Productivity / life hack / well-being bloggers who aren't white?
June 12, 2016 2:37 AM Subscribe
I procrastinate by reading about being productive and complicate my life by reading about how to simplify things and read about healthy eating while eating Pringles. Lately I've kind of hit my limit for tech dude perspectives, "clean eating" blogs that feature recipes that use "Asian" as a descriptor and don't like how much of lifehacker.com is devoted to selling me the next great gadget via Amazon.
Are there self-help blogs that can scratch my itch that are written by folks with a wider range of perspectives, especially women of color? I just found about Decolonizing Yoga and was floored to find a space that is focused on both health and accessibility and equality. I'm open to a bunch of different topics - home office organization and slow cookers are all things I like to read about.
Are there self-help blogs that can scratch my itch that are written by folks with a wider range of perspectives, especially women of color? I just found about Decolonizing Yoga and was floored to find a space that is focused on both health and accessibility and equality. I'm open to a bunch of different topics - home office organization and slow cookers are all things I like to read about.
Lavendaire is a favorite of mine, her YouTube channel especially (and I believe she recently came into a book deal).
posted by nightrecordings at 4:23 AM on June 12, 2016
posted by nightrecordings at 4:23 AM on June 12, 2016
It's been a while since I followed life hack type blogs, but does Zen Habits meet your criteria? I found it quite brain-resetting back when I followed it.
posted by instamatic at 4:49 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by instamatic at 4:49 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
David Seah calls himself an investigative designer and has a bunch of free productivity tools available. Right now he's exploring his relationship with Taiwan (as someone who was born there but spent quite a bit of time in the US) on his blog.
posted by eisforcool at 7:01 AM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by eisforcool at 7:01 AM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
A Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss is really good.
posted by ananci at 11:18 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ananci at 11:18 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm also very grateful for any recommended books, instagram accounts, #hashtags, Youtube channels, basically anything written or visual. I'm U.S. based but non-U.S. (English language) resources are great too.
Thanks for the suggestions so far! Zen Habits is already on my list of regular reads so definite thumbs up. I just realized I forgot to mention Nom Nom Paleo and Neghar Fonooni (fitness) as other examples of blogs that don't explicitly focus on diversity, but whose writers' life experiences infuse the perspective. Basically, I had a minor meltdown while reading Vegan Before 6 (Mark Bittman) and feeling like his imagined reader was white. Publishers and book editors, please remember that many of your readers have various food traditions and may be of recent immigrant background!
posted by spamandkimchi at 5:00 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the suggestions so far! Zen Habits is already on my list of regular reads so definite thumbs up. I just realized I forgot to mention Nom Nom Paleo and Neghar Fonooni (fitness) as other examples of blogs that don't explicitly focus on diversity, but whose writers' life experiences infuse the perspective. Basically, I had a minor meltdown while reading Vegan Before 6 (Mark Bittman) and feeling like his imagined reader was white. Publishers and book editors, please remember that many of your readers have various food traditions and may be of recent immigrant background!
posted by spamandkimchi at 5:00 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Are you familiar with Bryant Terry's work? He is the author of Vegan Soul Kitchen and Afro-Vegan. He combines an interest in health with a tremendous respect for his family traditions. I believe he first got interested in food through research on the Black Panther's free breakfast program. I am having a little trouble finding much on his blog, but his cookbooks have a lot more than recipes in them.
posted by FencingGal at 5:56 PM on June 12, 2016
posted by FencingGal at 5:56 PM on June 12, 2016
Another Round is a Buzzfeed podcast that's big on self-care. It's hosted by two genius women who discuss pop culture through a lens of race and gender. It's so good, it's like having nurturing friends over.
Jasika Nicole is an actor and blogger, she's PoC and queer, and her blog is great- she makes her own shoes and clothing, and works really hard to be sustainable and down-to-earth.
PS omg that Bittman quote you posted is DISGUSTING. Columbus the weird brown poor people's markets and feel free to be demanding, you're the white customer and they have to serve you!!11! UGHHHHHH Ohhh damn my eyes rolled so hard they fell out and rolled away under the sofa. Thank you for asking this question!!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:59 PM on June 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
Jasika Nicole is an actor and blogger, she's PoC and queer, and her blog is great- she makes her own shoes and clothing, and works really hard to be sustainable and down-to-earth.
PS omg that Bittman quote you posted is DISGUSTING. Columbus the weird brown poor people's markets and feel free to be demanding, you're the white customer and they have to serve you!!11! UGHHHHHH Ohhh damn my eyes rolled so hard they fell out and rolled away under the sofa. Thank you for asking this question!!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:59 PM on June 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
More towards the self-help rather than self-hacking end, but I really like the work of Esme Weijun Wang.
posted by athirstforsalt at 4:30 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by athirstforsalt at 4:30 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Is it thread-sitting to try to answer my own question? ^_^ I think what I need desperately is an old-school blogroll (do people even still list blogrolls?) Two new blogs after some frantic keyword searching.
Atlanta-based Jennae Petersen's Green Your Decor
Singapore-based Agy Lee's Green Issues.
Today in physical life, I asked a radical homemaker buddy if she had any recommendations and sadly the answer was no.
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:12 PM on June 13, 2016
Atlanta-based Jennae Petersen's Green Your Decor
Singapore-based Agy Lee's Green Issues.
Today in physical life, I asked a radical homemaker buddy if she had any recommendations and sadly the answer was no.
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:12 PM on June 13, 2016
One of many things I appreciate from Esme Weijung Wang is she unapologetically deals with serious mental health issues, and demonstrates what thats like.
Under The Feminist Wire's "personal is political" tag, you'll find "emerging feminists" (principally non-white) and a positive self-care perspective.
Vegans of Color isn't being updated right now, but still has useful info on dealing with White vegans who think they know it all, as well as an extensive blogroll and a few recipes. Vegans arrive there with various philosophies.
The Body is Not an Apology, founded by African-American Sonya Renee Taylor, features essays, photographs, and guest contributors. It aims to center the voices of the non-White majority.
posted by Jesse the K at 4:34 PM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Under The Feminist Wire's "personal is political" tag, you'll find "emerging feminists" (principally non-white) and a positive self-care perspective.
Vegans of Color isn't being updated right now, but still has useful info on dealing with White vegans who think they know it all, as well as an extensive blogroll and a few recipes. Vegans arrive there with various philosophies.
The Body is Not an Apology, founded by African-American Sonya Renee Taylor, features essays, photographs, and guest contributors. It aims to center the voices of the non-White majority.
posted by Jesse the K at 4:34 PM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mdonley at 3:24 AM on June 12, 2016