It is so lovely that you are making this space, Jessica. Yesterday I hosted 11 women in my home for what I cheekily call a "Writers's Day Spa." They come to my home, I give them breakfast, lunch, and an apero with sparking wine. They bring slippers and laptops. I invite another writing teacher and we offer two craft lessons during the day. Yesterday, we began the day with a resounding chorus of "F*ck You!!" yelled with vigor, in unison, at whomever we chose! From there we wrote! Well, they wrote and I cooked, loaded the dishwasher, refilled water glasses, which is a service and helped me so much! I also wrote my own newsletter this week:
Yes! I’ve hosted women’s water circles as part of my workshop/retreat/online curriculum that focuses on water as a teacher and healer 💦. I’ve been thinking about offering circles here too—because if I need it, I’m guessing others do too! 💙
https://heydary.substack.com/p/a-sky-full-of-stars I wrote about trying to access hope this week- after Kamala’s concession speech I keep thinking about the song Sky Full of Stars (also a great song from Sing 2- a family favorite!) I am currently in Hawaii on my 10 year anniversary trip and I keep waking up early before sunrise to a sky full of stars at 5 am-and it feels a little hopeful. I am still very sad and scared, but I know that joy and pain can coexist. And I am very thankful my husband has been a safe space for me for 13.5 years when I have feelings that aren’t easy to deal with.
I continued my YA reading while stressed and I’m reading The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado. It is wonderful and portrays a 16 yo dealing with PCOS so I love that the author brought her personal experience with PCOS to the book.
I bought a Vancouver Eras Tour ticket for a month after this trip because the price had dropped $1000 from what I was seeing in Miami. When Donald Trump is getting inaugurated in January, I want to say I got to see the Eras Tour live.
And Jessica, thanks to you and Steph creating this community, Elizabeth and I are going to meet when she’s in Vancouver seeing Taylor! Imaginary writer friends come to life.
I’m seriously thinking about my evacuation plans for the first time ever…and the fact that my family is in denial about the possibility that they might be going back in time to slavery conditions is just beyond the pale for me. It’s not a coincidence that H2.0 has chosen the most dangerous rhetoric in recent history to divide us into factions of people that have no interest whatsoever in the larger good of humanity or their collective interests or the common sense that they possess as citizens of the world who are not willing to accept the ravings of a tyrant that is drunk on the political power binge that has made him the POTUS for the 2nd time and his final term, ever. This is how demoralized people like me feel right now and I am usually a Pollyanna and the one who has no interest in the “what if’s?) … but this time around I am not going down with the ship!!!
To be honest, I didn't know if @Midstack would be a safe space. I know there are a lot of women here of all races. I'm at a point where I don't know which white women to trust. I feel so betrayed by the many who voted against the interests of women, black people, marginalized communities, LBTGQ, immigrants, the list goes on...
I couldn't get it together to write a post about all of my feelings. I did share the following Note:
I can't imagine the level of betrayal you must feel. I read your Note yesterday and just restacked it. I hope that your words — right now and when you are ready to write more — are read and thought about by many. xo
This week I realized I had been preparing myself for this moment for 8 years. I’ve had to lend my calm to my husband who raised his voice and had hard conversations this election cycle. He apologized for not being there for me in 2016 and asked me how I got through it. My answer went something like this, I let myself feel all the things, I ate and drank too much and gained 15 lbs. Then, I turned off the news, focused on what was in my control and moved us out of deep red Long Island.
This election I was waiting for a question to be answered, do I live in a country where love wins and hate loses? The answer is clear. Truthfully, I wasn’t surprised. After all, I’d been living in this country the last 8 years. I witnessed hate on the rise. As a team, my husband and I are discussing where we go (physically and emotionally) from here with the hard data that we are the minority. Love lost. Hate won.
That's precisely it: so many of us were waiting for that question (what kind of country is this?) to be answered, and it's going to take a long time to process the answer we received.
I've been listening to Ina Garten's memoir on audio, which I 100% recommend if you are looking for a comfort listen.
