Embody Lib's Top 5 Fave's of 2023

No frills and to the point. I am so grateful for your support and wish you an excellent 2024!

Top 5 Books I Read

5. Except for Palestine by Marc Lamont Hill

   

4. American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress by Wesley Lowery

   

3. Inflamed by Rupa Marya & Raj Patel

   

2. White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind by Koa Beck

   

1. They Called Us Exceptional by Prachi Gupta

   

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Top 5 Shows I watched

5. The Bear (FX & Hulu)

   

4. What We do in the Shadows (FX & Hulu)

   

3. The Righteous Gemstones (MAX)

   

2. Beef (Netflix)

   

1. The Curse (Showtime & Paramount)

   

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Top 5 Podcast Episodes

5. "In 1962, segregationists set up "Reverse Freedom Rides", Code Switch

   

   4. "No Food is better than bad Food: An Interview with Dr. Lustig", Making It Awkward Pod

      

   3. "Institutional Anti-fatness with Marquisele Mercedes and Monica Kriete", Death Panel

      

   2. "Seeing Ourselves through the Darkness", The Gray Area

      

      1. "Hamas w/ Tareq Baconi", The Dig

      

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Top 5 Quotes that Moved Me

“Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it.”

― Bayard Rustin

“Self is.
Self is body and bodily
perception. Self is thought, memory,
belief. Self creates. Self destroys.
Self learns, discovers, becomes.
Self shapes. Self adapts. Self
invents its own reasons for being.
To shape God, shape Self.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

“We come to know people when we grieve with them through stories and rituals. It is how we can build real solidarity, the kind that points us to the world we want to live in—and our role in fighting for it….America’s greatest social movements—for civil rights, immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, union organizing, queer and trans rights, farmworkers’ rights, indigenous sovereignty, and black lives—were rooted in the solidarity that came from shared grieving. First people grieved together. Then they organized together….When people who have no obvious reason to love each other come together to grieve, they can give birth to new relationships, even revolutions.”

—Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger, Chapter 2

If I must die, 

you must live 

to tell my story 

to sell my things 

to buy a piece of cloth 

and some strings, 

(make it white with a long tail) 

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza 

while looking heaven in the eye 

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze— 

and bid no one farewell 

not even to his flesh 

not even to himself— 

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above 

and thinks for a moment an angel is there 

bringing back love 

If I must die 

let it bring hope 

let it be a tale

- Refaat Alareer, Palestinian Poet (1979-2023)

"All Organizing is Science Fiction" Another World Is Possible: 2018 Feinberg Series, Walidah Imarisha

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Top 5 Meals or Dining Experiences

5. Burrito Ranchero Food Truck near the Glenstone Museum

4. Afternoon Tea at the Peacock Room of the DC Waldorf Astoria

   

3. Spirit Free Cocktails at Allegory

   

2. Whole Dorade from Irwin Upstairs in Philadelphia

1. Crab Claws from the Mosquito Supper Club in New Orleans

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Top 5 Self-Care Products

5. One Love Organics Vitamin E Eye Balm

4. Calabash Loose Leaf Tea: Oshun's Kiss (ignore the diet culture label)

3. Lanman & Kamp Florida Water Air Freshener and Deodorizer

2. Youth To The People Superfood Cleanser

1. Hi Bar Bergamot + Cedar Deodorant