Adventures Of A Dreaming Ace: 2026

Friday, May 1, 2026

The Power of Sharing Mental Health Stories Part 1: Thank You Wentworth Miller

May is mental health month. A time where we are encouraged to talk about our personal mental health experiences. It is also a time to remember we are not alone in those experiences no matter if we are currently in crisis or thriving. This is the first of several posts I will be writing about the power of sharing our mental health stories and struggles.

Not surprisingly to anyone who follows my work, I will be starting with Wentworth Miller. This past March, Wentworth Miller returned to Instagram after a year and a half away with a powerful message about living life "behind enemy lines" and the impact that has on mental health.

It was the absolutely exact message I needed to hear at that particular moment when the "external forces/external voices" had gotten much louder than normal because I was/am dealing with some major life changes, which my brain is not a fan of.

Since I share a lot of intersectionality (queerness, neurodivergence, mental health struggles, etc.) with Wentworth, my brain trusted his understanding of the situation (or, quoting the West Wing, I know he has already been in the hole and knows the way out.)

I will go into more detail about why my brain trusts Wentworth knows what I am experiencing in a later post (since I doubt anyone wants to read a super long blog post LOL), but for right now I will leave you with Wentworth Miller's post from March 15, 2026, in its entirety.

"Life behind enemy lines..."

A thought like a ping-pong ball bouncing around inside my head these days...

What does that look like?

What are the taxes/tolls? Are there upsides/advantages? Additional languages learned/skillsets acquired? (Is "subtext" a language? Is "hypervigilance" a skillset?)

Where are those lines? On a map? Or less literal. A culture/community. Classroom/church pew. The front door of the house where you grew up.

For some of us, enemy lines can feel like the contours/confines of our own bodies/brains...

What are the costs - mental, physical, spiritual - of days/nights/decades inhabiting spaces you're made to feel illegal/alien/other? Unwelcome? Not just unwelcome but unsafe. In danger. A danger.

To yourself.

No one is born wanting to die, enters this world thinking Life Is Not Worth Living...

I reject that idea.

So if that (fatal) messaging doesn't come from within it can only come from without...

This is good news. It means you want to live.

That (fatal) voice in your head suggesting otherwise = someone else talking. A parent/coach/TV show. So-called sacred text. Billboards along the freeway.

Neat trick tho, external forces convincing you Life Is Not Worth Living, you internalizing the message then self-destructing while those responsible pretend their hands are clean. Clever, convincing you to do their dirty work...

Slow claps all around.

One problem: They failed.

I/you/we remain. Above ground. Breathing in and out. Anyway/still/despite. Picking our way thru the trenches (gentle, gentle), thru a world of Shadow Kings and accomplices, surviving (even thriving) behind enemy lines...

Wherever they may be.

Thursday, January 29, 2026

If You Can't Join The General Strike ...

Last Friday there was a pretty successful general strike in Minneapolis (with businesses from other cities participating too), and in response to the additional horrors that have occurred since, there has been a call for a nationwide general strike on Friday, January 30th.

Tomorrow's general strike has been developed very quickly and so did not have the planning that is typically needed to be successful, but I think at least talking about a general strike is important. Of course, if you can reasonably not go to work, not go to school, and not make any purchases tomorrow, do so, but not everyone can.

For example, personally, I am a cat sitter, and tomorrow I have some cat sitting scheduled, and I'm not going to abandon the kitties because of the strike, BUT I will continue my spend-nothing Jan and will even walk to and from cat sitting so I am not even spending money on public transport.

So What Can You Do If You Can't Strike?

Monetary Actions:

If you do need to make a purchase, only shop at small minority-owned businesses. Also continue to shop at small businesses throughout the weekend, especially ones that are choosing to close for the strike, because for many they are already running on tight margins and we need to support them for supporting the strike. If you must make a purchase, you might also consider making an equal donation to an immigrant-focused nonprofit, organization, or community group.

Governmental Actions:

Contact your elected officials (especially if they are Republicans) and tell them that unless they stand up to ICE and DHS, they will not get reelected. There are multiple platforms to do so, and while they tend to say that calls are the best, any contact is better than none, so send the email, send the message on social media, etc. if that is what will allow you to actually contact your elected representatives. And remember that our elected representatives work for us, so we are simply asking them to do their job.

Community Actions:

Check if there are community groups protecting children when school is let out, and if so, consider joining tomorrow (no children should be afraid they will be disappeared on the way to or from school), or join or host a whistle kit making event because it has been shown that whistles can successfully be used to bring community members out so we can have footage of what is really happening.

Keeping Record:

As we all have seen, it is vital that we keep records of what is happening in our communities because without documentation, without our videos, without record keeping, others will try to spin what is happening and who it is happening to. The names we know are because of videos and photos that others took showing what was really happening. For example, for every Liam Conejo Ramos, there are hundreds of unnamed, unknown, and all-too-likely-to-be-forgotten others.

Creative Actions:

Create art!!! Art is an important part of protest and liberation movements. Do what you can. Bruce Springsteen wrote a powerful song, "Streets of Minneapolis," , but creating posters or poems or even memes are also ways that art can be used to keep us all energized to stop what is happening.