Nablopomo for September: Heal

I opened Second outbreak of Ebola in Congo and other Ebola news with a program note.

This month's Nablopomo theme is Heal.  I'll get around to posting the usual entry about the theme later.

It's later.  Here's what the email said.

America is hurting right now following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and we're taking a month to start the healing process by asking you not to be quiet but instead to take to your blogs to talk through your thoughts. Why is it so difficult for us to speak about race? And how did you process this recent violence?

Those are good questions that I won't answer right now, although I did start working through the issues in The science of tear gas from Discovery News, which was the most popular entry during August with 211 page views.  That's the kind of tack I've been taking with the event over at Join the Coffee Party Movement's Facebook page.  I'll see if I can retrieve the links I've posted there.

Beyond that, as R.E.M. famously said, "everybody hurts." This is a month where we're going to talk about what we do to be kind to ourselves when we need to encourage our hearts to heal.

If I wanted to write those kind of entries, I'd still be blogging on my LiveJournal.  That's why I'm going to mostly ignore the prompts.  Just the same, there are other kinds of healing I can discuss that are more in keeping with the general subject of this blog, such as advances in health and preparations for the future to make it healthier and more sustainable.  I have enough of those in my archive that I can do with them what I did for Nourish, post a food and nutrition entry a day.  I enjoyed doing that.

You can read more about the new NaBloPoMo theme on our opening post.

Follow over the jump for the passages from the home page.

Now, the website.

So, what is the theme of the month?
HEALING
America needs to heal after the events of Ferguson, Missouri. An upsetting event gave way to upsetting coverage, and once again, America is both screaming for a discussion on race while simultaneously sweeping it under the rug.

As bloggers, our best tool for healing is the written word, so we are going to ask you to write your way toward healing this month. Whether you were emotionally affected by the shooting of Michael Brown, or have another event in your life where you need to find healing, we hope that you will take the month to write about your situation and take the words off of your heart.

As I wrote above, I'm going to focus on threats to and advances in health, both physical and mental, as well as ways to heal our relationship to the planet and society.  If I write about any personal traumas, I promise they will be in relationship to a larger sustainability-related issue.  An example would be how I've handled my ambivalent relationship with drum corps, which I think is an endangered cultural institution.  Besides, I like being the only sustainability blogger who writes about The Activity.

Sign up for September's NaBloPoMo and help each other heal.

I did and am 49th on the blogroll.