Looking out at the snow from my writing desk, it seemed like a great time to finally get around to my Word of the Year post.
Since 2009, I’ve been selecting a word to guide me through the year rather than doing traditional resolutions. My word acts as a sort of spiritual nucleus for the year, and often ends up influencing me in interesting ways that I’m not always actively conscious […]
Well, it’s officially 2018 which means I’ve come to the end of my Year of Taking in Media Made Primarily by Women and People of Color Instead of More Stuff by White Dudes. It’s been an incredible personal project and I’m really glad I did it.
It’s interesting that I initially thought this would be hard. It’s not that I didn’t know women & POC made stuff — obviously they/we do […]
If you made it through the alphabet soup of that post title, congratulations! Your reward is that I’m gonna explain what the hell it is.
The acronym stands for The Year of “Taking In Media Made Primarily By Women And People of Color Instead Of More Stuff By White Dudes 2017” and it is something I chose to do this year for a few reasons:
Supporting media made by underrepresented groups financially […]
Mitch McConnell has unintentionally given women a pretty great phrase to live by. I made these in response. Feel free to use them however you like!
Well, I certainly took my time getting this post up. Contrary to previous years, this delay wasn’t related to not having my word yet – I landed on it and started putting it into practice even before 2016 was out. I’ve just been neglecting my online writing in favor of old fashioned paper notebooks and forgetting to transfer the contents here.
In December I participated in the Stratejoy Holiday Council, which dovetailed […]
I should know better by now. I should know that this exercise is not one to take lightly or brush off. If I ignore it, I quickly learn that it has a sense of humor.
My word for 2016 was Build.
As I’ve mentioned before, I try not to overthink what my word of the year “means” when it comes to me. Every time I’ve tried to force it, I end up with […]
I still remember the first time I read this poem, and the way the last line struck me. I needed to be lost in the work. I needed to fully buy in to the consensual reality of the situation, the suspension of disbelief — and having company who wanted to chat or otherwise socialize during a performance took me out of it. I still love to go alone sometimes.
The Concert
No, […]
Be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
But be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.
I’m really digging this one today. I hope you will too.
Plant
So that your own heart
Will grow.
Love
So God will think,
“Ahhhhhh,
I got kin in that body!
I should start inviting that soul over
For coffee and
Rolls.”
Sing
Because this is a food
Our starving world
Needs.
Laugh
Because that is the purest
Sound.
It seems appropriate that today is the day I finally sit down to write this post, a few days overdue. My word for the year came to me several days ago but, as usual, I waited to see how it sat, to see if it was the right word after all. Now I’m sure of it.
David Bowie died last night after fighting cancer for a year and a half. He […]