It is the final Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for #WIPWednesday even though, on days like today (after yet another school shooting in the US, just 10 days after a grocery store shooting), doing stuff like this feels pointless and ridiculous. But days like this are so frequent. If it is not mass shootings, it is human rights being stripped away, or wars, or natural disasters intensified by the climate crisis, or, or, or. I get caught up in a vortex of conflictions: not wanting to become desensitized but also not having the capacity to handle the constant onslaught of tragedies, not wanting to continue on with my usual daily life in the wake of tragedy but also not wanting to succumb to despair, not knowing how to exist in this world but still trying to anyway.
I don't think there is any one right way to exist in these times – to cope with these tragedies – but that does nothing to keep me from feeling like I am doing it wrong.
Today, though, my instinct is to acknowledge the tragedies and the truth of the situation, to feel infuriated, and to still continue on with the day's checklist.
So, here I am.
As I said last post, this time of year – the dreaded end-of-school-year and start-of-summer season which also hosts Mother's Day, Father's Day, and 4/5 of the birthdays in our family (as well as a few extended family birthdays) – tends to be a bit overwhelming, consumes a great deal of extra time & energy, and passes in a blur.
Again, this month, the bulk of my working hours went into my new Medium publication, Visible Bi+. I am pleased to report that it is continuing to receive positive feedback and grow organically. I am finding the effort I put into this project to be quite fulfilling.
I also wrote a new essay this month.
I made a new graphic and continued my #NoticedMoments series on Instagram, as well.
This week, I attempted to take a new self-portrait to update my author/bio headshot. Taking the pictures was daunting enough (I'm much too self-critical) but I'm dreading the next steps, even more. Hopefully, I'll like one well enough and get it uploaded to all the different places it needs to be to create continuity and recognition (it's not just my social media profiles and blog but all the different publications which host my bio, as well).
And I'm still not sure what is going on with that HrtWarming syndication they reached out to me about back in February. I'm marking it off my list at this point.
Next up, I'll be working on my Quarterly Newsletter to go out in June.