Activism to actually protect and serve
Healing from my time in law enforcement (and concurrent abusive relationship)? Now that’s a list for another day. Follow to keep up!
- Educated: Tara Westover
- This book gave me permission to dream of life outside of my hometown, and ways education could open up more of the world.
- Radium Girls: Kate Moore
- The. Fucking. Corruption. Everyone join your union.
- Circe: Madeline Miller
- Look, I’m just saying more men should be afraid of being turned into animals.
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: Michelle McNamara
- This was during a big true crime phase, where I pretended I was just fascinated psychologically. In reality, I was looking for survival tips.
- Unfollow: Megan Phelps Roper
- Talk about one of my antiheroes. I hold a deeply painful core belief that I’m a bad person. Learning about this other person who did so many things she came to regret, and is able to move forward and work toward that repair… I don’t know. She was a kid, she grew up, she learned. I’m not angry with her for her past, when she was operating from a less informed space. So why would I have hatred for past myself from where I’m standing now?
- Know My Name: Chanel Miller
- Oh Chanel. I feel such a kindred spirit in you. The reason I got into law enforcement in the first place
- The Gift of Fear: Gavin de Becker
- I know this one is controversial, but this book really helped me start to feel in my body what the constant stress and hypervigilance were doing to my health.
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Caitlin Doughty
- Do you guys ever think about death?
- Mediocre: Ijeoma Oluo
- At the end of the day, so many men I found myself surrounded by were just so fucking mediocre. My abusive, alcoholic ex at the top of that list. I listened to it, then immediately bought a physical copy so I could make highlights.
- Attached: Amir Levine
- Another book that helped me realize so many of these behaviors I see in others that seem confusing are only that way because of where I’m standing. We may not always be able to see where attachment wounds originate from, but once we start to recognize those patterns we can begin to break those painful cycles.
https://cohen489.substack.com/p/what-i-read-to-radicalize-myself