Love that through the “Books By Mail” program that I recently mentioned getting connected to through my local library that they have been helping me make 2025 the year of Alice Wong for me…..or should I say, “The Year of the Tiger”?!?

#IYKYK

😏🐯📚🐅😉

"Freedom begins the day you no longer feel the need to please others; the day you finally accept who you are; the day you stop living in the past; the day you find what you truly love.
The day you realize you deserve much better and are willing to fight for it."

It‘s sloppy theology to think that all suffering is good for us, or that it‘s a result of sin. All suffering can be used for good, over time, after mourning and healing, by Gods graciousness. But sometimes it‘s just plain loss, not because you needed to grow or learn any kind of lesson. The trick is knowing the difference between the two.

Pain is sometimes a call for growth—and sometimes a companion of mourning.

Friendship doesn‘t always mean being partners in crime; sometimes, at it‘s best, it requires exactly the opposite—an honest word, a push, a loving correction.

One of the best things great friendship does is tell us the truth about ourselves when we need it most.

Let‘s set a new example for a generation of young women who are watching us closely. Let‘s teach them by our example to be women who work hard, who pay attention to their dreams, who give themselves to making the world a better place, women who believe that there are a whole lot of things more important than being the prettiest princess in the room.

We need both halves of the story: the suffering and the redemption. Either part by itself is incomplete.

“Don't be ashamed to weep; 'tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was a quick, intriguing, and engaging read!!

I have wanted to read this book for many years now, as I‘ve followed Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham as a fellow SB warrior & champion.

I loved getting a more in depth look into his rise to fame in the WCMX world and gaining more understanding of his journey, mindset, and outlook.

Finally getting to read this book has only amplified my respect & admiration for Aaron all the more!

🤛🏻🥊👊🏻🫁

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I loved taking a deep dive into Alice‘s lived experiences, perspectives and work in disability advocacy, she embodies the fierceness of a Tiger.

The only complaint I had was that there were a lot of photos & graphics throughout & the audio made reading the physical copy a bit sleepy as descriptions of those pages were given.

All in all well worth the read, for currently disabled people & temporarily abled people alike.

Just living your best life is a form of resistance.

What else can we do? How do we love and hold each other up so we keep on going as a community? How can we harness our imagination to create the world we want to live in right now and in the future?

Oh I always do!! Mission accomplished!! 🤪🙃😜

Disabled people belong in the future. We‘re gonna resist as much and as hard as we can.

I see the future as a time when we critically need solidarity with one another. We need to show it. We need to really understand that asking for help, needing help, is not a weakness. I think the only way we can survive is if we truly believe and practice that we‘re in this together.

“……I hope that people realize that, for many of us, we have always been here, we have always survived. And in many cases, we have the solutions.”

There are so many of us who live in non-disabled worlds, who are incredibly, innovative, creative, and adaptive, and there‘s so much wisdom now by disabled and sick people about how to slow down and make things more flexible that I wish people paid attention to.

Being vulnerable, as well as honest, is the key to collective liberation.

“What do we leave behind when we are gone? Perhaps one part of my legacy is how I cherish the legacies of my loved ones…….Loving fiercely is real-time legacy building. Maybe that‘s the best way to honor people.”

Just a couple quick questions for you all!! 🤔❓💭

Nurturing life requires care and connection. Like an orchard in full bloom, nurturing stories stories requires care and connection, too. The people we love who are no longer alive—are still with us, and our stories about them are seeds planted with gentleness and hope for the future.

Freedom to live in the community is a human right.
One day, everyone will truly belong.

Many of us know the safety net has gaping holes and the state will not save us, so we‘re going to save ourselves with abundance, wisdom, joy and love.

Vulnerable “high-risk” people are some of the strongest, most interdependent, and most resilient people around. We may still face significant disparities in political power, which result in being left out of policy making, but we know how to show up for each other. Disabled communities, queer communities, and communities of color have been hustling and providing mutual aid since time began.

Adaptation is care work. Adaptation is survival. Adaptation is a negotiation between the past and the present. Adaptation is a science and art. Adaptation pushes boundaries and creates new futures.

There are days when I want to put this on repeat: “Believe disabled people. Period.” I refuse to apologize or feel shame about the way my body works or how I navigate the world.

This is the experience of living in a world that was never built for you: having to explain and defend yourself while providing infinite amounts of labor at the demand of people who do not recognize their nondisabled privilege.

Who are nerds if not those left out, ridiculed, neglected, and undervalued by dominant society? Who are nerds if not those who embrace difference, seek community, and support the powerless?

There‘s something incredibly affirming about seeing yourself reflected in popular culture. In the science fiction, fantasy and comic book worlds, we may identify with characters like us, characters unlike us, or characters we want to become.

It‘s been such an epic week for book mail!!

Monday: June BOTM box!! Do I know any Littens who are my box twins this month?

Wedsnesday: my first pack from my libraries‘ “Books by Mail” program AND a FB marketplace win for the Divergent series!!

And today, FINALLY, a Mercari miracle: The first three books in the Empyrean series!!

2025 will be the year of the series, stepping out of my comfort zone as a reader.

Cannot wait!!

📚📖📚📖📚

"When you are your own best friend, you don‘t endlessly seek out relationships, friendships, and validation from the wrong sources because you realize that the only approval and validation you need is your own."

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one‘s lifetime.”

“How can I be substantial without casting a shadow? I must have a dark side too if I am to be whole: and by becoming conscious of my shadow I remember once more that I am a human being like any other.”

~ C.G. Jung~

You‘ve got 21 days to determine what will get (at minimum) 25 minutes of your attention on June 25th!!
Do you already know what you will be reading? Tag it!!
Let‘s start getting excited about this now!! Why wait?!?

Also, in grade school do you think our teachers gave us more than 25 minutes of reading time, exactly that, or less?!?

#Read25Day

Beneath the surface of the protective parts of trauma survivors there exists an undamaged Essence, a Self that is confident, curious, and calm...

A Self that has been sheltered from destruction by the various protectors that have emerged in their efforts to ensure survival.

Once those protectors trust that it is safe to separate, the Self will spontaneously emerge, and the parts can be enlisted in the healing process.

When you‘re tired, go slowly. Go quietly. Go timidly. But do not stop. You are tired for all the right reasons. You are tired because you‘re supposed to be. You‘re tired because you‘re making a change. You are exhausted for all the right reasons and it‘s only an indication to go on. You are tired because you‘re growing.

“The distance you put between places doesn't change the distance you have to travel inside. No passport, no plane ticket, no new city can fix what must be faced within. Growth isn't on a map — it's in the moments you finally meet yourself.”

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”

~Robert Frost~

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.”

~Ralph W. Sockman~

"Determination means to use every challenge you meet as an opportunity to open your heart and soften, determined to not withdraw."

~Pema Chodron~

Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they‘re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It‘s all in how you carry it. That‘s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you‘re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.

People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that‘s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they‘re afraid to feel?