It’s August 2024, what is time? We have just a few weeks of summer left and as is my yearly plan— I head to the beach! I savor this time: I stare at the ocean, I eat ALL the seafood in sight, I nap, and I read, read, read, and read. Did I mention that I read?!

What books am I taking with me this summer?

Here’s my 2024 beach reading:

Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga

“In Healing Resistance, leading Kingian Nonviolence trainer, Kazu Haga,  reclaims the energy and assertiveness of nonviolent practice and proves that nonviolent civil resistance remains the most effective strategy for social change in hostile times. Kingian Nonviolence addresses the timely issues of endless protest and activist burnout and presents tried-and-tested strategies for staying resilient, creating equity, and restoring peace.”

I am reading this because I have never identified as nonviolent, and this book challenges me to explore and understand the opportunities and limitations of a nonviolent approach.

Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert by Sunaura Taylor

I have not read this book yet but have heard amazing things about it. It is always mentioned as a powerful analysis and call to action that reveals disability as one of the defining features of environmental devastation and resistance.

“Taylor builds the case that disabled bodies and environments are fundamentally the same in that they’ve been harmed by the same forces. Deep below the ground in Tucson, Arizona, lies an aquifer forever altered by a Superfund site. Disabled Ecologies tells the story of this contamination and its ripple effects through the largely Mexican American community living above ground. Drawing on her own complex relationship to this long-ago injured landscape,  we learn about  disabled ecology—the networks of disability, both human and wild, that are created when ecosystems are corrupted and profoundly altered.”

Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin

I love this book! It’s one of my favorite go-to’s. In this book, Benjamin calls on us to take imagination seriously—for us to see imagination as a place of possibility for reshaping the future.

“This book is a proclamation that we have the power to use our imagination to challenge systems of oppression and to create a world in which everyone can thrive. Oppressive forces like racism, sexism, and classism create hierarchies and normalize violence. Oftentimes, our imagination tells us that there is no way we can fight these systemic forces. However, this book reminds us that we can craft new stories that reflect our interconnectedness and that we ought to use our collective imagination to rethink and redesign new approaches to the persistent problems that confront us.”

I’m curious to hear from y’all!

What have you been reading this summer? I would love to hear the ideas you’ve been mulling over, the questions you are grappling with, and the books you are finding joy and hope in.

We get free together!

PS: I’m facilitating a session in September for managers and leaders to navigate the evolving currents of DEI and racial equity work in organizations. Learn more about it here.