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Torii Gate made of speakers in Kamiyama, Tokushima. You can connect your phone to it and play anything.

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A League of Her Own

Lesbian (sports) bar in DC

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25 Black-owned bookstores you can support right now

while i don’t claim to be a “book blogger” by any account (more of a cranky publishing-person blogger most days), i know a lot of people have followed me through my book posts, so i’m taking advantage of that captive audience to boost these bookstores. shop them through their own websites and if you’re local, look into curbside pickup to minimize shipping costs and overhead. okay that’s all thanks bye stay safe.

the lit bar (a personal favorite and the bronx’s one remaining bookstore)

hariett’s bookshop

semicolon bookstore

mahogany books

uncle bobbie’s

loyalty bookstore

dare books

listening tree books

underground books

multicultural bookstore

pyramid books

black dot bookstore

brain lair books

medu bookstore

wild fig books and coffee

frugal bookstore

olive tree books

detroit book city

cafe con libros

revolution books

sisters uptown bookstore

source booksellers

hakim’s bookstore

sankofa books and cafe

turning page bookshop

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In June I traveled to the coast with a visiting friend. While hiking at the Carolina Beach State Park, we ran into a local who asked if we had seen any carnivorous plants during our hike. Venus flytraps are endemic to the area, but they are threatened due to poaching. We hadn’t seen any yet. He suggested we check out what he described as “the carnivorous plants near Whole Foods.” We were only there for a day trip and still had plans to swim in the ocean, so at first we didn’t pay much attention to his vague directions. Later in the day, we decided to check it out anyway - after a Google hunt, we discovered the place he was talking about, the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden. It was an whimsical little garden tucked away behind an elementary school, lush with a variety of carnivorous plants. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in the Wilmington, NC, area. 

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Monet’s Pond, Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Credit: Hidenobu Suzuki

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The Aoyama Flower Market Tea House in Tokyo 🌸

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If the conditions are just right, you can see a spectacular sight at Congaree National Park in South Carolina. These “rainbow pools” are not a sign of pollution, but a natural occurrence that can be caused by one of two things. Many times they are the result of decaying vegetation, especially cypress cones and needles, that release their natural oils. The other cause can be bacteria breaking down iron in the soil. Combined with very still waters, a few days without rain, and the correct angle of the light, and you can see shimmering colors floating on the water. Photo by National Park Service.

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The Oval,  Naoshima Island, Japan, designed by architect Tadao Ando