A Wish For Magic

 

Tomorrow is the first day of October. For a number of reasons: politics, national news, etc I have decided that I am going to go full out Halloween all month. Now I always like Halloween because it is an opportunity to cosplay and the next day candy is half off. I like it despite one of my pet peeves being pumkin spice taking over the world, spice is fine, pumkin spice needs to learn moderation LOL. 

How much I celebrate Halloween differs year by year. This year is going to be full out Halloween and I have decided to dedicate the month to magic. 

I will be sharing mystical music, Halloween songs, and even Halloween cartoons on one of the Facebook pages I manage. 

I plan to watch one Halloween/magic related episode each day (There are a wide range of options on Netflix such as the TV series Hotel Transylvania as well as shows on Pluto TV such as The Adams Family)

My hope is to stay busy so the month of October flies by because I am eager for the stress of politics to change, hopefully for the better, come election day. 

May you have a month of magic

May you find magic in eveything you do

May you have a month of magic

Celebrate Banned Book Week

Banned Books Week (September 27 - October 3, 2020) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.

Right now reading banned books feels even more important than in years past. So let's start with someone reading us one of those stories.

And Tango Makes Three

So this week I challenge you to do one of the following

• Read one commonly banned book*
• Donate to the ACLU or the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund 
• Participate in one online banned book week event
• Research what books have been challenged in your own community

* Below I am including several lists of commonly banned books including The Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019 and a top 10 challenged books year by year for the past 20 years which is interesting to look at. While these cover a wide range of topics, generas, and a mix of classics and modern works, these are just a sampling of the numerous books you might choose to read for banned book week.

The Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019 (according to the American Library Association) 

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• George by Alex Gino
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
• Drama by Raina Telgemeier
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
• Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
• A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
• Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
• Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
• It's a Book by Lane Smith
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
• What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
• A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
• Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
• Crank by Ellen Hopkins
• Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
• This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
• This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
• A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
• In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco
• Lush by Natasha Friend
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Holy Bible
• This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
• Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
• House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
• My Mom's Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler
• Neonomicon by Alan Moore
• The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
• Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
• Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia
• Fade by Lisa McMann
• The Family Book by Todd Parr
• Feed by M.T. Anderson
• Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
• Habibi by Craig Thompson
• House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
• Jacob's New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
• Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
• Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag
• The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
• 1984 by George Orwell
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
• Awakening by Kate Chopin
• Burned by Ellen Hopkins
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
• Glass by Ellen Hopkins
• Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans
• My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
• Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
• Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
• Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
• So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
• The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
• The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
• The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
• Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen
• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

And if you want to explore the past 20 years of banned books consider checking out this list of 10 most challenged books by The American Library Association. (It is interesting to see how books rise and fall each year and a reminder of what series and books were big in different years)

Being Gentle, Keeping Fighting

This has been quite a week filled with news stories that have been draining. I have found the news has put me in fight or flight mode over and over and over again this week. From unjust legal results to officials who won't state that this Nov there will be a peaceful handover of power. This has been a week where projects I should work on I could not focus on and I spent a lot of time finding ways to escape. 

This is all to say that we all need to be gentle with ourselves. There is a lot going on right now and many of us are worried about our lives and livelihoods. 

Be Gentle With Yourself

Keep Fighting For A Better Day

Be Gentle With Whatever You Are Feeling

Keep Fighting For A More Just World

Be Gentle With Your Successes and Failures

Keep Fighting For Those Who Have Less Privilege Than You

Be Gentle When Breathing Is Hard

Keep Fighting 

Be Gentle

Know that if being gentle with yourself leads to you escaping that is ok. As Neil Gaiman put it:

“People talk about escapism as if it's a bad thing... Once you've escaped, once you come back, the world is not the same as when you left it. You come back to it with skills, weapons, knowledge you didn't have before. Then you are better equipped to deal with your current reality.”

So read the book, watch the show, disengaged from the social media, write in that journal, dance in your bedroom, drink the water, bake the bread, .... Do whatever you need to do at this moment.

When there is No Justice ...

 

Today there was a ruling which did not bring about justice. 

Breonna was unarmed and murdered 

Murder by those who are supposed to keep us safe.

Murdered by bad policies

Murdered by bad practices

Murdered by principalities

Murder by those who are supposed to keep us safe.

And there will be marching

And there will be mourning

And there will be more

Murder by those who are supposed to keep us safe.

