Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Autism Acceptance

“Our identities make us who we are, and all aspects of our identities are important, including (maybe even specifically) our disabilities.”
― Chloé Hayden, Different, Not Less: A Neurodivergent’s Guide to Embracing Your True Self and Finding Your Happily Ever After

“It’s the same for neurodivergent; it’s an umbrella term for anyone who diverges from dominant societal norms; it doesn’t specifically say what our experiences or differences are other than the fact that we simply do diverge. It’s an umbrella term for all the ways we may diverge from the way we think, feel, learn, communicate, behave and function.”
― Sonny Jane Wise, We’re All Neurodiverse: How to Build a Neurodiversity-Affirming Future and Challenge Neuronormativity

“Refusing to perform neurotypicality is a revolutionary act of disability justice. It’s also a radical act of self-love.”
― Devon Price, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

“It is so important that the general public and the hiring companies understand this group of people. Many will fall through the cracks due to their “odd” behaviors. Many have so much to contribute if given the chance.”
― Steve Silberman, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Women’s History Month

“Empathy is the wellspring of creativity.”- Ami Vitale (National Geographic Photographer)

“You deserve the world that’s in your vision, but you’ll have to fight for it every day. Truthfully, you have already been fighting. It probably took a lot for you to understand your identity, and even more if you’ve been able to share it with others. Lean into the fire, fight, and resilience that already lives inside you. I want you to be defiant. If there was ever a time to disobey, this is it. We are a creative, disruptive people who have never accepted silence.”- Raquel Willis (Trans Rights Activist)

“Women don’t have to listen to their inner-critic and hold themselves back; they can unleash themselves and reach their best potential if they put their effort into it. That’s what I want my daughter to do.” – Sarah Thomas (First female NFL football official)

“You know what you can do. You know what you’re capable of. Don’t let anybody get into your head.”- Kim Ng (First female GM of the Big Four Leagues, First woman of Asian descent in the MLB, Highest ranking female executive in baseball.)

One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.”- Jacinda Ardern (Former New Zealand Prime Minister)

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Historical Inspiration

“The air is the only place free from prejudice.”-Bessie Coleman

“I want history to remember me… not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.”-Shirley Chisholm

 “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it does seem to me that notwithstanding all these social agencies and activities there is not that vigilance which should be exercised in the preservation of our rights.”- Elizabeth Freeman

“…It looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty, the freedom to go where one chose if one was held back by one’s color? No, I preferred the Eiffel Tower, which made no promises.”- Josephine Baker, once she had seen the Eiffel Tower

“The worst thing about that kind of prejudice… is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.”-Nina Simone

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Cooking

“I’m interested in food and sharing my passion with a community of like-minded people. All of the celebrity stuff that comes along with that is just an incidental byproduct of being able to do what I love for a living.”-Alex Guarnaschelli

“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.”-Wolfgang Puck

“So many of the recipes that I come up with have a story. I’m a blogger. It flowed very naturally out of me, but I also knew this was a way to set my recipes apart. A, they are always using interesting ingredients but B, there is always a story behind it.”-Aarti Sequeira

“Food is a common denominator for all people.”-Guy Fieri

“Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”-Ludwig van Beethoven

“If you want to be a home cook, just have fun with it. Pick up a couple cookbooks. You’re gonna make some mistakes; just go in and try it.”-Anne Burrell

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Mental Health

“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” — Brené Brown

“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you can realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it, you’re not gonna be the last to go through it,” — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” — Fred Rogers

“IWe would never tell someone with a broken leg that they should stop wallowing and get it together. We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of. We shouldn’t treat mental health conditions any differently.” – Michelle Obama

“Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?” — Kristen Bell

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Recognize

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”-Margaret Mead

“I tend to think you’re fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway.”-Christian Bale

“It is always sad to write about prejudice, but sometimes when we see it being played out in the lives of fictional characters, we can recognize it in our own lives.”-Katherine Paterson

“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.”-Lucille Ball

“In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.”-Audre Lorde

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Time

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“I’d like to grow very old as slowly as possible.”-Charles Lamb

“The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation.”-Eudora Welty

“Time was something that largely happened to other people; he viewed it in the same way that people on the shore viewed the sea. It was big and it was out there, and sometimes it was an invigorating thing to dip a toe into, but you couldn’t live in it all the time. Besides, it always made his skin wrinkle.”
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

“One doesn’t recognize the really important moments in one’s life until it’s too late.”-Agatha Christie

Book Dragon

Simple Sunday- Libraries

*Dedicated to K2 and my favorite childhood librarian who let me check out all the books.

“When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.”-Isaac Asimov

“A library implies an act of faith.”-Victor Hugo


“Cutting libraries during a recession is like cutting hospitals during a plague.”-Eleanor Crumblehulme 

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”-Albert Einstein 

“Children have to have access to books, and a lot of children can’t go to a store and buy a book. We need not only our public libraries to be funded properly and staffed properly, but our school libraries. Many children can’t get to a public library, and the only library they have is a school library.”- Katherine Paterson


“Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.”-R. David Lankes 

“I’m of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.”-Barbara Kingsolver

Simple Sundays

Simple Sunday- Explore!

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”- T.S. Eliot

“I like writers who can show me worlds I know nothing about, but my favorites are those who create characters or worlds which feel realistic and familiar to me, or who can make me feel inspired.”-Malala Yousafzai

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”-C. S. Lewis

“Kids should be allowed to break stuff more often. That’s a consequence of exploration. Exploration is what you do when you don’t know what you’re doing.”-Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The drills we do, where you’re telling kids to memorize things, don’t actually work. What works is engaging them and letting them do things and discover things.”-Mae Jemison

“Successful creative adults seem to combine the wide-ranging exploration and openness we see in children with the focus and discipline we see in adults.”-Alison Gopnik