I'm also trying to still focus on humor writing, which is not always easy in a week like this. I also got some good suggestions from other humor writers on notes: https://substack.com/@julievick/note/c-76030176
I wrote this post yesterday in response to thinking about 2016 when Trump won the first time which made me think about that 2015-2016 school year when my husband’s views started becoming more Republican and I miscarried our first pregnancy September of 2015. I have been extremely all over the place this week, and I definitely spent Wednesday and Thursday crying.
Yeah I was also crying the majority of the day Wednesday and part of the day Thursday and Friday. I cried a good bit on the balcony on Friday at our hotel! Yesterday was the first day I didn’t cry in a while.
I’m great in a crisis. It’s when I shine. I cry and yell and freak out and then I sigh and start making lists.
It’s when the crisis is over that I fall apar, and since we don’t have time to fall apart my collapse will be delayed. So I’m gonna be strong for folks who can’t and then hope some of them help pick me up off the floor if by some miracle we find a way to go forward.
Thank you for hosting the Zoom gathering on Friday. It was comforting to be in a space with women from so many different parts of the USA and Canada. Gathering with grievers is key at this time. Reflective time alone is important too. ( and baking a cake for book club didn’t hurt either.)
Oh, I love this: "gathering with grievers." That's what it is, isn't it? Also, I am feeling strong urges to bake and cook as well. I am making a long, slow bolognese this afternoon.
Thank you for hosting this lovely space for us here. I registered for the zoom meeting but I didn't attend. I can't even remember what I was doing Friday. It's been such a blur. I've been crying, rage-cleaning, eating too many carbs. Finally, yesterday, I was able to laugh again. That inspired this little post I made last night.
It's 6 weeks post Helene in WNC and I am grieving. After speaking to a search-and-recovery worker a few days ago, I realized the optimistic view I was trying to hold onto was not the reality she painted.
I knew the death toll and missing persons numbers were inaccurate, all the locals know this, but we are just guessing. To hear the words from a worker who has been in all the hard hit areas tell me, "ma'am, whatever they are telling you, add a zero to that number.' She knows they are saying around 200 dead. I mentally add the zero and go to bed crying.
Yet, i am glad she took the time to talk to me.
My brain grapples with adapting to the state of my wnc mountains. Mountains I have grown up in. It's hard.
I went to the gardens of the Arboretum yesterday and in the midst of a drizzly autumn day I saw this one single iris in bloom.
A song by Anne Hills came into my head like a mantra:
"Today let me eat, today let me breathe, today let me speak with a friend, today let the sun shine steady and strong, til moonlight shines on me again. It's enough to live, it's enough"
And I want to share my recent post about not giving up when it gets hard. I write about my attempt to learn a new swimming technique, but I think it could apply to so many other things https://open.substack.com/pub/lizadebevec/p/learning-to-crawl?r=qclcq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web A friend of mine, in response to recent election results wrote 'I am not built to quit' and I think it resonated strongly with me.
It is so lovely that you are making this space, Jessica. Yesterday I hosted 11 women in my home for what I cheekily call a "Writers's Day Spa." They come to my home, I give them breakfast, lunch, and an apero with sparking wine. They bring slippers and laptops. I invite another writing teacher and we offer two craft lessons during the day. Yesterday, we began the day with a resounding chorus of "F*ck You!!" yelled with vigor, in unison, at whomever we chose! From there we wrote! Well, they wrote and I cooked, loaded the dishwasher, refilled water glasses, which is a service and helped me so much! I also wrote my own newsletter this week:
https://readwriteeat.substack.com/p/be-where-now
With CTAs for solace, self-care, and actions for the vulnerable! xN
That sounds like the most wonderful day for all of you. I'm looking forward to reading your post.
Thank you! xN
I LOVE this kind of spa day! Wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing, Natalie.
OMG(oddess)! I love this! Community is so important right now. 💙
Yes! I encourage you to do this with your friends too!
Yes! I’ve hosted women’s water circles as part of my workshop/retreat/online curriculum that focuses on water as a teacher and healer 💦. I’ve been thinking about offering circles here too—because if I need it, I’m guessing others do too! 💙
Wow that sounds awesome!!
