replacements, 1 (introduction)

what would happen if we simply said "no?"

What a strange, surreal month it’s been. The United States, it seems, always has a knack for starting a year with a bang—though, for once, I’d love it to be a good one. With the devastating fires in California, social media bans and reinstatements, major governmental shifts, and consequential shocks to many people’s daily lives in our country, it appears as if, only a mere 25 days in, the tumult of 2025 has only just begun.

Since 2016, it’s been a struggle for me to figure out how to engage with the news/media/current events without spiraling into worry/doomscrolling/panic/pointless social media posting that results in no change whatsoever, other than my soul feeling much worse than I was before I opened up my phone.

Now of course, I am not saying that the proper course of action is to go live in a commune far away from the chaos of what is America. I’m a big proponent of being an active participant in our cities and communities, from schools, to churches, to getting coffee at the same few local places to invest in our neighborhood.

So what do we do? How do we do this well?

Over the last eight years, I think the key rests in this fact: it is not so much what we consume (necessarily, of course there are major exceptions), but how we consume it. Do we spend our days watching 30-second videos of people (on all sides) giving us their best-educated-guess-opinion-diatribe-on-the-days-event-to-establish-some-semblance-of-control-over-their-own-lives, after our senses are lulled to sleep by people making us sort-of-chuckle under our breath, after our brains are numbed out and more susceptible to fear mongering, dizzying narrative spins, and almost-truths?

I’ve tried to quit social media more than once (per week). It’s hard. But as my counselor once said to me, “It never works to just stop doing something. You have to replace it with something else.”

Some of you might be thinking, “I don’t struggle with social media. It doesn’t stress me out at all, and I’m great at managing my time.” (I don’t believe you, but okay). To that, I would say to you: whether or not it stresses you out, constant bite-sized consumption is holistically, all around, terrible for you.

Humans are not meant to consume the amount that we do, at the rate at which we do. Full stop.

But we can’t just quit it. We have to replace it with something better.

What would happen if we all dropped our phones, stopped watching reels that shorten our attention span and divide our collective intelligence by half, and plopped down to read a book, or a poem, or a play? Or wrote in our journal instead of on the internet? (I know, I know, I see the irony here). What would happen if we stopped consuming the garbage we’re allowing the algorithm and those behind it to feed us, and decided to engage with thoughtful, smart, well-made, intentional art at least once a day?

What would happen if we did this together? What would change in our lives? How would we view those around us? What would the ripple effect be? How would we view ourselves? What would happen if we simply said no?

Here at Bird Songs and Saints, in this year of our Lord 2025, that’s what I’d like to do (together). At least once per day, pick up a piece of art (poem, film, novel, well-researched book, etc.) instead of our little pet screens, and gave our attention to that? Once per month, for paid subscribers, I’ll be offering 3-5 recommendations of (what I believe is) excellent art with which to engage, encourage, motivate, delight and sooth your brain, heart, and soul.

And I have some good news: the anniversary sale is still on through the end of January so you can subscribe to get these recommendations and musings for 20-25% off the regular price, plus a bunch of other great benefits (only $60/year, which is a mere $5/month!)

If this sounds amazing to you, but you don’t want to pay for a subscription, that’s also fine! Carry on your merry way and consider creating a practice like this for yourself. I’ll still be seeing you once a month and am so glad you’ve chosen to be here, and of course, let me know how it goes.

So, without further ado, here are your very first January recommendations: