2024 Reads : Pebble$

 

1.  Enemy Pie  :  Derek Munson  (read by Camryn Manheim)

2.  To Be A Drum  :  Evelyn Coleman  (read by James Earl Jones)

3.  Deep Work - Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World  :  Cal Newport

4.  Can We Go Outside To Play Today  :  Julia A. Royston

5.  Cannon's Crash Course  :  Mon Trice

6.  Akhtar, S. (2018) Humility. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. Vol. 78:1, p. 1-27

7.  Totalitarianism & the Lie  :  Leszek Kolakowski

8.  The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down - How To Be Calm In A Busy World  :  Haemin Sunim

9.  The Gruffalo  :  Julia Donaldson  (read by Mo Gilligan)

10.  Brave Irene  :  William Steig  (read by Al Gore)

11.  Me and My Cat?  :  Satoshi Kitamura  (read by Elijah Wood)

12.  The Reader On The 6.27  :  Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

13.  The Tooth  :  Avi Slodovnick  (read by Annette Bening)

14.  Why We Sleep  :  Matthew Walker

15.  Chester's Way  :  Kevin Henkes  (read by Vanessa Marano & Katie Leclerc) 

16.  I Need My Monster  :  Amanda Noll  (read by Rita Moreno)

17.  Atomic Habits  :  James Clear

18.  Library Lion  :  Michelle Knudsen  (read by Mindy Sterling)

19.  The Kiss That Missed  :  David Melling  (read by Karan Brar)

20.  The Adventures of Maddie and Mack - The Big Sister Blues  :  Nicole Bradley

21.  Selected Letters of Philip Larkin - 1940-1985  :  Anthony Thwaite

22.  The Kissing Hand  :  Audrey Penn  (read by Barbara Bain)

23.  Catching The Moon - The Story Of A Young Girl's Baseball Dream  :  Crystal Hubbard  (read by Kevin Costner & Jillian Estell)

24.  Funky Chickens  :  Benjamin Zephaniah

Favorite pieces: For Word, Library ology, Poetics, Protest Poets

25.  Hanukkah In Alaska  :  Barbara Brown  (read by Molly Ephraim)

26.  How I Learned Geography  :  Uri Schulevitz  (read by Ed O'Neill)

27.  Feel The Fear & Do It Anyway - How To Be More Confident  :  Susan Jeffers

28.  Carla's Sandwich  :  Debbie Herman  (read by Allison Janney)

29.  Wicked World  :  Benjamin Zephaniah

Favorite pieces: People Need People, We People Too, Be Cool Mankind

30.  Don't Make Me Laugh  :  Patrick Augustus

31.  The Coal Thief  :  Alane Adams  (read by Christian Slater)

32.  Strega Nona  :  Tomie dePaola  (read by Mary Steenburgen)

33.  Criticism & The Growth Of Knowledge  :   Imre Lakatos & Alan Musgrave

34.  A Dream In Me  :  Nekita Shelton

35.  LaDonna Plays Hoops  :  Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle

36.  I'm A Pretty Princess  :  Crystal Swain-Bates

37.  Hey, That's My Monster!  :  Amanda Noll  (read by Lily Tomlin)

38.  As Fast As Words Could Fly  :  Pamela M. Tuck

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

2024: A Podcast Taught Me | Pebble$

 

As I share these episodes with you each year, I hope they will provide opportunities for you to sit and have a moment for your cup to be filled.

___________________________________________________________

Suleika Jaouad, Survival Is A Creative Act  |  The Rich Roll Podcast

- Just listen. That's all I have for you.

The Genius Behind Jeen-yuhs, Kanye Collaborator J. Ivy  |  Writing Black with Maiysha Kai

Whats Left In The French Press 01  |  Books & Black Coffee

James Clear  |  Power Hour

- This was a great conversation. A reminder to keep moving forward and define those steps from little consistencies to completion of the larger goal.

Lagusta Yearwood  |  From the Desk Of Alicia Kennedy

Our Daughter Choyce Brown is here!!  |  Fridays with Tab and Chance

When Life Plans Change Ft. Zainab Johnson  |  Fridays with Tab and Chance

Invisible Man  |  Books & Black Coffee

How to Live Seasonally, Be in Tune with Your Reproductive Health, and Knowing When to Change Your Wellness Routines with Latham Thomas  |  Balanced Black Girl

2022: A Podcast Taught Me

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

The Series : I AM.. Consequential

These are words you don't hear every day. They are not to be used in just any way. Think about that statement; only say it if you believe it, if you will live it. Let these words uplift you when you forget whose you are. Remind yourself of the force and power behind you.

