Be a Cactus Podcast

Hello Friends, While this is not our “Library and Banned Books News” week, (that’s next week), I do want to mention that the Knox County, TN schools reversed the banning of Alex Haley’s Roots . And that was because of community and national blow back. Fighting back matters! Good job, book ‘freadom’ fighters! I had another cataract surgery last week, and wasn’t seeing clearly again, so I had the ch...

Hello Friends, I hope you are feeling and doing well. I have several bookish things going on lately that I hope you’ll find interesting. But first, because life is rough, here’s something I found very hopeful on Reasons to Be Cheerful . Endangered Butterflies Are Thriving Behind Bars In the tender, methodical work of rescuing an imperiled butterfly species, incarcerated women are finding a sense o...

Hello Friends, There are some things I wanted to discuss about this crazy week, so I’ll put off the final discussion of Enshittification . Next week we’re starting the new schedule of alternating the “Library and Banned Books News” with these review posts rather than having both within one week. So—next Sunday is about libraries and censorship. ¡Sí, se puede! Yes, we can! I read in two newspapers...

Hello Friends, While the frightening and exhausting aspects of life seem to overtake us, let’s not forget that good people do good work and we should keep up with that, too. Remember, every Sunday, Jess Craven posts lots of good things happening. Here’s a little thanks I got for giving blood in 2025. That felt good.  Although I am still mostly reading research books for a novel I’m working on, I’v...

Hello Friends, Tonight, I’m picking the winners for the book giveaway and will be sending the books out ASAP (hopefully tomorrow). Thanks to those who participated. Today, I’m discussing Enshittification by Cory Doctorow and then following up with some links for writers. This is a ‘Part One’ because there are many issues Doctorow illuminates, and then he concludes with some ideas for changing onli...

Hello Friends, I decided to celebrate, dive into gratitude, and relax this weekend rather than write an essay. And read a bit of a book about Mexicans in the 1920s fleeing the Cristero War as research from the novel I’m just starting. I want to celebrate that we here on Be a Cactus are now a group of over 500 subscribers, a thing I am very grateful for! So—I’m having a book giveaway for U.S. subsc...

Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.— Coretta Scott King Hello Friends, I hope you have been enjoying the Olympics. We had a birthday celebration this weekend, and I got to try a Himalayan restaurant (Indian, Nepali, and Tibetan food) and have ultra-chocolatey cake (recipe below). I’m also happy that my vision has cleared up a...

Hello Friends, Here’s another set of quotes from Sojourners I thought you’d like: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. - 1 John 4:18 may the tide / that is entering even now / the lip of our understanding / carry you out / beyond the face of fear - Lucille Clifton, “blessing the boats” A...

Hello Friends, I’m writing this a bit early because I’m going out of town, first, to attend the life celebration of a friend’s mother, and then to go with my friends to hear George Saunders in Santa Cruz as he tours for his new novel Vigil . I confess: my husband wanted the audiobook, so I listened to Vigil the day it launched. My friends and I will be getting signed copies at the event, and then...

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9 “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced,” —James Baldwin “People can cry much easier than they can change.” —James Baldwin Hello Friends, I missed posting last Sunday because I was sick for a week over the holidays. I have a lot...

I had finished writing this post but hadn’t gotten a chance to record it yet when I heard the news that people were shot, injured, and killed at Brown University. Thoughts and prayers, yes, but without systemic change, our “unthinkable nightmare” will continue to be routine. Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me. - Isabel Allende Hello Friends, I don’t kno...

Hello Friends, Everyone I know is focused on giving right now, which is pretty nice. However, I found myself getting stressed out on ‘Giving Tuesday’ because there were innumerable worthy groups I wanted to contribute to. I did manage many by carrying over to Wednesday. One thing I don’t like is when I donate to a charity, and they send me an email the next day saying something like ‘There’s still...

