Quick reminder about two (free) events I’m facilitating in a couple weeks:

Next All Writers Welcome meetup is Saturday, November 14 from 2-3:30pm PST. I’ve been leading these mini-workshops for the past few months and it’s been a profound way to process life in Pandemia. These workshops are designed to be generative, and are appropriate for all levels of writers. Register here.

The next Sober From Bullshit 💘 Recovery Club is Monday, November 16 from 7-8:30pm, PST. This is an online recovery meeting where we check in, share stories and get support in sobriety. It’s virtual, so you can join from wherever you are. If you’re on the fence but maybe need some hand holding please email me and I can answer all your questions and give you all of the pep talks. You do not need to be sober or have accumulated any sober time to participate—I promise we will love you exactly as you are. Register here.

Image by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash

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Good morning, it’s Friday.

I’m sitting here in the dark (again), present to a sense of being moved in equal part by both the goodness and trouble in the world.

I’m present to a deep gratitude for this space, for having somewhere to go when I don’t know where else to place myself, which is all the time these days. I’m grateful for your eyes on my words, your presence here, you who remind me—and all your fellow readers—that we are not alone, that we belong here, in this body, on this planet, at this particular time.

I’m present to the engine of anticipatory grief humming just below my skin.

On Tuesday, instead of an essay, I will open up another thread. I’ll stay close to it throughout the day/evening. Let’s gather.

This week: If anyone has any stories of tenderness to share in the comments below, I’m sure we could all use them.

Here’s mine:

This past Monday, one of my closest friends’ dog wiggled out of her harness and bolted into the wilds of the second-biggest-park in San Francisco. A rescue pup, they’d only had her for a week, and three full days went by with zero sightings of her tiny, scared as hell, shimmering black dog body. They posted hundreds of flyers. A few of us scoured the park and surrounding neighborhoods. We worried about coyotes, and cars. Then, a call - someone had spotted her! My friends raced over only to watch the dog run up the freeway onramp toward oncoming traffic.

We kept waiting, and posting, and praying, and then later that night they found out that a man saw her run onto the highway and stopped traffic on the 101 until he was able to nab her.

I know it’s a small thing in the grand-grand scheme. But the small things add up to everything, you know?

I’m here, I love you. Keep going ♥️

xxoo
dani

Just a few ⛓ ‘s today:

👚 “The Ingenuity and Flair of Chinatown Seniors” this truly marvelous photo essay about the unique style of these elders, and the brief bits of story we get from the photo subjects was a balm for my soul (and my eyeballs!)

🌫 I have no idea how I stumbled upon Hakai Magazine but I dug this story about one of Alaska’s most remote islands (where hundreds of polar bears once congregated! Hundreds! Imagínate!) that has proven over time to be utterly inhospitable to humans. If the Chinatown seniors lifted me up, this one kept me moody, aka, right where I belong.

🤝 Our friend Nick Cave does it again, just in time per usual:

I think we are living through a frightening and deeply uncertain time, and though there are dementing and cynical voices out there, which are being emboldened and amplified by social media — that loony engine of outrage — they do not represent the voices of the many, or the good. My experience of actual people in this time is overwhelmingly positive — there is a great deal of love and mutual regard and community.

🏃🏽‍♂️ This one, about masculinity, and grief, and addiction, and friendship, and love, and kindness…yeah. Heartstrings, for real.

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