In general, colonial infrastructure was not built to strengthen communities; it was built to deplete them.

North America’s total population nearly halved from 1492 to 1776: from approximately 7 or 8 million to 4 million.

Imagine if our negative feelings, or at least lots of them, turned out to be illusions, and we could dispel them by just contemplating them from a particular vantage point.

Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up.

To make things better, to achieve the things you want to achieve, to push through and past obstacles, you have to do something. You cannot be inactive. You will die. Complacency is death; it is the opposite of life; it is what keeps us stuck in situations that make us unhappy.

Sometimes, as I spent hours painting red dots around a plate, I couldn’t tell if Robuchon was a genius or a madman. The answer, of course, was both.

And here we need to remember the lesson of the fishwife: that stigmas become attached to words that are often used by historically marginalized speakers, including in this case many speakers of African-American English and southern varieties of American English. This is part of why debates about words are so important: They are almost never just about words—they are about people and prejudice, about social and political issues, and about power.

If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.

Nobody wants to hear about what you like. There’s nothing less funny than hearing about the stuff you have fun doing. Fun isn’t funny. Comedy is pain. It’s struggle.

Stop thinking in terms of individual action. What most causes need instead are acts of individual leadership that inspire collective action.

Reading was my first addiction. When I tell people this today, they laugh and nod as if they understand, as if they too are part of a secret book-addict society whose greatest crime is staying up late, a flashlight under the covers, compulsively reading page after page.

As Mark contemplated his future — his legacy and the coming year’s personal challenge — I think he came to this dark conclusion: if Trump can do it, so could he.

After all, not only does Mark now have Trump’s playbook, he owns the tools and sets the rules. And he has something no one else has, the ability to control the algorithm with zero transparency or oversight.

Validation: communication that one is mindful, understands, and empathizes with another person’s experience, thereby accepting it as valid. Put simply, validation shows that you’re there, you get it, and you care.

When you’re too busy to think about your life, you’re able to put off proactive decisions under the guise of responding to what seems urgent. You think you’re doing all the right things, but really you’re just keeping busy.

An insight into the brogue of Okracoke Island

Whereas the old way of thinking was that in-person communication is always better, newer research has now demonstrated that isn’t always the case. There are often trade-offs to communicating in person, and in many situations, video calls, phone calls, email, and even text messages have been shown to be the superior mode of communication.

Bookstores are foundational to community and representation.

Whether you’re an Amazon worker or an Amazon neighbor, you’re more likely to bear the brunt of Amazon’s environmental impact if you’re a person of color.