to rest or not to rest, that is the question...

Here I am, on Independence Day, writing my first post in a newsletter I will probably forget in three months (or days, as my computer prompted me to type just now. AuDHD keeps things interesting, to be sure.)

But more than anything right now, I'm looking for the same thing as so many others. Connection. Connection to work, collaborations, friendship, love, and safety.

But safe isn't really my thing. I always want to be safe, but when it comes time to make decisions, the safe one is never appetizing.

Then again, I'm not jumping out of airplanes (cost issues). The only risks I ever take are with my pride and my ability to feed myself– and I do ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶ pivot on occasion. But life has been more than fair. When I was homeless, I had friends who kept me safe and roofs over my head for sometimes months at a time. When I was struggling to write, my then-employer told me to take a hike because I was "too good" for that job and that business, and meant for better things.

And now, I'm an unsuccessful (yet, I've been told) writer, surrounded by some of the industry's most amazing talent. Artists I dream of collaborating with, and sometimes get to. Writers I look up to and admire too much to envy them, because it's so much easier and funner to share the joy of their triumphs.

It's Independence Day, and the empire is on fire, both literally and figuratively. Families are divided, because a cult of personality has taken control and seeks to gaslight and DARVO us into proudly welcoming our own oppression under fascism.

Still, there is so much beauty in humanity. Our children are so much brighter and cooler than we were at their ages. Access to diverse books is better than it's ever been, thanks to the internet and a global market. Important voices are harder to silence, as long as those of us with the privilege do our part and both seek and protect them.

The country I was brought to as a teen might never have been great in its humanity, but it can be. We can make it so. I see the words and the works of incredible people, and it gives me hope, enough hope that I keep swinging for the fences and expecting that home run.

May this Independence Day be one day recorded as a turning point, where people chose one another over the myths of the prosperity gospels, white supremacy, and colonialism. May we find our will to fight, because it will be the fight of our lifetimes.

I love my communities. You deserve health, safety, and spaces to create. I can't wait to see what you all do.

xoxo, liz