back to over and over. (For a bonus dose of Ada, check out her podcast interview with Ezra Klein, A Conversation With Ada Limón, in Six Poems.)

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🙇🏼‍♀️ Current Project or Micro Obsession

NaPoWrMo!

April is National Poetry Writing Month, and many are celebrating by attempting to write 30 poems in 30 days—a challenge widely known as NaPoWriMo. As a budding poetry student and enthusiast, this is my first year participating, though I rebranded the challenge for myself as 30 Days of Bad Poems to take some of the pressure off. (Would recommend.) I’m equal parts thrilled and stunned to report that I haven’t missed a day! And there are even a few pieces in there that I… like?

I plan to write more about this experience and share some reflections about the process, particularly the experience of committing to an art form I’m so new to for a whole month. More is on the way! Let me know if there’s anything specific you’re curious about.

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🌻 A Human Whose Work I’m Loving

Sarica of Sarica Studio

One Sunday morning recently I fell down a rabbit hole of journaling videos on YouTube. Why is it so deeply comforting to peek inside other people’s notebook stacks, and spy on their rituals? Within said rabbit hole, I came across Sarica of Sarica Studio and was instantly mesmerized by her simple-but-elegant approach to journaling. (In one of her videos she referenced her “emotional support notebooks” and that was when I knew: we’re cut from the same cloth.) I also ended up buying some really pretty stickers from her shop.

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🤣 A Meme, Just Because.

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Your turn!

What’s feeding you lately?

If you’re game, share one thing in the comments that’s been feeding you lately. It could be a podcast, a book, a habit, a new favorite thing, a project that’s lighting you up… anything! Let’s crowdsource some good creative fodder. 👇

Until next time,
Michelle