The Whole Is Greater than the Parts
Also checking on a PeaceLink alumnus and the Books in Every Home project
Welcome to PeaceLinks, an archive of links about peace, cooperation, and the middle ground. The marvelous image of a seventeenth-century glass mosaic inspired this month’s prevailing theme of parts and wholes.
At the end of the post, we’ll check in on an author featured previously in PeaceLinks and also on the children’s literacy project that paid subscribers are currently supporting.
Readers of my other Substack,
, may have noticed that I already mentioned over there ’s inaugural post about a community garden that exceeded the vision of its creators in West Yorkshire. But it’s worth mentioning twice the cooperative outpouring that occurred in Todmorden, profiled well by Safar. After transforming the visual, nutritional, and cultural life of one town, the community garden seemed to be jumping to other locales:
For
, journalist visited the Iowa State Fair in August, trying to understand the great rift between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. right now. While he felt politically and culturally out of place, “the idea of going to war (what else do we mean by “national divorce”?) with any of the people I spoke to—many of whom, Trump voters or not, did not fall neatly into any ideological camp—felt so very wrong.”I found the quick response of the young woman at the 4:00-minute mark in the video most surprising. She’s not interested in any of the big-ticket issues. She just thinks she can’t trust anyone who doesn’t work as hard as she does. At least, that’s what I heard:
of Inner Peace started a list of moments that made his heart sing. Somehow these items on the list reminded me of those shards of glass at Winchester Cathedral. Can you guess the length of his list?
And just in case shorter days, darker nights, and periods of anxiety are getting folks down, therapist
at offers this affirmation:You are not in trouble.
They are not secretly mad at you.
You are inherently good.
You are safe.
And so ends the regular PeaceLinks buffet — a cluster of posts that speak to each other, at least in my head — about some aspect of peace, cooperation, or middle ground. The rest is new to the monthly format.
PeaceLink Alumni Corner
After a full summer of weekly posts, PeaceLinks has built up an archive of inspiring authors spreading peace and cooperation. Now that we’re posting monthly, I’ll give a little space to checking back on a formerly featured author, or perhaps a PeaceLinks subscriber (or both) here near the end of the post.
I enjoyed discovering
’s this summer because I am originally from the Puget Sound area of Washington State — John’s adopted home — and his title struck me as especially clever and loaded with possibilities from whimsy to serious community engagement — all of which one finds in John’s posts. Lately he and his wife have been traveling in Finland, and John’s eye for everything related to water is eminently satisfying. The island dwellers go island-hopping half a globe from home, with rain and beaches as though they’d never left. Climate change and clean water are never far from mind. But some moments are decidedly new, as you’ll see.John has become a great ambassador for PeaceLinks (for which, many thanks!) and was the swiftest subscriber to sign up for the optional paid level of subscription — an act of sheer generosity since all posts here are free.
Check out this recent post for some beautiful photos and John’s keen eye for all things watery in Finland:
Update from Books in Every Home, the Fall Charity
If you saw last month’s post on children’s literacy, you know that paid subscriptions are a new option at PeaceLinks, and you know that I timed the activation of a paid option to provide an extra source of support for a project at my university called Books in Every Home.
In this project, university students buy books for early elementary-aged children and deliver them to families with a high level of economic need. This year’s class has sorted and catalogued our current books on hand, reserved space on our quad during Homecoming Weekend for publicity, and started work on the fundraising site that will go live around the end of this month. They are an energetic, creative group, full of initiative!
If you decide to sign up for a paid subscription at any level this month, a portion of your subscription will be sent on to Books in Every Home.
ALSO, if you pay for a subscription to PeaceLinks and would like full, paid access to my other newsletter, Enchanted in America, email me at peacelinks@substack.com to request 2-for-1. (It doesn’t happen automatically, so the email is an important step.)
Thank you for reading and sharing. It is a privilege to carry on this project and be moved regularly by so many fine writers with their eye on better things. 🙏 See you back here on the 3rd Friday in October!
/TAH-ra/
This is lovely! Thank you so much for the mention, Tara, and the wonderful shares. I absolutely adored John Lovie's post!