Best things I read last month: April

Ya gotta read a lot if you want to write a little. Here are some of the best things I read this last month*:
*You might remember this as a formerly sometimes weekly post. I'm trying out a monthly version instead now. Let me know what you think!

"Heartbreak is how we mature; yet we use the word heartbreak as if it only occurs when things have gone wrong: an unrequited love, a shattered dream… But heartbreak may be the very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of coming to care deeply for what we find along the way."

"David Whyte on the True Meaning of Friendship, Love, and Heartbreak"

from Brain Pickings (@brainpicker)

"When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is 'correct' or 'wise,' any more than a forest fire can be 'correct' or 'wise.'"

"Nonviolence as Compliance"

from Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) in The Atlantic (@theatlantic)

Also a great read about what's going on in Baltimore, "How Western media would cover Baltimore if it happened elsewhere."
from Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) in the Washington Post (@washingtonpost)

In "No Kids for Me, Thanks," Teddy Wayne quotes the editor of an anthology of stories from the childless-by-choice, Meghan Daum, as saying "The fact is, everybody is selfish. It's like saying, 'You breathe.'" 
from The New York Times (@nytimes)

Data is my favorite. Robinson Meyer takes a look at emoji use across the world in "Canada Loves the Poop Emoji." 
from The Atlantic (@theatlantic)

Chances are you'll either think this is sweet or terrifying or both, but regardless, it's also interesting. Make it through (or skip) the super-cat-lady intro of "Learning to speak the language of cats: How they’re actually telling humans what to do" for an interview based in research and science.
from Salon (@salon)

I learned that April 30 was National Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day, thanks to a display, pictured below, outside a grocery store from a local elementary school. I unrolled a scroll of paper to find E. E. Cumming's "maggie and milly and molly and may." National Poetry Month may be over, but don't let that stop you from reading some.

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea" -E. E. Cummings According to my local elementary school, it's National Poem-in-your-pocket Day. This is the poem I got from their box of giveaways.

A photo posted by bettinasays (@bettinasays) on Apr 30, 2015 at 4:38pm PDT