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Britnie Dates

@bdates

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We often describe the feeling of being watched as an unnerving one, but perhaps depends on who’s watching. Being held by the gaze of a century old pear tree is no discomfort at all. In this continuation of their conversation @bdates and @obiekweokolo suggest that surrendering to the idea that we are held by the natural world around us might be the first step to mutual flourishing and care.

On their last day of production in Amsterdam, BitterSweet contributors Britnie and Obiekwe recorded Field Notes — reflections on the place, the process and the people we meet while doing this work.

What could that surrender look like in your life? Read the full piece at BitterSweetMonthly.com

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This week we released our newest feature, “Hands That Gather the Salt of the Earth.”

On their last day of production in Amsterdam, BitterSweet contributors @bdates and @obiekweokolo recorded Field Notes — reflections on the place, the process and the people we meet while doing this work.

In the first, Britnie asks: how do we create environments where life can thrive? And she challenges us to choose the thing that isn’t easy, but that actually cares for others.

Share your answer to Britnie’s question in the comments — and read the full piece at BitterSweetMonthly.com

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TLDR: this is the final issue of our Cairn experiment. The third in a series that you don't want to miss—available now at MadeByBitterSweet.com!

Long story long: Last year we felt a pull to the real—stories you can hold in your hands and that live collectively in the room. From that pull, Cairn was born. An invitation, a collective act, in person and in print. We committed ourselves to three issues and three events. A way to check our community's appetite for this work. We've come now to our final issue "Fully Alive."

We are not treating “life to the full” as code for comfort, success, or material abundance. Instead, we are looking for lives that seem mysteriously widened from the inside out, often in the very places where loss, limitation, or injustice have closed in. We’ll sit with refugees, recovering addicts, and returning citizens who have wrestled vitality out of circumstances designed to crush it. We’ll linger with artists, gardeners, teachers, and builders whose daily work is to coax beauty and meaning into being. We will pay attention to neighborhoods, parishes, and unlikely communities where interdependence becomes a kind of shared heartbeat. And we’ll look to the natural world to further inspire this tale as old as time.

Let this Cairn be a marker for you along the way, a reminder that even in seasons that feel stripped and bare, the invitation to live life to the full is still being offered. May these words and images embolden you to protect, nurture, and share it.

Order your beacon. Mark your way.

And Join us in person May 7th at 6pm in Culture House DC, for our final marker in the wilderness.

Check the links in our bio!

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“The way we follow is measured and known by love. For all, for all of time. As practical and bodily as it is abstract and esoteric. The more excellent way.” — @kschmidgall

“And I will show you a still more excellent way,” Paul writes to the early church in Corinth. This fragment verse—“a still more excellent way”—sits wedged between one of the most broadly debated chapters of Saint Paul’s writings and one of the most celebrated. From a discourse on spiritual gifts and what it means to be members of one body, this pivotal line launches us into the Love Chapter.

Seen as often in the decor section of Home Goods as it is heard read at weddings—religious and not—the Love Chapter goes like this: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

It is our ideal—the more excellent way. No matter how spiritually powerful or knowing or pious we are, without love we are likened to clanging cymbals, noisy gongs, and nothing at all. “The biblical ethic to love our neighbor as ourself is what’s in jeopardy among us,” warns Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar and teacher in BitterSweet's Provocations series.

“Cairn Vol. TWO: A More Excellent Way” is now available on madebybittersweet.com. Initial fulfillment will be on January 29, at the Cairn Vol. TWO event. But magazines will be available for shipping in the US after that.

Contributors: @bdates , @stevejeter , @kschmidgall , @andrewdecort , @dave.hillis , @revjenbailey , Walter Brueggemann, @rauscheliot, @ericabakerphoto, @schmidgall, Lori Parkerson, Lily DeCort, @aquartey_ , @minsongkim, @obiekweokolo, Avery Marks, Adama, Fatima, Khadija, Hindatu, Salima, Zainab, Amina, Salaha, Dayyaba, Fiddausi, Hani.

Design by @riskerbach

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Cashing in on the gift that @whateverjewel (while interning at @Spotify) gave the world in 2019. We present to you, your 2024 BitterSweet Wrapped!

Here are your favorite (most read) #madebybittersweet feature stories & short form articles of the year! If you haven’t read these give them a read. If you think another story or article belongs in the top 5 let us know in the comments.

