The March Love List
It’s the end of March. Here’s the Love List.
This month:
I bought a bag of wildflower seed with plans to spread it around everywhere - but the ground isn’t quite warm enough yet. Rest assured, when it is warm enough I’m going to be out there scattering seeds like Mother Nature herself.
In related news, I’ve been covering up the perennials we planted in honor of Woody at night to protect them from frost and so far, it’s working.
We celebrated Tracy’s birthday. And my dad’s.
We have been diligently working on our house clearing project. I’m shedding things in a way I’ve never done before and it’s liberating. I wish I could move more quickly through this project, though.
I haven’t submitted fiction to literary journals for a long, long time, but I’m thinking of doing so again.
I feel stopped creatively, but it’s not because I’m stuck. It’s because I’m acknowledging that a lot of what I used to believe and teach and write about no longer resonates with me. I’m able to see how I bit back on essential parts of myself and my creative voice, turned myself into a more palatable version of myself and that has deadened me. Midlife is wild, ya’ll. But it’s not a crisis. It’s a chrysalis.
March Looked Like:
I listened
This is a short and highly informative episode of Conspirituality
This two-parter about Chick Tracts was so interesting and horrifying. I remember well when you would find these everywhere.
The podcasts I enjoy fall into several categories - Film/Arts/Culture, The Paranormal, Philosophy/Astrology, and this other category that I guess I would call Debunking Things. Some of my favorites are in the debunking category and one of those is Maintenance Phase.
I watched
Mandy recommended this and it was so good.
I loved Empire of Light.
I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once during a free Showtime weekend, and - surprise - I loved it.
This is a good conversation about it. And this.
"You are not unlovable. There is always something to love. Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we get very good with our feet." - Evelyn Quan Wang, Everything Everywhere All at Once
I read
(You Must Remember Manson is the best.)
She’s right. She does look rad.
I’ve Been in Five Cults. It Was Three Too Many.
My Marriage Was Never the Same After That
My Six-Year-Old Son Died. Then the Anti-Vaxxers Found Out.
If you are concerned about the origins of conspiracy theories, the hatefulness the heart of them, and the New Age to Alt-Right pipeline, this is an informative newsletter.
Kentucky has passed the worst anti-trans Christian nationalist bill in the nation.
I don’t have the words for how sad and disgusted and angry I am.
Here’s a list of resources, organizations, phone numbers.
I don’t know who reads this, but if you are reading this right now I want you to know you are perfect, whole, and worthy of love. You are love and you are loved. No one else get to to tell you who you are.
It's important that we acknowledge our feelings and give them space to be felt. Our fears are not unfounded. But love is stronger than hate. Love is stronger than indifference. Love is stronger than greed and meanness. It is kindness that is truly resilient. It is in the heart of kindness and love for one another that we find strength and truth.
If you are gay or trans or nonbinary and you are reading this right now, please know that there are thousands up thousands up thousands of us linking arms with you, standing with you and loving you.
It’s important for us to speak up and stand up for what’s right.
It’s also important to remind ourselves now and then of the love and beauty to be experienced, even in the midst of the most difficult times. So, let us also hold onto the things that bring us joy and comfort. And let us hold on to one another, love one another, defend one another, lift one another into safety.
Let us love the most vulnerable among us wildly, deeply, and out loud.
Thank you for being.
I’ll see you next month.