What a lovely container you create for these women writers.
https://heydary.substack.com/p/a-sky-full-of-stars I wrote about trying to access hope this week- after Kamala’s concession speech I keep thinking about the song Sky Full of Stars (also a great song from Sing 2- a family favorite!) I am currently in Hawaii on my 10 year anniversary trip and I keep waking up early before sunrise to a sky full of stars at 5 am-and it feels a little hopeful. I am still very sad and scared, but I know that joy and pain can coexist. And I am very thankful my husband has been a safe space for me for 13.5 years when I have feelings that aren’t easy to deal with.
I continued my YA reading while stressed and I’m reading The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado. It is wonderful and portrays a 16 yo dealing with PCOS so I love that the author brought her personal experience with PCOS to the book.
I bought a Vancouver Eras Tour ticket for a month after this trip because the price had dropped $1000 from what I was seeing in Miami. When Donald Trump is getting inaugurated in January, I want to say I got to see the Eras Tour live.
I so love that you are going to the Eras tour. That's amazing for you. xo
And Jessica, thanks to you and Steph creating this community, Elizabeth and I are going to meet when she’s in Vancouver seeing Taylor! Imaginary writer friends come to life.
I’m seriously thinking about my evacuation plans for the first time ever…and the fact that my family is in denial about the possibility that they might be going back in time to slavery conditions is just beyond the pale for me. It’s not a coincidence that H2.0 has chosen the most dangerous rhetoric in recent history to divide us into factions of people that have no interest whatsoever in the larger good of humanity or their collective interests or the common sense that they possess as citizens of the world who are not willing to accept the ravings of a tyrant that is drunk on the political power binge that has made him the POTUS for the 2nd time and his final term, ever. This is how demoralized people like me feel right now and I am usually a Pollyanna and the one who has no interest in the “what if’s?) … but this time around I am not going down with the ship!!!
Hugs to you. Don't lean toward Canada. They are having their own mini-Trumpist movement and likely they will elect him in 2025.
To be honest, I didn't know if @Midstack would be a safe space. I know there are a lot of women here of all races. I'm at a point where I don't know which white women to trust. I feel so betrayed by the many who voted against the interests of women, black people, marginalized communities, LBTGQ, immigrants, the list goes on...
I couldn't get it together to write a post about all of my feelings. I did share the following Note:
https://substack.com/@karenwesleywriter/note/c-76363262
I can't imagine the level of betrayal you must feel. I read your Note yesterday and just restacked it. I hope that your words — right now and when you are ready to write more — are read and thought about by many. xo
Thank you, Jessica ❤️
Also my friend and fellow writer Johanna wrote the way that I feel here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/harmoniousbalance/p/america-backslides?r=6ubiu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I’ve been quiet, trying to hold myself together.
Me too, mostly. xo
It’s been a difficult week for many of us. Thanks for checking in with us. It really helps.
take good care. xN
And you! It’s been a very rough week for so many.
Thanks Kristen Crocker, @kblantoncrocker! Hope you're doing well.
This week I realized I had been preparing myself for this moment for 8 years. I’ve had to lend my calm to my husband who raised his voice and had hard conversations this election cycle. He apologized for not being there for me in 2016 and asked me how I got through it. My answer went something like this, I let myself feel all the things, I ate and drank too much and gained 15 lbs. Then, I turned off the news, focused on what was in my control and moved us out of deep red Long Island.
This election I was waiting for a question to be answered, do I live in a country where love wins and hate loses? The answer is clear. Truthfully, I wasn’t surprised. After all, I’d been living in this country the last 8 years. I witnessed hate on the rise. As a team, my husband and I are discussing where we go (physically and emotionally) from here with the hard data that we are the minority. Love lost. Hate won.
That's precisely it: so many of us were waiting for that question (what kind of country is this?) to be answered, and it's going to take a long time to process the answer we received.
I've been listening to Ina Garten's memoir on audio, which I 100% recommend if you are looking for a comfort listen.
I'm also trying to still focus on humor writing, which is not always easy in a week like this. I also got some good suggestions from other humor writers on notes: https://substack.com/@julievick/note/c-76030176
I've been thinking of ordering that memoir. You're right. Right now might be the perfect moment to read it.
