I have a backlog of recent and not-so-recent articles that are worth sharing but seem a little too long or Too Meaningful  to be a Friday Link.  So I’m calling this week The Week of Long Reads and posting a string of them.

First up, a recent one by writer Lyz Lenz, which…well, the title says it all: Why Writing Matters in the Age of Despair

The Queen is dead, as I’m sure you’ve heard. There are hundreds upon hundreds of online tributes and obituaries, but these two stood out:

• Aretha Franklin’s Voice Endures and
• Soul Survivor: The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin (from 2016)

“Soul Survivor” mentions a couple of her  stand out performances that I looked up, and yeah, that Kennedy Center Honors performance of “Natural Woman” is worth the hype:

And! This cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is sublime.

As the youths today say, “IT ME.”

(From Mr. Bingo, via Swiss Miss)

It’s Lughnasadh/Lammas/the mid point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox today. This week I’ve noticed that we don’t have the lingering evening light past 9:00 anymore. When Toby gets me up at 5:30, it’s a lot darker.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

(Don’t take the advice in that poem literally, of course)

…but I finally poked around Donors Choose last week and it is a great place to throw an extra $20.

I got there from Swole Woman’s Instagram, where she had found a teacher who wanted to incorporate lifting weights into his classroom and was spreading awareness to get him funded (he is!).

Then I started searching for terms like “sewing” and found so many classrooms (seriously, so many) that need supplies to teach kids the sort of basic Home Ec I just assumed was still going on…and teachers asking for clothing items for kids…and even things like toothbrushes and bars of soap.

On one hand, this will break your heart (and then stoke those fires of rage over how we can say we’re pro life and then not give two shits about kids who are actually born). On the other, you can help out where it’s needed, get a message from the teacher, and make a tangible difference for at least a few kids.

If you’re like me and just hearing about it, check it out! And if you’ve known about it for years, carry on.

Insert “roller skating movies” or “weightlifting”for “current thing I’m obsessed with.” From the amazing feed of Sarah Andersen.

I wasn’t going to post anything today but then Even Cleveland shared this Woody Guthrie song:

Also: ‘God Bless America’: 100 Years of an Immigrant’s Anthem

If it’s July, it’s time for the obligatory shot of the patio pots (orange flowers only, of course).

One of these summers is better than the other…

(By Matt Shirley on Instagram, making whiteboards worth it.)

To continue turning this blog into one big sports metaphor, here’s an essay by journalist Debra Hotaling about trying to find “her” sport her whole life: Sixty and Climbing (via this week’s Lenny Letter).

After weeks of failing to reach a ridiculous hold, my arms suddenly connected with it, as if I’d always known how. Where did that come from? I wondered. How did I do that? My 60-year-old body still holds surprises.

Which makes me think: What else could I do if I were able to stop silently asking permission? Or if I ignored what I thought I knew about what might happen next?

Climbing has re-taught me that there is only right now. I may not have this strong body next week or next year, so I better get moving. I don’t have time to be shy or embarrassed or worry about what anyone else thinks.