Originally intended to simply focus on book reviews, over time, KaliDesautelsReads has morphed into its own entity.
I write about issues that are near to my heart, be they political, feminist, motherhood, mental health, or, as the title holds, books.
A thirty-something Canadian woman in my mid-thirties, I have been “super married” to my high school sweetheart since 2006, and together we have two crazy, clever, kind, hilarious, wonderful kids.
My first book – How Not To Blog: Finding Myself, One Post at a Time is available on Amazon (in eBook formats for you clever tech readers, and paperback for those of us who love that new book smell!)
I have tried a podcast – it’s still on Apple and Google Podcasts – but writing is where my heart is.
My life changed dramatically when my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in 2018, and I am now a writer for a leading Canadian Cancer Non-Profit.
I am lucky enough to have a family that loves me and pushes me to be my best, even if it is outside of my cushiony comfort zone. I have a village of friends that nourish me, mentally, and spiritually.
Welcome to my thoughts. Sit down. Stay a while. Enjoy a cup of coffee!
As always, taking a quote out of context means that we are imposing upon it our reading of just those words, without any understanding of what the overlying meaning is.
So, I have decided to include the entire letter by Jonathan Swift, so that you might understand fully what he wrote, in his falsely yours letter.
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My dear,
If I could wish upon you one thing it would be this:
May you not dwell in the past. Whatever the past was, it’s gone. Whether the past was dastardly awful or outrageously wonderful, it is gone. Leave it behind.
May you not dwell in the future. Thinking of that which you shall do. Because, before you realize it, you shan’t. The problem with dwelling in the future is that it’s perfect. Terribly so! In the future you’re happy, beautiful, in love, famous, rich, and successful… somehow. And it…
Today is a great day to smash the patriarchy! Join me for a Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee! No, it does not taste like mushroom. It’s a super delicious coffee that provides alertness and extra focus from the lions mane and chaga mushroom powder.
Until June 28th, you can receive up to 50% off any purchase of over $99 with the discount code KALIDESAUTELSREADS.
The only way to unpack my white privilege is to gain perspective from people of colour who suffer because of it. Social equity starts with looking in the mirror and acknowledging our contribution to inequity. As a white, cisgender, heteronormative, Western/Anglo-Christian Feminist, it is my duty to pull back these veils and to fight for intersectionality. I encourage everyone to do the same. @renieddolodge #whyimnolongertalkingtowhitepeopleaboutrace #whiteprivilege #privilege #intersectionalfeminism #intersectionality #intersectional #feminism #feminist #blacklivesmatter #equity #social #justice #travelreading #read #reading #book #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookworm #bookish #kalidesautelsreads #followback #follow #discussion
I am tired. I really wanted to take a break, and write some fluffy fiction, then watch an episode of Supernatural while I ate my frozen cherries and coconut chunks (trust me, if you are in a hot climate, it is worth a try). I was set to just settle in and be utterly useless for an hour or two, but then? Then I noticed something that stopped me in my tracks, and got my blood pumping with anger and frustration and disappointment in the utter stupidity of people.
I am one of the lucky beta testers of a new app called Journal that allows users to save and organize anything from any site, or app, or even just out of our brains. It is pretty great, and I will certainly be mentioning it again soon, but this is not the time. I am following Shaun King and the Grassroots Law Project on every single social media platform, email address, and website that I can, and tonight on Journal I noticed that he had posted the following article on Medium:
SHAUN KING: A Private Law Enforcement Group on Facebook is Literally Plotting to Kill Me
A private group of former military, law enforcement, and NRA members are calling him anti-American and discussing how best to kill him. Yes, kill him. For what? Because in their eyes he is a “Commie”, and a “Marxist”, and is therefore un-American, anti-American, and worth “toss[ing] from a helicopter” or shooting with a “sniper”.
Before you come forward with your ‘Oh come on, it was a private group! They were just making jokes!’ please note that organizing a group who are “sharp shooters” to find where he lives, to kill a father, a husband, a person is NOT a joke. There is nothing funny about it. These are not things that a normal, decent, good person would ever, should ever think let alone say out loud or type into a group on social media.
In my outrage and anger at the initial message, I tweeted that this is systemic racism, without stopping to think that this is in fact not systemic racism – this is hate.
Systemic racism is what caused these white, gun-toting angry men and women – oh yes, according to King’s article, the initial post was by a white woman, so park your assumptions – to believe that a man of color who is calling out the system that has resulted in centuries of people in positions of power to literally and figuratively kneel on the necks of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) is anti-American and in need of assassination.
