đđ˝Â Next Sober from Bullshit Recovery Club is June 21st. Itâs our clubâs *3 year* anniversary! And the day after solstice! Register here.
Questions? Just ask. Iâm here and Iâd love to hear from you.
Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash
On March 13, 2015 - aka my 31st birthday - I was the only person present with my grandfather when he passed. It was a radical moment, a line in the sand moment, the catalyzing event that set me in the direction of where and who I am today.
This was one of those Big Life Events that caused me to question everything, the wake-up-call I didnât know I needed. Abuelo was gone. I watched him leave. How would I honor this man, his history, his legacy, his sacrifice, his pain?
When you lose someone, time bends and squirrels around. You are reminded that time is life, and I looked around at mine and knew that I had to at least try to have a say in how mine was going. Iâd spent over a decade standing on the shore, shuffling from foot to foot in the hot sand. I was aching for some ocean.
The ocean for me was writing. This was always the dream for me. Yet somewhere along the road I started to believe that it wasnât practical, or pragmatic, or whatever the hell reason my brain delivered as I grew up and moved to San Francisco and suddenly found myself in my early 30âs, low grade miserable, and aching to connect to this thing I had more or less ignored for what felt like ten thousand years.
I signed up for a workshop with Laguna Writers, led by Chris DeLorenzo, a man who has since become a dear friend and mentor. He hosts the workshops out of his home, and I showed up nervous and sweaty, hyper aware of my body and doing my best to act ânormal.â I ate one of his homemade blondies; divine. Everyone was so nice! And after the first free write, when people in the group could volunteer to read what they wrote aloud, I surprised myself by sharing my voice.
Medicine.
I wrote with the same folks week after week, for a couple of years. I am still friends with all of them, even though itâs been a couple years since I wrote in Chrisâ living room. I got into the ocean, and it was a friendly one.
Maybe you long to write. Maybe you used to write, but you feel stuck. Maybe youâre inside of a big writing project, and you want to change it up for a couple of hours. Maybe you have something to say and youâre curious if this could be a way to help you say it. Maybe you want to check out a creative community, and soak in the inspiration that abounds every time weâre together. Maybe you had a shitty experience in a writing class or workshop, and the idea of writing in an environment where there is no critical feedbackâwhere, if you choose to share, weâll only offer what we like, what we remember, what stands outâsounds like it could be medicine for you, too.
This is my long and rambling invitation for you to join me on Sunday, June 27, from 12pm-2pm PST, for an Amherst Method style writing workshop. Weâve got a good crew who comes together every month. We laugh and cry, which is basically my brand. The theme this month is âBeginnerâs Mind,â which is what the two prompts we play with will be inspired by. If youâre curious but nervous, know that you can always listen. You can show up and write, and experiment, and listen; no one is obligated to do anything.
Click here is to register, and comment below or email me with questions. Canât wait to be with you <3
đşđ˝ âOnly a Gemini would have the gall to rap the words strictly hip hop, boy without feeling a special kind of dread well up in his white-boy stomach.â Yâall this one is just weird and fun and ridiculous.
đŚ âItâs a Birdâ Remember Christian Cooper, who was birding while Black in Central Park when âCentral Park Karenâ called the cops on him after he asked her to leash her dog? Well he wrote a comic that is free to read through DC Comics.
đŽ âThe most frightening thing in the world is to know who you really are. This is one of the many lessons I picked up from The NeverEnding Story, which I loved so much in fourth grade that I tried to fit myself bodily into its narrative.â This writerâs account of coming out as trans and their relationship to The NeverEnding Story is the most beautiful thing Iâve read in a long time.
đđ˝ I am most definitely no longer in my twenties but I still hella needed to hear this (shout out to my âType Bâ bunnies figuring out how to navigate the world as people for whom the âhamster wheelâ-type-ambition never came naturally to us like some of our peers) âWhy do we need measuring sticks like college and marriage and leaving home to track our worth?â
âł It Never Feels Like the Right Time. A reminder I canât hear enough.
đ§ This episode about âNavigating Conflictâ from the Finding Our Way podcast with Prentis Hemphill was a particularly helpful listen for me this week as I navigate some major conflict in one of my communities. Highly recommend this episode (and the whole podcast!).
Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you like this newsletter, please consider leaving a comment, sending it to a friend or subscribing. Or email me and say hi, Iâd love to hear from you.
Ok that Dear Polly article had me guffawing! Ha!