Greetings peoples of the internets. It’s beautiful to be back here in New York City! Life as always is challenging – but at the same time so rewarding and worthwhile. Some things I think are awesome this week:

1. The Corporation

“Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal “person” to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?”"
- thecorporation.com

Having just finished watched this powerful and intelligent documentary, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s available in it’s entirety in 23 parts on youtube.

2. The Union Square Greenmarket – a farmer’s market that runs Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have access to local, organic, fresh produce that’s actually affordable for the first time in my life.

3. Burt’s Bees make all natural (100% or very close to it) personal care & beauty products. They smell wonderful and do good things for your skin and hair.

4. Bluestockings is currently my favourite place in New York. A bookstore filled with books about feminism, gender studies, non-violence, alternative living, sustainability (among many other topics) and a ton of zines and journals. They also host readings and other events almost every night. The events have a suggested donation, but no-one will be turned away from an event at Bluestockings for lack of money.

5. This quote by HL Mencken:

“I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.”

(Thanks to the incredible Nabilah for sharing this with me.)

6. Rob Brezsny’s Newsletter is awesome – weekly horoscopes plus links to other pronoiac resources as well as excerpts from his book. The horoscopes are usually pretty cute and I found this week’s interesting and insightful enough to share, as it might be relevant to you too:

“CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sixty-nine percent of conservatives think that hell is a real place, and over half of all liberals do. Shocking! Ridiculous! I hope that you, Capricorn, give zero credence to the idea that there is a realm of eternal damnation. In my astrological opinion, believing in hell would grossly interfere with your ability to know the truth about your life right now. So would an irrational fear of failure, an obsession with enemies, or a tendency to define yourself in opposition to bad stuff. Here’s the alternative: To thrive, all you have to do is accentuate what you love, identify what you want, and focus on rewards.”

Exactly the approach I’m going for these days.