As always you can find links to all our pieces in the bio above 👆🏾and share your favorites with your friends.

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This Thanksgiving Day, we are giving thanks for YOU
— our 2024 donors and volunteers for your generous contributions. Your support is fuel for BitterSweet Monthly, allowing our team to tell stories that reject cynicism, defy apathy, and celebrate good in our world.

Your efforts enable us to craft narratives that have a lasting impact. We appreciate your commitment to our vision and your contributions toward a hopeful future.

#Gratitude #Thanksgiving #SupportStorytelling #CelebrateGood #BitterSweetlmpact

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there were the bad days that i got into a habit of calling every day.
then there was the sunrise, always surprised to see me
& i, it.

there was the fear i would lose my name
& my face.

& there was a prayer i didn’t realise i was praying
until i looked at my busy, pained hands.

good grief. good gracious. good god.
joy.
i woke up
& i woke up loved.

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This month we decided to take a moment outside of our normal cycle of organization-centered stories and asked a few contributors to reflect on the topic of “Transitions”. Moving from one state of being into another is one of the very few guarantees of the human condition. Whether from job to job, home to home, bondage to wilderness to liberation, or winter to spring. - all of us at any given time are in a state of transition.

Between the Stone and the Star, we find a ritual to mark the start of a personal sabbath, an exploration of the liminal, a warning against numbness, and more. Read the full story at BitterSweetMonthly.com via the link in our bio.

Contributions from:
@bdates
@kschmidgall
@obi.stg
@robert.winship
@schmomalley
Dave Schmidgall

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theTwelve was birthed out of a question; or rather, many questions. In the midst of a year marked by uncertainty, loss, and change, with the opportunity to bring a physical space to life, we gathered together to explore the thoughts on our minds and hearts: What if we held everything in life as sacred? Every breath, every thought, every word, every action? What if we saw ourselves in our neighbor’s face? Took the time to find meaning in every exchange? Connected the dots to every decision we make with its larger outcome? How would these decisions make the planet better and healthier, impact other humans, impact ourselves? How would our world change?
The word “experiment” found its way into the descriptor of this project because we honestly didn’t know how it was going to go. But, if we treat life as one great experiment, rather than holding back from fear of the unknown, fear of judgement or criticism, fear of challenges, complications and hard work, beautiful things can be accomplished. They might not be perfect (is anything, really, ever?), but perfection should not be the goal. The goal is intentionality, and life-long learning—making sure to regroup so as to not lose sight of the purpose…to not lose sight of the things that matter.
This past year has been a blessing of Beloved Community modeled. More love, more unity, more justice, peace + abundance for all. With the year and the project behind us, the weight of our individual and collective responsibility to one another still impresses upon us urgently.
Love is a long game. Love is inconvenient. Love requires sacrifice and considering the other as important as the self. It asks us to embrace the preciousness and fragility of life and to not be so quick to return to ways that do not serve us. It’s a constant decision to be made each day. And it is not easy, and we falter and fail. But then we try again the next day. And it is always, always, worth it. WITH LOVE ALWAYS~ theTwelve

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TODAY + TOMORROW | We’ve been working hard to transform all 3,600 square feet of our space, and specifically theGallery into a sustainability showcase of vintage wares, design, apparel and art.

Each of our three spaces is filled to the brim with consciously curated goods, both old and new, to help you make thoughtful decisions about what you bring into your life and home. You can shop inside of theShop, theGallery and theLiving Room this week!

theGallery has been transformed and is composed of beautiful vignettes around a theme — my favorite of which has been brewing for a year — Lamp City (born of my personal problem/love of accent lighting).

Come by, get inspired, hang out, redesign for Fall, let us help you zhuzh up your spaces.

Love you. See you soon 🤍🏺🌳

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Y’all. This portrait of Britnie and Mademoiselle Ficus Audrey makes our hearts happy. When we first got into plants, the fiddle leaf fig is what stole our hearts and the hearts and eyes of millions around the world. In this year of 2021, Ficus Audrey has stolen the #1 position as most wanted, designer IT plant. And frankly, we 100% understand why. Stunning foliage that’s soft to the touch. Elegant graceful winding of its branches and leaves. We got two amazing anchor trees in the shop this week, and they are HUGE. Nearly 6 feet tall and super bushy at the top with elegantly hand braided trunks. Super special. Why haven’t you gotten your hands on one yet? 🌱

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Drinking from the cup of endless possibilities.

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