Hello Friends, I hope you’ve had a long weekend full of gratitude and blessings. My husband and I did a lot of cooking and housecleaning. Holidays make me feel my age. For years, I would never leave dirty dishes from holiday cooking on the counters/in the sink overnight. I couldn’t stand the idea of waking up and having to deal with the mess. Now I can’t stand dealing with the mess on the day of t...

To be the instrument of God’s peace is not to confine oneself to the field of personal relationships, but to concern oneself also with the problems of human society, hunger, poverty, injustice, cruelty, exploitation, war. - Alan Paton There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. - Nelson Mandela Hello Friends, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiv...

The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary. - Ursula K. Le Guin Hello Friends, Is there any way to have a conversation without talking about the events of the past week or so? (Hint: No.) Recently, I had a very kind friend reach out about a Substack post...

Hello Friends, I had what I think of as a ‘short week.’ I was catching up after last weekend’s screw up with having my car locked in a parking garage . Thursday and Friday, I spent out in the IE again. I took my husband and his aunt to the Ontario Airport for their trip to see relatives in Portland. (Maybe they will catch some great inflatable costumes.) I was able to go to the California Botanic...

Hello Friends, Life is becoming something, isn’t it? I know we aren’t supposed to allow others to live rent-free in our heads, but the Trump administrators are certainly in mine. I have been having weird dreams about them because I can’t stop seeing what they are doing in the world and the racist, hate-filled posts they are throwing up endlessly. This was just so weird (and racist and hateful): Tr...

You might as well answer the door, my child, the truth is furiously knocking. - Lucille Clifton Hello Friends, I saw that a lot of you enjoy quotes—I love them, too, and have so many saved—so I’ll include them regularly. Here’s one for those of you who are writers, from Narratively : Ultimately, the masterful words of Baldwin from a 1979 interview with The New York Times , sums up the essentiality...

Hello Friends, What a strange and horrible week. Shootings so close together that one at a school in Colorado is largely put aside to focus on the killing of Charlie Kirk. There seems to be no way to get away from that as the central story of our country. And while it seems that everyone, people of all ideologies, are condemning it—rightfully so—they are also saying things like: “This is not who w...

Hello Friends, Today I’d like to look at and recommend—or not—some of my recent reading: Flashlight by Susan Choi , The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola, and for kids, How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico. Before I dive in, I thought you might be interested in some news pertinent to readers: * Reading for Pleasure has Plummeted More than 40% [in the last 20 years] from the Los Angeles Ti...

Hello Friends, On this holiday weekend as we celebrate workers, we are also mourning children, victims of another senseless school (church/Catholic school) shooting. I’m thinking a lot about children and how we value them (or don’t). So—today’s post revolves around that. Before we get to it: If you’re having a terrible time getting creative work done, this thought from Junot Diaz is good to keep i...

Hello Friends! I thought that today I’d be discussing some books I’ve read recently. Instead, I find myself in the middle of five different books, all unfinished. I usually read two books at once and listen to an audiobook as well. I’m not sure how I’ve gotten so out of control. But here I am 😊. I did finish In the Philippines and Okinawa : A Memoir, 1945-1948 by Robert H. Ferrell and William S....

Note: If the end of this post cuts off in your email, you can click the title to view on your web browser, view in the Substack App or even listen to the audio. Hello Friends, Another year, another mammogram! I know it’s important. If you are not part of the subset of human beings who needs their mammos grammed, I’ll just note that the ‘flattened like a pancake’ trope isn’t entirely accurate. It’s...

Hey Now Friends, We made it through another week. I’ve been reading about private equity and that made me realize I need to turn to reading something fun for the next few books. Take a break and recharge. As I’ve been collecting the ‘library and banned books news’ for Fridays, I’m seeing a number of stories about Judy Blume’s Forever being newly banned in various school districts. That book is mor...

Hello Friends, I’m still in the same boat with my skin rash which has kept me from a party and some appointments, including one to give blood. On Friday I got some new medication that also doesn’t work (strike two). As I understand it, the doctor says the next thing to do is to try a strong steroid, like Prednisone. At this point, I’m up for anything that will work. Meanwhile, I’ve been following...