Karen Rile
@karenrile.bsky.social
Founding editor of Cleaver. Writer. UPENN Creative Writing Lecturer. Certified Level 2 500-hr @lytyogamethod instructor. Friend to humans and dogs.
A few weeks ago I sprained my ankle. I went from excruciating pain to recovery in 8 days. The last time I had a similar sprain, it took 6 weeks to heal. Here is how I did it. (Hint: I did not use the outdated RICE protocol.) karenrile.substack.com/publish/post...
I'm honestly running out of words I can use on the air to describe what's happening in and to this economy
We need everyone out there writing letters and making calls. We need beautiful resistance. If you need the facts on tariffs/immigration/security risks or places to call/write, substack with @simonwdc.bsky.social @chopwoodcarrywater.bsky.social @rbhubbell.bsky.social @maryltrump.bsky.social
Let's thank and encourage our public officials who are standing on the front lines for us, defending our country and our future. Let's ask those who are quiet to do more. Thanks to @aoc.bsky.social @wyden.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov @senelizabeth.bsky.social @sanders.senate.gov
The future of the #DNC has been placed in the hands of @kenmartin.bsky.social @malcolmkenyatta.bsky.social @davidhogg.bsky.social, and so it begins. We need robust statewide messaging against #trumptariffs etc. via channels that inform those who didn't vote with us or at all about what is at stake.
I stopped drinking entirely seven years ago, but not for the reasons you might think. Read—and consider your glymphatic system… open.substack.com/pub/karenril...
THE TIPPLING POINT
Why I live the dry life, even if it makes you uncomfortable: Among the waste products removed by the glymphatic system during sleep are amyloid and tau proteins, which tangle and clog the brain like h...
open.substack.com
How do you wear your stress? I wear it on my eyelids (eczema) and in my breathing. Here are 5 unexpected ideas for managing stress in this hellfire month. Link in first comment.
Read this for five practical ideas for doable resolutions so you can have a stronger, safer 2025. Because we need all the help we can get. Happy new year, friends! I wrote this for you. karenrile.substack.com/p/resolved-n...
Here’s a 5-minute breathing exercise guaranteed to bring down your holiday stress! Link in the first comment.
Are you a #coffee snob? Have you ever wondered about the secret life of #baristas? Well then, this is the story for you. Big thanks to @karenrile.bsky.social and @writesofkathryn.bsky.social and the whole gang at #Cleaver. www.cleavermagazine.com/because-at-l...
Coleman Bigelow: Because at Least We Drink Fresh Roast • Cleaver Magazine
Work by Coleman Bigelow has appeared recently in 3Elements Review, BULL, Bending Genres, Cease, Cows, Five on the Fifth and Flash Boulevard.
cleavermagazine.com
Thanks so much to Beth Kephart @bethkephart.bsky.social for this fun interview!
Beth Kephart@bethkephart.bsky.social · 2y ago@karenrile.bsky.social of Cleaver Magazine is doing interesting work on her Substack, Embodied Resistance. Intrigued about her work and graphics, I recently interviewed her. www.cleavermagazine.com/a-conversati...
“ Why though did pollsters call thousands of people and offer ‘immigration’ as one choice? Testing the Republican message, a message jet-fueled by billions from the greedy…. Democrats don’t attract that kind of money because we are working for the people.” open.substack.com/pub/hjs24pea...
Only Connect
Elon poured $277 million into Trump's campaign in three months. What $277 Million could do.
open.substack.com
For a long time, I pursued intermittent fasting like an extreme sport. I used an app called Zero to help me track all the calories I wasn’t eating. I believed that calorie restriction was the key to longevity. That theory’s been around for almost a century... open.substack.com/pub/karenril...
Breakfast of Champions, or Zero
For years I pursued fasting like an extreme sport
open.substack.com
“The events in Seoul also cemented the shift in social media from X to Bluesky, where news was breaking faster than anywhere else, in a way that echoed what Twitter used to be. .” open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
December 3, 2024
For an astonishing six hours today, South Korea underwent an attempted self-coup by its unpopular president, Yoon Suk Yeol, only to see the South Korean people force him to back down as they reasserte...
open.substack.com
New essay, against gratitude (sort of). Visual edition! open.substack.com/pub/karenril...
The Gratitude Trap
Baby Board Book Edition
open.substack.com
“The language of politics must needs be direct and unironic. Political speech can have style, vernacular eloquence, and rhetorical flourish. (Yes, please, let it have those qualities.) But in politics, and government, irony is the tool of the devil.… What do you think? 1/2
The King’s Fool
On the Dangers of Irony in Politics and Life
open.substack.com
Sunday movement snack: train your down dog and lift your spirits
Sunday Movement Snack: Train Your Dog!
Bring strength, length, and stability into this classic pose.
open.substack.com
(1) It has been a long game for the Republicans to create an ignorant and easily manipulated electorate. Thanks to right wing new media, the stupidification of America has accelerated dramatically.
We assume, logically, that exhaustion is the result of overexertion and depletion. Used up, your body begins to shut itself down… but what a fatigue is really an emotion?
Fatigue Is An Emotion
Have you used up all the energy stored in your muscles and brain? Probably not.
open.substack.com
4/8 breathing, a nervous system hack. You can quickly bring yourself into the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) nervous system by doubling the length of your exhaled breaths, thus increasing the ratio of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream. [read more…]
Friday Picks
Three ways to make your life better, right now.
open.substack.com
I’ve learned to listen to pain as a message from my body. It’s a message in a language I don’t necessarily speak. A metaphor, perhaps, or even a bit of fake news.
Nocebo, or, How Your Brain Manufactures Pain from Danger
I’ve learned to listen to pain as message from my body. It’s a message in a language I don’t necessarily speak. A metaphor, perhaps, or even a bit of fake news.
open.substack.com
