Listen, or Read, or Both
Reading & music recommendations to get the ol' brain thinking
Dear fam,
Last week I tried something new: I sent you reading and listening recommendations a few hours after the weekly Chaos Palace update. I also asked you what you thought of this new format! The results of the poll were inconclusive, but leaned more towards a separate email for recs, as you can see:
So, let’s do this for a while! If you start disliking the new vibe, shoot me a message and we can see what we will see. We are, after all, evolving all the time, no?
As always, the recommended listening and reading is not necessarily representative of positions I hold. I try very hard to take in information from a diverse set of source so that I might be challenged, and the things that made me think most are what I’m sharing.
I hope they make you think, too! (If they do, will you drop a comment to let me know?)
Yours always,
Mikhal
Did you know? Welcome to the Chaos Palace is a space uplifting ADHD, queerness, Judaism, and how to navigate the mess that is the world. You can support my work by sharing this post with others, getting a paid subscription, or just clicking the like button. That makes the algorithm send my words to other folks who might enjoy ‘em. Or just read! That’s huge, too, and very appreciated! Thank you!
English-language reading
- shared her family’s favorite neurodiversity affirming picture books. We love most of these as well! Heidi also contributed a bunch to the Chaos Palace Community Resource Doc, where you’ll find listening & reading materials specifically related to being neurospicy or parenting a neurospicy kid.
- wrote a deep, tender, and galvanizing piece about how they believe a connection to the spiritual legacy of our ancestors may inform how we heal the world. Here’s a bit I love: “Our job, the mystics say, is to release these shards or sparks of Oneness from where they’re trapped. We release them in moments of right relationship: in an act of kindness, we release a shard; if we honor the earth before we eat, we release a shard; if we march or make phone calls or organize for justice and compassion, each piece of that releases a shard.”
- dismantles the twin myths of Joan Didion & Alice Munro in an incisive piece that keeps echoing in my head.
The Northern Cardinal is Bird of the Week over at
- on the buyout of James Bond
- provided more crucial reporting this week, including:
Debunked: No, New Study Does Not Show Transgender Surgeries Double Depression (“Duh,” said everyone who had ever spoken to an actual trans person.)
DHS Now Allows for Surveillance based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
- wrote a very thoughtful and thought-provoking piece, sort of in conversation with J.P. Hill’s piece (linked below), about how resistance to the current state of things needs to take a long view and center marginalized folks instead of white dudes.
- wrote about playing the long game in the fight for a future of justice for all, and happens to quote a pal of mine saying we all need to be organizers now. Which we do.
I shared a poem with y’all last week, about how sometimes there are no words.
Music & Podcasts (Hebrew and English)
[Hebrew] The folks at Rosa Media break down various international issues impacting the situation in Israel/Palestine according to a socialist-leftist viewpoint. Topics include: Ukraine v Russia; The shift in the European political map; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; Trump & the world
[English]
and take a long, hard look at Trump’s foreign policy and how it might break down the current world order. Topics include: USAID; Do tariffs work?; Russia, China, et al. in an dark alliance to go back to a less liberal time; Trump’s Gaza fantasiesNeed to escape? Melissa McCarthy is a dragon-slaying barback in this bizarre and fun-filled romp through a pseudo-Middle Earth that (thank goodness) doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Daniela Spector heals my heart:
Big Thief make me swoon:
Thank you so much for sharing my piece! I'm glad that it resonated with you.