It does feel like a good time for it :)
me too! Somehow it's just the thing for right now.
It is! ❤️
https://open.substack.com/pub/lauradkimball/p/what-i-wish-i-had-known?r=p79oq&utm_medium=ios
I wrote this post yesterday in response to thinking about 2016 when Trump won the first time which made me think about that 2015-2016 school year when my husband’s views started becoming more Republican and I miscarried our first pregnancy September of 2015. I have been extremely all over the place this week, and I definitely spent Wednesday and Thursday crying.
Yeah I was also crying the majority of the day Wednesday and part of the day Thursday and Friday. I cried a good bit on the balcony on Friday at our hotel! Yesterday was the first day I didn’t cry in a while.
I am furious and focused.
I’m great in a crisis. It’s when I shine. I cry and yell and freak out and then I sigh and start making lists.
It’s when the crisis is over that I fall apar, and since we don’t have time to fall apart my collapse will be delayed. So I’m gonna be strong for folks who can’t and then hope some of them help pick me up off the floor if by some miracle we find a way to go forward.
Thank you for hosting the Zoom gathering on Friday. It was comforting to be in a space with women from so many different parts of the USA and Canada. Gathering with grievers is key at this time. Reflective time alone is important too. ( and baking a cake for book club didn’t hurt either.)
Oh, I love this: "gathering with grievers." That's what it is, isn't it? Also, I am feeling strong urges to bake and cook as well. I am making a long, slow bolognese this afternoon.
Thank you for hosting this lovely space for us here. I registered for the zoom meeting but I didn't attend. I can't even remember what I was doing Friday. It's been such a blur. I've been crying, rage-cleaning, eating too many carbs. Finally, yesterday, I was able to laugh again. That inspired this little post I made last night.
https://dawnlevitt.substack.com/p/laughter-is-the-best-medicine
I'm so glad that you've been able to laugh again a little. I know. It's all felt like such a blur.
It's 6 weeks post Helene in WNC and I am grieving. After speaking to a search-and-recovery worker a few days ago, I realized the optimistic view I was trying to hold onto was not the reality she painted.
I knew the death toll and missing persons numbers were inaccurate, all the locals know this, but we are just guessing. To hear the words from a worker who has been in all the hard hit areas tell me, "ma'am, whatever they are telling you, add a zero to that number.' She knows they are saying around 200 dead. I mentally add the zero and go to bed crying.
Yet, i am glad she took the time to talk to me.
My brain grapples with adapting to the state of my wnc mountains. Mountains I have grown up in. It's hard.
I went to the gardens of the Arboretum yesterday and in the midst of a drizzly autumn day I saw this one single iris in bloom.
The word that I heard loud and clear- RESILIENCE
Resilience must be so hard at a moment like this for you. I am thinking of you often. Thank you for updating us.
A song by Anne Hills came into my head like a mantra:
"Today let me eat, today let me breathe, today let me speak with a friend, today let the sun shine steady and strong, til moonlight shines on me again. It's enough to live, it's enough"
That's a perfect mantra.
Thank you for this space. I found inspiration today in an episode of podcast The Happiness lab by Dr Laurie Santos where she interviewed a climate activist and former university professor Adam Aron https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos/how-getting-active-can-make-you-happier I also was moved by this Substack post https://substack.com/@lindsayjohnstone/note/c-76464441?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=qclcq by Lindsay Johnston.
And I want to share my recent post about not giving up when it gets hard. I write about my attempt to learn a new swimming technique, but I think it could apply to so many other things https://open.substack.com/pub/lizadebevec/p/learning-to-crawl?r=qclcq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web A friend of mine, in response to recent election results wrote 'I am not built to quit' and I think it resonated strongly with me.
I feel like this weekend, it finally fully hit me, and I’m wrecked. Wrote this earlier in the week about processing with my 9 and 13yo daughters: https://megansvos.substack.com/p/processing-the-election-with-my-daughters?utm_medium=ios
The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger is a great read in that it imparts current science & that leaves me HAPPY.
Plants are so much ‘more’.
I