Any job where murder is "justifiable"

Any job where murder is all too common

Any job which leads to murder

Is part of a system that has to be overturned

Is part of a system that is killing us all

Is part of a system broken in billions of pieces

Today there was a ruling which did not bring about justice. 

Breonna was unarmed and murdered 

Murder by those who are supposed to keep us safe.

National Voter Registration Day 9/22/20

 

Tuesday is the National Voter Registration Day: 

Are you Registered?

If yes have you double-checked recently?

If no register to vote now.

Personally, I started to follow this election much earlier than in past years and understand it might feel like it has been going on forever, but no matter how tired of it all you might be, registered to vote, please. This is an election that will impact everyone in this country no matter if you know it or not. 

This election is about everything including:

• Leadership around COVID as we sadly mark the 200,000th US death
• Responding to Global Climate Change so we are not a nation on literal fire (Thoughts and Prayers for the West Coast). 
• Women having control over their own bodies and having access to needed care (Such as birth control)
• Honoring soldiers and vets
• Honoring the Human Dignity of ALL
• Creating community based solutions to prevent our systems and institutions from the way too prevalent murdering of those who are part of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities as well as those who are facing mental health crises while keeping us ALL safe.
• Protecting the post office

I could go on and on about all the important issues that are up for a vote this year. But in summary, these issues affect everyone from those who are in rural areas to those in urban areas, from seniors to infants, from the heartland to the coasts (Or put another way from sea to shining sea). This is an important election so please register to vote and then vote this election cycle by whatever methods are available to you.

To A Good, Sweet New Year

L'shanah tovah u'metucha

To a good, sweet new year

Today marks the end of the month of Elul and the transition to the Jewish High Holy Days which begin tonight with Rosh HaShanah and apples and honey and ends with Yom Kippur and fasting. In between these two days is a time of reflection. A time to take stock of what we have done during the past year and what we failed to do over that time. 

The below quote from a Piloting Faith email I received today, speaks to how a call for such reflection, in this moment of time, can be found in other faith traditions too:

It's as if this global disruption is saying to us, "It's time for your old life to die and a new life to be born. Take a moment and look around. Take with you only what you really want and think you will need. Leave everything else. From dust, to dust. All will be cared for. 

Reflection can be challenging, it can be hard, it can feel like poking an open wound but this reflection is needed to have a meaningful/valuable life. 

So tonight have some apples and some honey and enjoy the sweetness that can always be found no matter how much bitter herb (Ok, the wrong holiday, bitter herbs are Passover, but run with the idea since it fits) life seems to throw your way.

Of course, this year will be different from other years and because of that some of the traditional prayers, etc could be triggering for some. Below is a great alternative version of one such prayer that feels more attuned to the trauma that so many of us have found in 2020.

An Alternate Unetaneh Tokef

by Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

On Rosh HaShanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed:

That this year people will live and die,

some more gently than others

and nothing lives forever.

But amidst overwhelming forces

of nature and humankind,

we still write our own Book of Life,

and our actions are the words in it,

and the stages of our lives are the chapters,

and nothing goes unrecorded, ever.

Every deed counts.

Everything you do matters.

And we never know what act or word

will leave an impression or tip the scale.

So if not now, then when?

For the things we can change, there is t’shuvah, realignment,

For the things we cannot change, there is t’filah, prayer,

For the help we can give, there is tzedakah, justice.

Together, let us write a beautiful Book of Life

for the Holy One to read.

What Is Connection?

 

Recently I have been diving deep

Diving deep into what is connection

Moments to reflect keep popping up

POP, POP, POP

What is the connection?

Where can it be found?

POP, POP, POP

How do we connect

To ourselves?

To others?

To the universe and stars?

POP, POP, POP

How do we connect

Who we are to who we could be?

POP, POP, POP

How do we connect

Among social distancing?

Among Pandemic?

Among a country burning?

POP, POP, POP

And this is not a poem

Which answers anything

With a neat and tidy bow

Just a reminder 

That asking the right questions

Can if we pay attention

Make all the difference.

The Power Of Memoirs

 I Have Something To Tell You: A Response

By Dreaming Ace

I am a poet, but sometimes the words don’t come

And then I read them all neatly laid out on a page

Contexts I did not know about myself made clear

Experiences and emotions gently, gently explained

Reframing the narratives that flow through my head

About myself, About my place here, About my story

A retelling of my inner stories, My points of view old as time

Learning + remembering the hard bits are hard for all

Learning + remembering my own connections, my people 

Learning + remembering my own histories, my own heart

I stand grateful for powerful and vulnerable memoirs

Sometimes even a poet needs the words of others

Chasten's memoir came out Sept 1st and in case you can't tell I absolutely loved it :) It is very conversational in tone and I laughed out loud many a time.

