Inhale the present, exhale the past.

Now let your breath guide you back to the present moment where peace and mindfulness reside.

Thank you for reading today’s edition of Grateful Gazette 😌

Here’s what to know for Monday:

• A Brooklyn neighborhood lets the community respond to 911 calls

• Drew Carrey picks up the lunch tab for striking writers

• Scientists beam solar power to Earth

BROWNSVILLE GOES FOR THE “COMMUNITY FIRST” POLICING MODEL

At the heart of Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood is an unconventional crime-fighting force: the Brownsville In Violence Out (BIVO) organization.

Forget your typical hard-nosed cops. This crew's sporting jeans and sweatshirts, using persuasion and respect over handcuffs and law books.

According to a story in The New York Times, this neighborhood experiment is flipping traditional law enforcement on its head.

Here's the gist:

A couple of times each year, BIVO's team oversees two blocks for five days. The police direct all 911 calls from the area to these civilians. They're the first responders, with the boys in blue stepping in only for significant incidents or when a victim insists on an arrest.

It's a shift towards community-led safety, as members of BIVO handle everything from calming down potential shoplifters to convincing locals to turn over illegal firearms.

All in a day's work for these unconventional peacekeepers

But the experiment doesn't stop at local crime control. It's also about community support. Alongside the BIVO crew, other organizations set up tables in the neighborhood, offering help with everything from free childcare to addiction recovery.

The city of New York is throwing its weight behind this.

They’re investing $2.1 million over the next three years to strengthen the local organizations involved in what's known as the Brownsville Safety Alliance.

Sure, there are skeptics. Not everyone is willing to put their faith in civilian-led safety efforts.

But, for many locals like Minerva Vitale, it's been a game-changer. “They come right away,” she says, praising the initiative's responsive nature.

Call it the Brownsville way. It's a new perspective on safety, a local solution to local problems. Will it be the blueprint for the future of urban law enforcement? Time will tell.

But for now, it’s the BIVO crew filling the gap with a handshake and straight talk, proving that sometimes, all you need is a little neighborhood hustle.

🗞 More Good News

🐋 An 8-hour rescue ends with the freeing of a Humpback whale

🏛️ Tennessee’s drag ban is ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge

🚫 Biden protects a New Mexico tribal site with a 20-year ban on oil & gas drilling

🪐 Witness more cosmic wonder from the James Webb Space Telescope as new images get released

🥪 WGA strikers receive lunch support from Drew Carrey

🙏 The world’s first pediatric brain cancer trial is set to begin

☀️ The Bright Side

So these scientists at the California Institute of Technology are working on something that sounds like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie.

They've created a way to take the energy from the sun, change it into an energy we can use here on Earth, and then send it down to us from space, all without using any wires, as part of a project called the Space Solar Power Project.

They experimented using MAPLE (Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment), a small model or prototype of the system that they put on a spaceship and sent into orbit around the Earth.

Imagine it like an odd spin on a baseball game.

The sun is the pitcher, MAPLE is the catcher's mitt, and Earth is the batter. The sun pitches the ball (solar power), MAPLE catches it and changes it into a different kind of ball (microwave energy), and then throws it up to the batter (Earth). The batter hits the ball, changing it into a home run (electricity)!

This could provide energy all day since there's no night in space. It's like having an ice cream machine that never runs out. This could also help power places hit by natural disasters or war. It's like sending care packages of energy.

Lastly, this is a renewable energy source which means it won't run out.

It's like a gift that keeps on giving!

🧘 A MINDFUL MOMENT

@drjuliesmith

Top 5 Anxiety Hacks With Ice 🥶 #anxiety #panic #panicattack #anxietyattack

You know those ice cubes in your freezer? Yeah, those little frosty squares can be your chill-out companions!

Here's how to do it:

1. Grab an Ice Cube: If you don't have ice, anything super cold will do.

2. Hold It: Yeah, it's gonna be cold, and it might even sting a bit. But stick with it!

3. Focus: Here's the key part. Pay close attention to how the coldness feels in your hand. Then, describe it to yourself in your mind.

4. Breathe: Breathe in through your nose slowly, hold it for a moment, then exhale through your mouth.

5. Repeat: The goal is to ground you, to bring your focus away from your panic and into the physical world.

The theory here is all about distraction and grounding. When you're mid-panic, your mind is spinning with fear and anxiety. Focusing on something totally unrelated and very physical (like the extreme cold of an ice cube) gives your brain a different task.

Keep those ice cubes ready, buddy, and remember to breathe. You got this!

- Thank you for reading Grateful Gazette. Remember to breathe deeply to bring your mind back to your body 💜