Do you know who else was killed in pursuit of equal rights for BIPOC? Killed in pursuit of the very minimumof rights for humans? Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Brother Malcolm X. el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Rev. George Lee, Lamar Smith, John Earl Reese, Willie Edwards, Jr., Mack Charles Parker, Herbert Lee, Louis Allen, Cpl. Roman Ducksworth, Jr., Johnnie Mae Chappell, Henry Hezekiah Dee, Charles Eddie Moore, James Earl Chaney, Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Oneal Moore, Willie Brewster, Samuel Leamon Younge Jr., Ben Chester White, Clarence Triggs, Wharlest Jackson, Benjamin Brown, Samuel Ephesians Hammond, Jr., Delano Herman Middleton, Henry Ezekiel Smith… to name literally a few.
If we stand by and watch, and do not stand up to people who are professing evil and harm, we are professing evil and harm. We cannot stand here and quietly allow more and more black bodies to be added to a never ending list because we are too comfortable in our white heteronormative patriarchal system. We cannot allow this to continue. We cannot decide that BIPOC must do the work that protects themselves from the systems and people that are supposed to protect all people because we are tired and wanted to watch Supernatural and eat frozen fruit. We cannot decided that our comfort is worth MORE than a person or people’s lives. We simply cannot. We cannot decide that it is inconvenient to stop atrocities from being meted out upon our brethren. It is inconvenient to be dead. We are not worth more than anyone else. And do not return with ‘we are also not worth less’ – it is not about us in any way other than to fix what we have wrought, and to burn down a system that sees First Nations women go missing by the thousands and black bodies thrown from balconies like trash.
This system is killing people for white, heteronormative, patriarchal, Anglo-Christian comfort.
Posted @withregram • @pchza My series of summer workshops and seminars kicks off tonight! Make sure you sign up at personaldisclosures.org. And don’t forget that they offer scholarships. Email tellus@personaldisclosures.org for details.
Dr Bonnie Henry is the most calming force of 2020. Leading BC through the ongoing COViD-19 pandemic, her calm, clear, and kind leadership has been a force that has flattened the curve in our province more quickly than anyone could have anticipated.
She has been working for nearly 200 days straight, providing daily press briefings live on air, with both statistics, facts and an overall sense of both urgency and understanding. She has avoided fear mongering, resisted calls to police social distancing protocols, and has made this unusual life event less surreal and more understandable than anyone I have seen or read.
For that reason, in addition to her lifelong experiential bank of knowledge and skill, in addition to her killer sense of style, I have developed the biggest woman crush on Dr Henry. She is a role model for leadership, strength, resilience, and quiet sense of humour.
This week’s WCW is one of the strongest women that I have ever known and the only one that I truly believed that I willed into existence for a long time. @clothedinthesunandmoon is my baby sister, and also my mentor. She is so strong and so tough that people forget that she has a soft heart underneath her tough exterior. She has always gotten my references and my jokes and our inane conversations are some of my favourite things on earth. Working towards her PhD, she has fascinating thoughts and inspires those of us around her to think about things differently. She is a second Mama to my kids, and has taken every single shot that life has thrown at her, stacked them in the corner and moved forwards. She is brave, brilliant, strong willed, and thoughtful. She is raising an amazing feminist son, and helping me to find my…
When the term “mansplaining” pops up, Rebecca Solnit instantly comes to mind. Her essays are darkly funny, and amazingly powerful. I am blessed to know many feminist men, and am proud to be married to a man wearing a #heforshe tshirt at this very moment, but I have also sat with my right eyebrow cocked in disbelief as men “explain” things to me that I already know, or regurgitate something that I have just said. I first read Solnit’s slim essay volume almost a year ago, and continue to find it a source of pleasure, amusement and recognition. Please pick it up. It is worth it. #mansplain #read #kalidesautelsreads #positive via @RiplApp #menexplainthingstome #rebeccasolnit #essay #essays #essayist #bookstagram #books #bookshelf #rereading #read #reading #reader #feminism #feminist #feministlit #iconic #bibliophile #blogger #blog #review
I can’t stop pinching myself! I cannot believe that there is a real book with my real name that is really for sale!!!!
I am so grateful to everyone who has checked out the book, and everyone who has bought the book, or shared the book, or reviewed the book!! It means sooooo much to me!!!
Would you like to check out the book?? Shop here!!
Kali J Desautels 