• Dating is WTF no matter who you are
• Everyone has experienced hard things that need to be named so others know they are not alone, and can hold out "for the good."
• Many of us have worried about where we were on the trajectory of our lives or felt we were not good enough
• For any of us who have worked in the service industries, customers are customers no matter where you are.

As I said in a letter I mailed Chasten today (C/O Win The Era PAC so all bets are off if anyone will actually see it LOL)

Reading your story really provided me context about my own childhood ... all reasons in hindsight I never felt part of my community. Your story helped me by naming some of the reasons I never felt that I fit in growing up. I had never really thought about how my identity as asexual (which I did not have words for as I was growing up) impacted how I related to those around me (I was always getting lost in books because people were too much work to figure out) and how not fitting in expressed itself as me not trusting others and not trusting myself.

Your book has given me a lot to think about in terms of my past experiences and how those experiences still impact me today.

I really found Chasten's book to provide me the context I missed growing up and is helping me place myself and my upbringing within that context. It is interesting to be able to reframe those experiences. It was also a lot of fun to see how many experiences Chasten and I had in common growing up. (And I think come NaNoWriMo I shall be trying my hand at my own memoir, to continue to explore my personal context, just for fun) 

Chasten's book is filled with warmth and humor and humanity and hard moments too. Chasten wrote an amazing memoir and you should give it a shot if you have a chance.

National Suicide Prevention Week

September is Suicide Prevention Month, and right now we are in the middle of the National Suicide Prevention Week (Sun, Sep 6, 2020 – Sat, Sep 12, 2020). This is a heavy and hard topic that collectively, we all need to speak more openly about because suicide and suicidal ideation impacts us all, and impacts every community.

(If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please reach out to one of the many helplines available. You are not alone)

• Suicide prevention must recognize and affirm the value, dignity, and importance of each person.
• Suicide is not solely the result of illness or inner conditions. The feelings of hopelessness that contribute to suicide can stem from societal conditions and attitudes. Therefore, everyone concerned with suicide prevention shares a responsibility to help change attitudes and eliminate the conditions of oppression, racism, homophobia, discrimination, and prejudice.
• Some groups are disproportionately affected by these societal conditions, and some are at greater risk for suicide.
• Individuals, communities, organizations, and leaders at all levels should collaborate to promote suicide prevention.
• The success of this strategy ultimately rests with individuals and communities across the United States. (NCBI)

Stats:

Globally close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds. (WHO)

In the United States, Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. In 2018, 48,344 Americans died by Suicide. In 2018, there were an estimated 1.4M Suicide attempts. (AFSP)

Stories:

Oscar-winning writer Graham Moore spoke about attempting suicide when he was a child in his oscar speech for The Imitation Game. He spoke more to this experience on The Axe Files with David Axelrod (who talked about his own father (a mental health professional) who died by suicide when Axelrod was a kid) 

The conversation around suicide and mental health goes from around 8:30 to 22.24. What was highlighted was the importance of talking about suicide and suicide attempts publically because in those moments too many people feel alone. They feel like they are the only ones to ever have experienced what they are experiencing and struggle to see what might be on the other side.

Signs:  

Broken down into Talk, Behavior, and Mood (AFSP):

Warning sign: Talk

If a person talks about:

Killing themselves

Feeling hopeless

Having no reason to live

Being a burden to others

Feeling trapped

Unbearable pain

Warning sign: Behavior

Behaviors that may signal risk, especially if related to a painful event, loss or change:

Increased use of alcohol or drugs

Looking for a way to end their lives, such as searching online for methods

Withdrawing from activities

Isolating from family and friends

Sleeping too much or too little

Visiting or calling people to say goodbye

Giving away prized possessions

Aggression

Fatigue

Warning sign: Mood

People who are considering suicide often display one or more of the following moods:

Depression

Anxiety

Loss of interest

Irritability

Humiliation/Shame

Agitation/Anger

Relief/Sudden Improvement

While these are often portrayed as signs to see in others who might be suffering, they are also useful for self-reflection and inner work. If you find yourself displaying such signs reach out to someone you trust and explain that you are struggling and need help. The sooner you reach out the easier it may be to reframe your inner monologue.