Model  :  noellenance

CONSEQUENTIAL

Definition: I am the result and the effect. I am major. I am significant. I bear some weight. I am the weight. I will change your life consciously and unconsciously; that is a FACT. It also means I am present in every moment because I am meant to be.

Spending each day imagining how to kill me is a wasted effort. You can try, but nothing will silence me. I can't stay silent. I got a little trouble with staying silent. Being creative is one reason why you will never be able to kill me. While I sleep, my words are awake wrapping themselves around your ears and your curls, waves and the type 1s growing from your head.

I'm asking for racial reconciliation. I can't be the only one watching my nightmares with eyes wide open while you wait for me to pass your white picket fence for the noise to die out. You will get this noise. You will hear this noise. I am receptive and ready, so it's your turn to be the stimuli.

The words above are the start of this series.

It all started one Sunday in 2020 when panic was high. People thought they had to count the days until it was their time to die. People lost their sense of worth, with jobs gone, security lost, not knowing if working from home would turn to no longer working.

I listened to a Sunday sermon and created something to make us all feel worthy through words. All of this was at a time when we found out about Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, alongside others who were all murdered. The strings of America's heart had been stretched over time until they finally snapped. There were shouts for justice, which shaped some of my captions in the earlier posts of the series. There was no justice served following Breonna Taylor's death and the coming trial of George Floyd's killers.

I had to give worth and value back to life - numerous pandemics were going on simultaneously (racial, political, health, and the freedom of people's choices).

I plan to make new additions to the series as meaningful moments and messages are forced out of this poet's mind and fingers to type or write. Let me give you snippets from that Sunday message to make this all make further sense.

____________________________________

SUNDAY SERMON

Wisdom is the principal thing.

Applying wisdom as a filter or lens through which we view things and situations. A lens or filter through which we approach life and our lives can lead to more effective and efficient outcomes.

"Open the ears of your spirit and drink from the rivers of wisdom."

Translation: Listen. Learn. Ask questions. Enquire about things. Express your willingness to learn. Admit that you don't know much about a whole lot of things.

Translation #2: It is a collective of rivers that don't run dry. Continually seek, and you will find the river that meets your needs each season. Respect your continual evolution by continuing to learn.

Engage in many studies. Read the books of conquerors that intrigue you. Make your books your companion. Stretch your mind.

Be mentored by great minds - not only in proximity. It can be your creative friends, skilled friends, knowledgeable neighbors, colleagues with a side hustle, or thriving business/project. It can be big-name celebrities, leaders, or influencers in your field of interest. Through this mentoring, you will find - that you are encouraged, informed, or equipped to build wealth in your habits, personal spaces, and professional spaces that matter to you.

All of these things contribute in one way or another to your consequential life. A life that has value on any given day.

Tell yourself always: 

"My life is consequential."

"There is something awesome to me. I am not here by accident or a mistake."

"My life is mine to judge first, by the way I keep on moving."

AND..

"My future and destiny are consequential."

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

10 Tiny Desks To Listen To | Pebble$

 

I realized I had to share my favorite Tiny Desk performances with my readers when I heard Nubya Garcia's. I've had her on my TBL (to be listened to) list for a while, so I decided it was time to listen to her work while I completed a task. Let me tell you something. I was NOT disappointed.

Here's a list of performances that I think you will enjoy too.

1. Tank And The Bangas

2. Kiefer

3. Nubya Garcia

4. The Roots ft. Bilal

5. Mumu Fresh

6. Tyler, The Creator

7. Erykah Badu

8. Moonchild

9. Thundercat

10. Robert Glasper Experiment

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

30 Ways To HEAL

 

One I don't

I resist

Two I fight with myself until

I accept that I am losing

Three I lost the battle this season

Four maybe I'll try again

I'll try something new tomorrow

Five maybe I'm fighting the wrong battle

Six maybe I'm fighting the right battle

But I can't do it alone

Seven I'll find a way

I'll try talking to somebody

Eight I know you lying

You expect me to have all the words?!

Nine, like right now

Today?!

