How important is acceptance to you? How does it show up in your life?
Sunny Side Updates || Week 32
Dear readers, it’s been exciting and horrifying week for me — hope your week has been much, much better. For one, I had mystery water seeping in from the floor recently and that, my friends, was an adventure. (Article about said mystery water to come, soon! Stay tuned!)
But as I think about how I manage feeling overwhelmed and stressed, I realize that there’s a difference between:
- being overwhelmed and dealing with being alone
- being overwhelmed and having the support with a community
So to me, in thinking about this question about acceptance — I do place a lot of value and importance on it. I think often I get the advice to place less attention to what others say “for my own mental health”, but I think often that focuses things on one sentence or one idea that someone shared.
Often, my concern about what other people think comes from not being accepted in spaces. Sometimes, I have the privilege and resources to make my own space and decide those rules for myself and make spaces for others like me. Sometimes, I don’t. To survive, I fold in to fit in.
Sometimes, that false superficial acceptance isn’t great long-term, but also, it puts food on the table on the short-term while I gain the resources needed to go another route.
And when I talk about acceptance, I want to make space for that. Often, if someone is stuck in a spot, they’re told to just make a different choice and everything would be magically different. Sometimes, even if someone is taking a different choice, it takes time for things to happen. The interim space still needs to be honoured.
Which brings me to the shortform of the week! What are your thoughts about acceptance?
Shortform Theme of the Week
This week’s shortform theme is: acceptance. What is your relationship with it? Is it important to you? How do you show up for and accept others, especially those who might be different from you? What narratives do you hear surrounding acceptance? What are the expectations you have about acceptance? Take this word wherever you’d like to go with it :)
Submit your shortform piece (<150 words) now to share your thoughts! (For prompt-based pieces, you may exceed the 150 word limit, but aim for 150 words if the idea of a longer piece overwhelms you!)
This is just a guideline for inspiration! You may submit shortforms related to other concepts if other ideas come to you! :)
✍ May Interview Challenge
Come join me in the monthly interview challenge! In this challenge, I’ll give you 5 reflection questions, 5 this-or-that choices and 5 “prompts” to promote your articles!
Excited to get to know you as writers and overall cool human beings!
This challenge is open from now until May 31, 2021.
🌠 Ongoing Adventure Fiction Series!
I’ve finally launched a project that my child self has always wanted to do: create a collaborative never-ending story with branch-offs into multiple different storylines!
I’m so excited to see what direction this story will take so please don’t be shy about submitting!
Here is chapter 1!
For the most recent chapters, search “#OngoingAdventure” below! (PC users, CTRL+F is your friend. Mac users, 🤷♀️, I’m going to guess it’s CMD+F?)
The Brain is a Noodle*
*This is factually incorrect. Please absolutely do not go out and eat brains.
🍜 Piping Hot New(dle) Pieces of the Week
Challenge: *highlight* the ones you bookmarked/ read and make sure everyone gets highlighted at least once! ❤
🧠🍜 [1] Somewhere I’ve never been by Las siete y más ‘It’s thought that you can only see white White in every direction But you don’t’
🧠🍜 [2] My Favorite Topic by Thalia Dunn ‘If you asked me for an impromptu speech, I would choose one of the topics closest to my heart, the joy and privilege of parenting. It’s understandably the hardest, but as people say, the most rewarding job in the world.’
🧠🍜 [3] While My Guitar Gently Weeps (and heals me) by Divina Grey ‘I love my kids — and I talk about them all the damn time. I’ve had quite an affinity for Crossfit for the last ten years — but people seem intimated when I write about my strong snatch. And of course, there’s my guitar — the world has to know by now that I love playing guitar.’
🧠🍜 [4] To Talk About Nothing by Courtenay S. Gray ‘You don’t have to say anything worthy; you only need to speak for fifteen minutes. Repeating the word ‘duck’ over and over until your time is up would suffice. ‘
🧠🍜 [5] Can’t Speak by Haider Jamal ‘When the color is medium, the color glows green In this case, it is a pleasure to pay’
🧠🍜 [6] Cracking Eggs by Laurie Perez ‘Stacking books to bring home from the library and tearing through them. Writing — diaries, poems, book reports, poems, LETTERS to pen pals around the world (Ireland, Vietnam, England, France, Turkey, Canada… list goes on. I LOVED mailing and receiving letters.) Am I still doing this? Dear reader…’
🧠🍜 [7] 150 Um’s and Ah’s by Will Hull ‘Fifteen minutes A long time to speak Without um’s and ah’s Might as well be a week’
🧠🍜 [8] The Wait- 燒賣s by Nada Chehade ‘I took a break from Medium for a while to focus on something and forgot all about the wait. You know what I’m talking about, right? Like the wait of writing something and then waiting for it to get published.’
🧠🍜 [9] a new place in this world is home by Keegan Roembke ‘where the orange-dust streets are packed down with people motorbikes, rancorous Toyotas, and headless chickens / screaming pastors, open-air kitchens, and love’
🧠🍜 [10] The Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom by Michael Hollifield ‘If knowledge is king Then why are we so foolish Mistakes should teach us.’