Sources of Help:

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 (http://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/) is a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. For ESP call 1-888-628-9454, for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Options call 1-800-799-4889

The Veterans Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255, followed by Pressing 1.(https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/) is a 24-hour, toll-free hotline that provides phone, webchat, and text options available to military veterans and their families. It provides options for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

The IMAlive Crisis Chatline (www.imalive.org) is a non-profit, worldwide 24/7, anonymous chatline to help anyone in crisis via instant messaging.

The Crisis Text Line texting HOME to 741-741 (crisistextline.org) is the only 24/7, nationwide crisis-intervention text-message hotline.

The Trevor Project The TrevorLifeline can be reached at 1-866-488-7386. TrevorChat can be found at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/ (available 7 days a week from 3PM to 10PM ET). TrevorText can be reached by texting TREVOR to 1-202-304-1200 (available M-F from 3PM to 10PM ET) The Trevor Project is a nationwide organization that provides a 24-hour phone hotline, as well as limited-hour webchat and text options, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

The Trans Lifeline 1-877-565-8860 (https://www.translifeline.org/) is a nonprofit organization that is created by and for the transgender community, providing crisis intervention hotlines, staffed by transgender individuals, available in the United States and Canada.

Songs:

Here are a few songs that speak about Suicide or Suicide Ideation and the importance of reaching out for help when we find ourselves in need of help: 

Faith-Based:

God Only Knows (for King and Country)

God's Not Done With You (Tauren Wells)

Other:

1-800-273-8255 (Logic ft Alessia Cara, Khalid) This is a powerful song, and has a good ending, but could be very triggering for some please take note.

Labor Day Weekend

Today is the start of the Labor Day Weekend when we honor work in all its forms (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.) This year we have all put in a lot of Labor. So this is a good time to take a breath and allow the nutrients of that practice to be absorbed (as Adriene always says during yoga with Adriene). 

While my job situation has now changed and I am now "working" as a freelance writer this poem I wrote back in Sept 2014 still is relevant today as so many of us face complicated work situations because of COVID. No matter what you labor situation is know the labor you do is seen.

NOTE: In honor of Labor Day I will not write a blog post on Monday. I will see you all on Wed instead.

A Labor Day Poem: What gets me up in the morning 

(Friom Sept 2014)

I never thought of Labor day

As an emotion filled Holiday

But for us who are without work

Sometimes all we feel are the sling and arrows

Of discouragement and disappointment

I often struggle in the articulating what I am passionate about

But I realize despite this my life is indeed filled with passion

I am Passionate about the Fundamentals

The Fundamentals of Life 

Love and Story and Beauty and Joy

In all their many forms

And you asked what gets me up in the morning

There are so many answers

An ever changing Kaleidoscope

And I thank the heavens for that truth

I get up in the morning for People

For Friends who stand quietly by my side

For Historical Figures and Famous Individuals whom I shall never meet in person

For Characters who I will always know better than myself and will always know me in return

I get up in the morning for Places

For HC*, and Chicago, and the TARDIS

These will always be my sister, mother, child

Always be my friends forever 

I get up in the morning for Things

For Music, and Books, and Films

For Dancing and Walking and Dreaming

For all the Millions of Magical Moments which Touch my Soul

So while I can not tell you

In this moment of time

My Work, My Vocation, My Job

And while there will always be moments 

I forget the bright stars shining within me

Day by Day I will place one foot in front of the other

On and On and On until forever

And give life and time 

The space it needs to inspire

*2020 Edit this would now say Lighthouse Church UCC 

Tonight's Corn Moon

 

The Algonquin tribes in what is now the northeastern USA coined the term Corn Moon, according to the Maine Farmer's Almanac, since this was the time for gathering their main staple crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, beans and wild rice. (Via USA Today)

European names for this full moon are the Fruit Moon, as a number of fruits ripen as the end of summer approaches, and the Barley Moon, from the harvesting and threshing of barley, according to NASA. (Via USA Today)

For Buddhists, it is known as the Honey Full Moon or Modhu Purnima by the Mon people from Thailand. At the same time, it is celebrated by people in Bangladesh as well in the Honey-offering Festival. The festival is a time to celebrate the time that Buddha was given fruit and honeycomb by a monkey and an elephant named Parileyyaka while he was in the wilderness. (Via sciencetimes.com)

No matter what you call it, tonight will be a speical full moon so if you can get outside and bask in the lights of the moon.