Ten I find the words

But the emotions attached to each one

Are overwhelming

____________________________________

Eleven process everything

Twelve feel all the feelings

Thirteen sit with your rage

Give it time to go from 100 to 20

Fourteen when it gets to 20

Countdown and think honestly

Fifteen ask about the 'what'

More than the 'why'

Sixteen 'why' will trigger the rage

But it won't provide answers

Seventeen 'what' identifies more time points

Than a stopwatch

Eighteen run the lap

Jog the lap

Walk the lap

Whatever you do, endure

Keep moving

Nineteen you've been a sponge

You're at full saturation

Twenty the healing comes with some squeezing

Let me know when you're ready

________________________________________

Twenty-one when the comfort leaves

Find ways to understand your discomfort

Twenty-two when you're hurting

Allow yourself to feel

Twenty-three face yourself fully

With assistance or a safe place

Before you break

Twenty-four the secret is in the sitting

And processing

Twenty-five invite stillness in

Twenty-six decide that healing is what you want

Twenty-seven you have to be open to the possibility that

This journey won't look the way you want it to

Twenty-eight wear the right shoes

You might cut bare feet

Overwork a heart

And open new wounds on this mountain

Twenty-nine triggers make us uneasy

So, there must be a path to overcoming

Thirty healing doesn't occur in one day

But one day

It will occur to you

That you've come a long way

Healing is continual

A set of slopes

That teach you how to ride steady

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

Each Day

 

What is for you will not pass you by.

Give good moments a chance. There are seasons of our lives where we will not qualify, but the invitation to coffee, dinner, an event, or a day out - will be mailed to you. Your name is on that invitation, nobody else's.

Whether through a high or a low, somebody will say these words to you: 'You're the kind of person I would take a chance on'  (there will be variations in its delivery, but you'll know).

Each day is an opportunity to live. Feed yourself bookworms. Start with one page, non-bookworm.

In the other domains of life, give yourself the grace to relearn what you need. Identify what is important to you. Reclaim your time for each one. Protect the moments their value increases with time.

Copyright © 2024 PebblesWroteIt

2023 Reads : Pebble$

 

1.   The Bone Sparrow  :  Zana Fraillon

2.   Holes In The Sky  :  Patricia Polacco

3.   The Untethered Soul  :  Michael A. Singer

4.   Knots On A Counting Rope  :  Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault (read by Bonnie Bartlett & William Daniels)

5.   Great Granny  :  Ann Bryant & Barbara Szepesi Szucs

6.   Achieving A Dream  :  Jill Atkins & Alessia Trunfio

7.   The Yssis Papers - The Keys To The Colors  :  Dr Frances Cress Welsing

8.   The Very Hungry Caterpillar  :  Eric Carle (read by Mo Gilligan)

9.   Not Now Bernard  :  David McKee (read by Mo Gilligan)

10.   King, S.M. (2011)  'Jim Wallis: Rediscovering Values.' The Pneuma Review. p. 1-4

11.   Benny's Hat  :  Juliet Clare Bell

12.   We March  :  Shane W. Evans (read by Marley Dias)

13.   Girl - Essays On Black Womanhood  :   Kenya Hunt

14.   Somebody Loves You, Mr Hatch  :  Eileen Spinelli (read by Hector Elizondo)

15.   Nine Perfect Strangers  :   Liane Moriarty

16.   Punching The Air  :  Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam

17.   Superheroes Are Everywhere  :  Kamala Harris

18.   An Abolitionist's Handbook - 12 Steps To Changing Yourself And The World  :   Patrisse Cullors // still reading..

19.   Black Girl Magic Sprinkles  :  Chaunetta Anderson

20.   Opal Lee And What It Means To Be Free - The True Story Of The Grandmother Of Juneteenth  :  Alice Faye Duncan

21.   Wintering - The Power of Rest and Retreat In Difficult Times  :  Katherine May

22.   Antiracist Baby  :  Ibram X. Kendi (read by Kendrick Sampson)

23.   Girls Can Do Anything  :  Kenneth Vaughan

24.  Aliens and Alienists  :  Roland Littlewood & Maurice Lipsedge  [3rd Edition] // still reading..

25.  Harry The Dirty Dog  :  Gene Zion (read by Betty White)

26.  Rich Dad Poor Dad  :  Robert T Kiyosaki

27.  The Day You Begin  :  Jacqueline Woodson (read by Jacqueline Woodson)

28.  Guji Guji  :  Chih-Yuan Chen (read by Robert Guillaume)

29.  Respecting Persons In Theory and Practice  :  Jan Narveson // still reading..

30.  Let's Talk About Race  :  Julius Lester (read by Common)

Copyright © 2023 PebblesWroteIt