🧠🍜 [11] Ode to Otis by jenine bsharah baines ‘Let’s sit on the dock and lay waste to time, tossing blue rose petals of bon voyages into the bay.’
🧠🍜 [12] What Makes Self-Improvement Youtubers So Irresistible? by Rambling Rose ‘Hi… I’m Rose… and I’m a YouTube self-help addict. Since starting out in 2018, I’ve come to notice certain traits that self-improvement YouTubers with large followings use to capture the hearts of their viewers.’
🧠🍜 [13] Las Vegas — A Prompt Response About an Odd Place by Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg) ‘There once was a guy in Las Vegas Sights seen on The Strip would just plague us’
🧠🍜 [14] The Last Poem by Coco Joan ‘On some unremembered day — Not this one, Whatever happens, happened. That day, I let go of your hand.’
🧠🍜 [15] No, 2 Plus 2 Does Not Equal 4 by Emily Wilcox ‘2 + 2 = 4 It’s common knowledge, right? When you do this and this, then this happens.’
🧠🍜 [16] If You Won’t, I Will by Bhavna Narula ‘If you won’t smile, I will; Because I love those curves at the corner of your lips.’
🧠🍜 [17] Happiness is… by Diana Dee ‘Happiness is a word that seems to have no real definition, but it is something that should be a focus of all our attention and effort. We all have to find happiness, but if we can’t find it by ourselves then who else is going to?’
🧠🍜 [18] The Spices to Our Life by Kyomi O'Connor ‘“Variety is the Spice of Life.” Let me talk about the spices, a dash of which may bring a significant “lift” in our lives.’
🧠🍜 [19] If Time And Patience Are People by Yan Huang ‘Time Does it go linear, circular, or a “Jeremy Bearimy” way?’
🧠🍜 [20] The Spider Consciousness by Pretheesh Presannan ‘Me: Shit. WTF. Mother: What happened? Why are you shouting there? Me: Nothing mom, we got an invader. Mother: What? Where? Inside your pathetic bathroom?’
🧠🍜 [21] What to do? by Las siete y más ‘I know that there are millions of things that we can do. But there are just sometimes in which you just want to procrastinate on purpose. Is this normal? I don’t know.’
🧠🍜 [22] Hoopla by Rachel Ramkaran (she/her) ‘Duck-ins, duck-outs, lifts and weaves — two beats or three, as you please. Breaks, paddles and isolations are just some of the ways to play with a hula hoop.’
🧠🍜 [23] Riding the Tide by Tree Langdon ‘Rust drips From metal pipes above. He sprawls on roughly textured cold. The dumpster offers shelter from their greedy eyes; a refuge in the space behind.’
🧠🍜 [24] Cherries by Courtenay S. Gray ‘You would sit across from me in just an apron, nothing else. Having spent hours in the kitchen, you’d return to the table with a bowl full of fresh strawberries, single cream and sugar. We would return to our last conversation and add more to its morbid recipe.’
🧠🍜 [25] Back in the North Side by Will Hull
‘I clicked on this link Inspired to think But it showed me a door I’ve been in before
🧠🍜 [26] #Ongoing Adventure: Call Your Mom by Jennifer McDougall ‘“So Mom,” you breathe into the phone, when she has finally picked it up after 12 rings. “How are you?”’
🧠🍜 [27] Security Questions by Shivangi Patel ‘It is funny How we all think We are the same When creating a password Or a security questions My mind tells me I will remember’
🧠🍜 [28] Moon/Egg, Yolk/Sun by Courtenay S. Gray ‘An egg is a moon wrapped in a brittle shell. The summer yolk drips down the sides and into the craters.’
🧠🍜 [29] Three Keys of Manifestation by Warren Brown ‘Visualization, certainty, and belief are the three keys, To manifest anything that you desire as you please. Keep a journal of all that you wish to manifest,’
🧠🍜 [30] Bullseye by Pretheesh Presannan ‘crack the eggs onto the frying pan bullseye (fried-egg) ready’
🧠🍜 [31] Crema Catalana by Laurie Perez ‘This haiku is a souvenir — one of many word spells broadcast, affirming my heart was ready and willing to be seduced by every flirtation life could deliver.’
🔊 Voices to Amplify
We don’t have to leave it to the algorithm to suggest our favourite pieces! Here are some of my archived faves!
Thank you to Christopher Robin, Jupiter Grant, Melanie J., and Destiny S. Harris for these pieces!
The Eggcademic Corner
🥓 Quick brEGGfast Bites
What I’m watching: Grey’s Anatomy — it’s going to take a while to finish this one!
What I’m reading: The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
What I’m listening to: Rehab — Amy Winehouse
S🍳mething to chew over
PhDVoice: If you could choose to get paid 25% more, BUT you wouldn’t be allowed to drink coffee anymore, would you take it?
Or would you forgo the increase and keep the precious coffee?
