Be your authentic self when safe and thrive!
Music
Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN, WizKid - BROWN SKIN GIRL (Official Video)
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Buddy - Black #BlackExcellence
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Yemi Alade, Angelique Kidjo - Shekere (Official Video)
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Community-based Organizations
Black in Marine Science (BIMS)
Health and Wellness
Black Wellness Spaces are important
Black Therapists in Seattle, WA
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Jessamyn Stanley -Yoga for Beginners
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Outdoor Afro- Where Black people and Nature Meet
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Youtubers (Fun and Hilarious)
Books/ Guides of interest to me
Title: Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
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Connections to me: I think this book is very interesting because it talks about Black people perspectives and hardships while tying it into marine science. These two topics connect with my identities. I find it inspiring to have a book about learning from our natural teachers and listening to what we share in common.
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Description: Undrowned is a book-length meditation for social movements and our whole species based on the subversive and transformative guidance of marine mammals. Our aquatic cousins are queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions our species has imposed on the ocean. Gumbs employs a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility and naturalist observation to show what they might teach us, producing not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wondering and questioning.
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Title: National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World
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Connections to me: This book was my first guide book I owned since 2007. It was given to me by my high school librarian after she saw me reading it everyday during lunch break. I still have the library card in it with all my check out dates. I have used this book throughout my career as a marine scientist. I love the illustrations and photographs. The book is very organized making it easy to find information you need by simply reading the table of contents or headers. I think the coolest animal to this day is a killer whale, Orcinus orca.
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Description: The National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World describes in fascinating detail all 120 species of the world's whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions, manatees, Marine and Sea Otters, and the Polar Bear. Organized by the four major groups of marine mammals—marine fissipeds, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and sirenians. Facts about social organization, surface behaviors, swimming, and diving. Information on mating behavior, breeding, and the rearing of young. Details about habitat, food items and foraging techniques. Estimates of population in the wild, plus current and historic threats.
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