Whatever happened to The Utne Reader?

I was wondering, because it came up in conversation here this morning with Meade. Both of us used to read that magazines years ago. What was it — the 80s? Anyway, it's still around, and of course, it's also a website. I checked it out. I was amused by what it picked out for me (because I easily go off into the fantasy of contemplating is this really me?):



Is there some book I've spent years looking for? Am I dithering over varieties of fish? Am I ready to become suspicious of soy sauce? No. No. No. But they're right to prompt me with "Ten Things to Do When You’re Feeling Hopeless," not because I'm feeling hopeless, but because it's a list of 10 things, which makes me feel hopeful — hopeful that I can easily upload 10 tips and ward off hopelessness. I note that the article is from 2011, but that's great because it means there's no chance it will be padded with anything about Trump. Tip #1:

Give up hope. That’s right, get off the hope/despair roller coaster and realize once and for all: It’s hopeless! You should have known when a U.S. presidential candidate won an election on a platform of mere hope that it was time to give it up. Embrace hopelessness! It’s OK! It makes sense. But we can, should, and must still be intentional, responsible, and joyful.

Ha ha. Confident that Trump would not appear, I stumbled into Obama. Hey, this is a good article. I recommend it. I also like these other suggestions that appeared in the sidebar next to the hopelessness article. I would click on all of this stuff:



Forest bathing is an old favorite topic of mine — see here and here. The new Utne Reader article is "Your Guide to Forest Bathing/Learn to take a step away from stress and towards the presence of nature, using mindfulness and meditation to feel peace while surrounded by the wild earth":

The sequence described [of 8 steps in the Optimal Flow] has proven over hundreds of walks to reliably create a strong sensory connection with the forests. It brings us home, opening our internal gates and inviting the forest to come meet our minds and hearts and spirits... The repeated use of these invitations will, over time, deepen your understanding and your capacity to fully “drop in.” Dropping in is a term I’ve often heard forest bathers use. Its origin is in surfing, a practice that’s related in many ways to forest bathing. Surfers wait watchfully for a wave; when one comes, they must paddle to catch it. At a certain point, the paddling gives way to the wave’s own energy carrying the board forward. The surfer stands and “drops in” to the wave and the flow of the moment. When your forest bathing practice begins to ripen, like a skillful surfer you will learn how to drop in, allowing the forest and your own embodied awareness to flow together....

Yes, dropping in. Works for web-surfing too. We're web-bathing here. Feel the flow!