Allyson Whipple

Category: Lists

  • The Best of It: Some Activism and Some Domesticity Edition

    I love her face so much.
    1. The Americans of Conscience Checklist is a free resource that provides helpful actions you can take for social justice.
    2. This list of 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
    3. This document of vetted organizations you can donate to in order to bail out protestors
    4. I did not want to clean my bathroom or kitchen this week, but I mustered up the will to do so, and now I am glad that these tasks are both done
    5. I have a great design for the quilt I’m making my aunt and uncle for Christmas

  • The Best of It: Miscellaneous Tuesday Edition

    Sunday’s dinner
    1. How Astrid gets grass stains on her face when she rolls in the yard.
    2. Caetano Veloso’s 1971 self-titled album
    3. Eating vegetables I picked fresh from my garden
    4. Sourdough bagels
    5. Pineapple smoothies

  • The Best of It: Almost Forgot to Post Edition

    Astrid loves her new squeaky fish.
    1. The lizards on my living room window, hunting bugs.
    2. Getting a pull-up bar for free. (Now will I use it?)
    3. Planning my next quilt.
    4. The pesto pasta salad that John made on Sunday.
    5. Astrid got a clean bill of health after her checkup today!

  • The Best of It: Working Weekend Edition

    Astrid loves her monkey
    1. I can finally access all of my summer course sites.
    2. I’m only teaching two sections this summer.
    3. Those sections are both the same course! Only one prep set each week!
    4. I can finally blow my nose again post-surgery, and it’s a wonderful feeling.
    5. Getting a bike repair manual, so I can learn to do my own work!

  • The Best of It: This Ended Up Being Mostly About Meat Edition

    Jerk pork with pinapple-rum sauce and mango salsa from Flavors of the Southern Coast
    1. Flavors of the Southern Coast remains my most favorite cookbook
    2. The jerk pork tenderloin recipe is especially excellent
    3. That I have learned ways of cooking pork that I actually enjoy
    4. Fiesta has an amazing meat counter
    5. Watching Astrid enjoy fried plantains

  • The Best of It: Titled Well After the Fact Edition

    Perfection
    1. Making the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.
    2. I have a haiku in the newest issue of Frogpond.
    3. I was able to have a necessary surgery to help heal a chronic sinus problem that has failed to respond to all other treatment.
    4. Revising a new piece of writing and getting really excited about the shape it’s taking.
    5. Bringing all of my laundry in from the line before the rain started.

  • The Best of It: I Still Keep Forgetting it’s a Holiday Weekend Edition

    Astrid on a picnic!
    1. Natalie Goldberg’s live call this afternoon. What fun to hear the voice of someone I’ve admired for so long!
    2. A second iteration of the Writing Down the Bones online workshop is happening! I missed the first iteration because I was finishing my MFA thesis and knew I wasn’t in a place to commit to it. I’m glad that wasn’t my only chance!
    3. The Sunday dinner that John is cooking smells amazing.
    4. I finally finished implementing the long-planned changes to my yoga teaching website.
    5. The Steel Helmet is an incredible movie. It is the only war movie which I have voluntarily watched. It is honest, brutal, bleak, and real. It really touched me.

  • The Best of It: It’s a Holiday Weekend? Edition

    The glorious homemade pasta
    1. John’s homemade pasta and pesto were incredible.
    2. Little Deli is back open for takeout!
    3. Taking Astrid on her first picnic.
    4. Being outside in nature.
    5. Having proper clippers for my quarantine haircuts.

  • The Best of It: New Friends Edition

    Astrid as we pulled away from the shelter.
    1. Sweet new dog friends!
    2. Astrid is a total sweetheart. She is pretty chill, and she loves sniffing things.
    3. Austin Pets Alive does great work. (Donate if you can!)
    4. There will be homemade pasta for dinner tonight.
    5. John made some excellent chocolate chip cookies this week.

  • The Best of It: Even in the Face of Death Edition

    David Meischen, Scott Wiggerman, myself and Wade Martin at the Georgetown Poetry Festival in 2014
    1. Though his time on Earth was far too short and his departure far too sudden, Wade Martin was a wonderful poet, collaborator, road trip companion, literary citizen, and human being. I was so lucky that he was a part of my life, and that we got to work on three years of the Texas Poetry Calendar together. I am grateful that I had a chance to be his friend.
    2. My grandfather, Rev. Paul D. Whipple, did not suffer when he passed away last week. He had a good 96 years on this planet, and was able to be healthy and active for most of them.
    3. I returned to writing practice (writing for the sake of writing, without aim of project or publication) after a long hiatus, and it feels so right.
    4. I’ve decided to go read every unread Natalie Goldberg book on my shelf until they’re all done, and so far I’m really happy with this decision.
    5. I have curry tree seeds coming my way!