The Eggcademic (i.e., me): If I got paid 25% more I would be able to afford sleep rather than spend every waking hour generating income somehow, so yes, I’d take this in a heartbeat and give up coffee.
🎊 Top 3 articles of the week
Celebrate with me!
😭 Flop 3 articles of the week
Give these a little love, will ya?
🧠🍜 Thank you to the Noodle Team!
challenge: pick 3 writers you haven’t met yet and get acquainted with their pieces!
New writers: Diana Dee | Rambling Rose | Doran Lamb | Avi Kotzer | A.M. Radulescu | Azadehruh Alam
Laurie Perez | Paul Mansfield | B.R. Shenoy | Nada Chehade| Coco Joan | Bingz Huang | Shreya Badonia | Kimberly Carter | Las siete y más | Warren Brown | Trista Signe Ainswort | Kyomi O’Connor | Kay Bee | MaggieLaFae | Alex Godley | Haider Jamal | Josie Elbiry | Anthony Jackson | Hannah M. Moore | Michael Hollifield | Yana Bostongirl | TC Hails | Orla Kenny | Samedra Carter | Tatum Hamernik | Thalia Dunn | Nia Simone McLeod | Josie Elbiry | Keegan Roembke | Noorain Hassan, BMS | Humaira Iqbal | Zachary Burg | Bob Pepe | Will Hull | Jason | Courtenay S. Gray | Sahil Patel | Meenal Gupta | Amy Lee Kite | Evan Wildstein | Hilda Carroll | Chloe Hill | Paola Perez | Matt Ray | Wolfie Bain | Dena Ogden | Tasneem Kagalwalla | Yan Huang | Tree Langdon | Stuart Englander | Jennifer McDougall | Aaron Kemp | Rachel Ramkaran (she/her) | LS | Lori Welch Brown | Nicole Jiang | Crystalclearcandace | Em Unravelling | Jupiter Grant | Elle Beau ❇︎ | Suman Sandhu | Adam Deitsch | Mia Z. Edwards | David Majister | JF | Zach Neuman | Chris Mooney-Singh | Toya Qualls-Barnette | Karen Lappa Haas | Alan Henley | Michelle Bonfils | Zach Klebaner | Anna | Deepshikha Bhagat | Carlos Garbiras | Katrina Bos | Lisa Bolin | Sohaib Roomi | The Dozen | Malik Bellamy | Olivia Th | Shaista Malik | Emily Wilcox | Brajendra | Eva Rotolo | Bhavna Narula | Shannon Hugman | Ryan DeJonghe | Ryan DeJonghe | Dennett | Swagat Choudhury | Vivian | Mark Tulin | Arslan Mirza | Amber Carlson | Urfa | Whatsinanaim | Amy Pierovich, Ed.D. | Carolyn Riker | Tally | Shivangi Patel | Giulia | ScienceDuuude | Rachael Ann Sand | Divina Grey | Sarah Paris | DISHA GARG | Jen Kleinknecht | janny’s heart | Penofgold | Blank Voice | Kele Mogotsi | Jessie London | Indubala Kachhawa | Radhika Ghose | Mil H. | Zeno Faber | Maziar Ghaderi | Julia Appa | Campbell Christensen | Allison Gaines | Lori Lamothe | Tima Loku | Kim McKinney | Baye Amina | Tom Fenske | Johannes Mudi | Kasun Ranasinghe | Just a Slytherin hissing | Dr. Fatima Imam | Ntathu Allen | Somsubhra Banerjee | Veronica Georgieva | Life is Amazing with Books and Writers | Dandy Lioness 🌻 | Mindsmatter | Michael Ranjitsingh | Anjali Samaraweera | Krupesh Raikar | Rusty Alderson | Jen | Dr. Preeti Singh | Punch Drunk Cola | Melissa Speed | Ntathu Allen | Denise G | Carolyn Hastings | Tej | Vijini Mallawaarachchi | Amy Marley | Jac Gautreau | Erivaldo Ricardo | Roz Warren | Melissa Bee | Pretheesh Presannan | Daniel A. Teo | Anuradha Wickramarachchi | Niru | Priyanka Mane | Em Hoccane | Synthia S. | Alexandra Forsyth | R. Rangan PhD | Jacobo the First | Connie Song | Fathiyah Zb | Not quite Steve Fisher | Amna Asif | Aimée Gramblin | A Fresh Pot of Coffee | Rebecca Stevens A. | Imad | James G Brennan | Mary Keating | Jay Avery | h.a wadi | Pablo Pereyra | Isaac | jenine bsharah baines | Rochelle Silva | Jade-Ceres Violet D. Munoz | Ruchi Thalwal | Clare Almand | Dana Sanford | Naomi Leilani Acosta | Dr. Jackie Greenwood | Fathiyah Zb |
Ps, if any of these links are outdated, please leave a note to let me know!
🧠🍜 Join us at The Brain is a Noodle! 🧠🍜
Last but probably most important
Hop on the jumbo thread!
