Creating a Community of Curiosity & Care
A READING LIST BY LAUREN SMOTHERS
Featured in vol 7, issue 3: healing
Back in September, I had to close my business, Light Trap Books, for a couple of weeks. Partly to disengage from the business, and partly to address my own health. Leading up to the closure, I was incredibly anxious. The summer had brought several major life transitions and changes, and I hadn’t had (or wanted to take) the time to take care of myself. I was too busy taking care of the shop, managing my relationships, and providing attention to issues I thought were mine to solve to notice that I was depressed, overwhelmed, and burned out. A friend named what my gut had been trying to tell me for months. Stop. You’re hurting yourself.
As individuals, it is important to know and listen to our bodies and pay attention to what they need. I spent two weeks away from the shop taking a personal inventory of sorts and adjusting my expectations. I reached out to the appropriate people. I did things I actually wanted to do. I reminded myself of the goodness within me and around me. I made some changes, shifted my perspective, and let some things go.
What I keep learning is that perfection isn’t achievable. Acceptance is. How many of us feel like we’re trying our best and still getting let down or burned by those we love? I’ve had to recognize that I cannot be everything to everyone, nor should I be. I have to be, well... me.
I think about the relationship I have with my neighbors at theLOCAL, ElleTre and Turntable Coffee Counter. We’ve partnered together for events like Dia del Niño, Juneteenth, #731day, and small business Saturday. We’ve hosted pop ups for local artists, book signings for New York Times bestsellers, and fundraisers for Keep My Hood Good, and The Read Team. Elvia, Anthony, and I are constantly running in and out of each other’s shops, getting each other’s opinions or asking for advice. Sometimes it’s just to ask, are you okay? Do you need anything? It’s not to make our businesses look good or to give our egos a boost. It’s because we’ve accepted our limits and learned to work with them, not against them.
We are healthiest as individuals and as communities when we are connected, active, and curious. I could list statistics or point you to our Google reviews, but places like Light Trap, ElleTre, and Turntable Coffee Counter don’t exist in vacuums. They exist as “third spaces'' between home and work, as resources and barometers of community health. Other examples include the Westwood Recreation Center, the Jackson-Madison County Library, places of worship, barber shops, and the recently announced SOUL Collective for Black and minority owned businesses in the train depot downtown. Practical ways to stay connected, active, and curious include being a regular or frequent visitor at one or more “third spaces”, switching up or alternating the “third spaces'' to allow others to participate or receive from them, and partnering with local for-profit or non-profit businesses to address community concerns or needs.
I want Jackson to thrive. I think you do too. Here are some books to get you started:
CHILDREN’S
The Circles All Around Us
by Brad and Kristi Montague
A boy's circle starts out small but steadily grows as he builds relationships throughout his community.
POETRY
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
by Ross Gay
A sustained meditation on grief and gratitude—through poems on fig trees, unbuttoned shirts, and more.
FICTION
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson
A dying reverend writes a letter to his young son.
ESSAY
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
Two letters detailing the legacy and institutionalization of racism — originally published in 1963.
SELF-HELP
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
For any woman who has felt overwhelmed and exhausted by everything she had to do, or worried that she wasn’t “enough” in doing so.
You can make online purchases benefitting Light Trap Books on Bookshop.
LAUREN SMOTHERS is a poet, photographer, and the owner and founder of Light Trap Books. She has called Jackson home, on and off, for the last fifteen years.