What is "Amanda's Brews"?

I started Bookish Brews as a personal mission to decolonize my bookshelf and begin intentionally allowing stories to broaden my worldview. I named my site "Bookish Brews" because all around the world, coffee (and tea and even beer) has a culture of bringing people together to talk. We use it as a way to catch up, to have business meetings, to create art, to date, to gossip, to find safety, to keep friendships.

And I realized that deepest and most important conversations of my life, the ones about the meaning of life, our visions for the future, our dreams for our communities, they have all been over some kind of brew. So I wanted my journey to be marked not just with books, but with discussions, explorations, and connections, and so Bookish Brews was born.

Through that experience, I realized that in order to have those discussions, explorations, and connections with others, I had to share mine in exchange. Because even though this is only how we all show up online, if I want to connect through this medium, I should treat it like any other community and foster relationships through vulnerability and sharing.

So this newsletter and my social media are a bit more personal than Bookish Brews, and that's with the intention of sharing with you my own growth, learning, and discussions on life so we can do it all together. And maybe one day we can get together over coffee, but in the mean time, this is Amanda's Brews.