PeaceLinks launched last May as an archive of links I wanted to remember about peace, cooperation, and common ground.
As I announced last month, this post is the last issue of PeaceLinks. More and more, my other newsletter, , has become a place of cooperative writing adventures and absorbing experiments. I have also returned to work at last on a book project — something I set aside in 2020 when COVID changed everything about home and work. These ventures need time and attention.
To close this year of PeaceLinks, I’ll leave you with something of a selected shorts album, though there’s plenty more from both Substack writers and Other parts of the Internet in the archive.
Cooperative Writing
For the last month, the cooperative project at the forefront for me has been the memorial of Substack writers for Canadian short story writer Alice Munro, who died in May. The post contains annotated links aplenty to help new and familiar readers of Munro appreciate her more:
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Activism
In the year since I came across ’s and ’s , I’ve admired the commitment of both to research and writing with a sharp focus on universal human needs: clean water, justice and humane institutions, and community. Here is my original post about their newsletters from last June:
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Ways of Seeing
It’s hard to believe it was also almost a year ago that I started enjoying the humor and humanity of at and at . Elizabeth’s reflection on community and common ground last Fourth of July seemed a clear PeaceLink to me, and Sal captivated me with her introduction to “ways of seeing.”
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Body Work
Other Substack writers that I found while alert for the themes of PeaceLinks were of and of . Last July, I encountered one of Andrea’s powerful cancer monologues about the same time I watched Kimberly’s 6 1/2 minute video about her research for a documentary film exploring “the messy, uncomfortable journey of being alive” in a body beyond one’s control. I linked both amazing videos here:
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History’s Answer to Political Stalemate
When Substack erupted last winter over Nazism and other forms of hate speech on the platform, my contribution to the conversation was this investigation of Ben Franklin’s commitment to both free speech and civil discourse. No, “free speech” did not mean “absence of moral behavior” to the signers of the Constitution:
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Recovery
In February, I celebrated my one-year anniversary at Quiet Reading with a Five-Word Reading Party. A theme that emerged from many posts was recovery from various spiritual shocks and lifequakes. I gathered several of those posts together as PeaceLinks:
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There are many more excellent authors and posts featured in the PeaceLinks archive, organized by common themes. The PeaceLinks home page and archive will remain accessible, though I have no plans for additional posts at present.
If you are not a Quiet Reading subscriber, I invite you to jump to that home page and take a free subscription to the publication where I will continue to post on Mondays.
Coming up there in the next month: Two short summer interludes between bookish posts, one more collaborative writing announcement for late summer, and another famous author who made it through disappointment and dark times.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting PeaceLinks!
🙏 ✌🏼
Tara
Thanks as always, Tara! I appreciate you so much.
Thank you Tara for your initiative and great work on this Substack, and I wish you only success in all your now projects!