Goodbye 2021/Hello 2022

 

2021 is counting down, and tick by tick, tock by tock, tick tock, tick tock 2022 is on its way. No one knows what 2022 will bring. What adventures and what challenges. What joys and what sorrows. This is a good time to pause and reboot. 

For some this means making resolutions (if so I would suggest listening to some of the recent short talks on the Make Your Damn Bed podcast on Spotify Resolutions, Resolutions 2, New Years) 

For some this means picking a theme (My theme for 2022 is "It does not have to be perfect")

For some this means taking on a challenge for Jan such as Yoga with Adriene's Free Move program, trying a short meditation each day, or if you are one of those people who typically drinks having a dry January.

For some this means reviewing the year past and seeing our accomplishments and where we need to make small tweaks to get where we want to be. 

2021 has been a year. I accomplished some things I would never of guessed, and did not get to things I thought I would this year. It has both felt like the fastest year of all time as well as the slowest year of all time. I had plans but we know what we need to do with plans (throw them out.) 

I do not know what 2022 will bring (no one does), but I am ready to face what ever may come. I wish you all a meaningful and bold and joy filled New Years that fills you with belonging and Love.

Advent Week 4: Joy

 

This is the final week of Advent and this week's theme is Joy.

What do you do for yourself to have joy in your life?

Joy

Joy Ever

Joy Forever

Joy Forever Growing

Joy Forever Growing Bigger and Bolder

Joy Forever Growing

Joy Forever

Joy Ever

Joy

Joy can look like a million different things

So seek the small actions that bring you Joy

I wish you a season filled with Joy

Deep meaningful and wonderful Joy

Longest Nights ...

 

Soon it will be the longest night

Though many of us have been living

In such a moment for time upon time

Times when the night is longer than the day

Times when there is doubt the sun will rise again

Times where a winter chill blows through

Bodies and Minds and Spirits

This is not a night for certainty

Nor for platitudes or common sayings

This is not a night to be rushed

Or skipped over in our hustle or bustle

Instead this is a night 

To sit, To watch, To wait

And maybe to hope

Soon it will be the longest night

And while we do not know for certain

If the sun will return to the sky

We do know that we all sit in the darkness

The darkness covers the whole land

And therefore we know we are never alone

Never alone in the darkness

We may not be able to see those around us

 We may not be able to see a light in the sky

We may not be able to see past this moment

But we are never alone in this darkness

Thank You: Responders To Letters

Department of Transportation beats the VP*** LOL

I have Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Chasten on my seasonal card list. I never actually expected a response since I bet he gets lots of encouraging fan mail, though I still hoped that the department would have some sort of thanks for writing department/intern. Well today I grabbed the mail, saw something I did not pay much attention to since I assumed it was some nonsense from the city. 

I am glad I opened it carefully since it was a letter from Pete. :) :) :) With a real signature as in the ink can be seen from the back so not just a stamped signature. The letter is clearly a kind of generic thank you for writing, kind of letter, but I got a response which is amazing and means I will continue to send him cards since he might actually see them, at least some of the time. It was a really cool piece of mail to get today. And reminds me that sending people cards is important even if I am not sure if they get them at all. Surly worth the cost of a stamp.

*** 

Back when Clinton was president me and my friends sent a few letters and I got generic thank you for writing notes with pictures from all the Clintons, from Sox the cat, from maybe a puppy dog? and a few others (They are back home with my parents so I can't quickly look them all up). I got enough I started to take them all for granted.

At that time I also wrote Gore and never got an answer and remember being annoyed he did not have as good a thanks for writing department/intern to sends this type of stuff/ etc. I have not written Harris yet so I really can't compare but right now the Department of Transportation responds better than the VP at least in my mind. Though now I feel like I have to do a scientific study and send notes to the VP and President and see if I get a response

Intersectionality ...

 

I recently finished "Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed" a collection of essays exploring the complexities and intersectionalities of the Latinx Diaspora and the Latinx identity. One common theme is not always feeling like you fit within your identities or not being sure how you want to identify in the first place. 

While I am coming from a very different place I too have experienced this "identity uncertainty", this struggle with language, this questioning who I am and where I fit into the world and communities around me. Sometimes simply having an identity does not lead to a feeling of belonging.

In the essays there was multiple cases of the various authors feeling like they were looking in to, versus belonging to, a community. Cases of questioning if their experience "counted" or which of their experiences that should identity with at any given moment. 

I know I often feel like I am looking into communities, or enjoying them like I enjoy a good story. When I read a story I can connect to the characters or the writer but that is different from actually being part of the story. (I have yet to pull a "Thursday Next" and physically end up within a story LOL) 

I find I have created a whole support system filled with characters, and actors, and writers, and creative individuals who I can connect with but who I have never met. 

For example: I bring a Captain Cold POP figure in my pocket pretty much no matter what I am planning to do. My Captain Cold is there when people become too much (Combo of my introvert nature and a much lower tolerance for in person interactions after the past two years.) 

For example: Wentworth Miller lives in my head and my journal and I lean on him when ever my mental health goes a bit wonky since I know he understanding what I am experiencing. There is power in someone understanding even when you can not always put what you are experiencing into words.

For example: I have turned to a group of Wentworth Miller, Victor Garber (Professor Stein Actor), Russell Tovey (Talk Art, Earth X Ray Actor) and Robert Diament (Talk Art, King of the Gallerists) when I want to explore the intersections of my Ace identity and the wider LGBTQ+ community.

And I could go on and on since my support system is a multifandom, multiuniverse, multitimeline creation. In the end while the particular intersections of the Latinx community will never be my own I do understand how identity can be both really personally and be rooted, or not rooted in community at the same time.

Advent Week 3: Love

Love can take many different forms. For example the Greeks had so many words that it is hard to pinpoint how many there really are. For example here is 10 of them. 

• Agápe: brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God
• Éros: romantic or passionate love
• Ludus: playful love
• Mania: obsessive love
• Meraki: to do something with love, creativity, and devotion, when you wholeheartedly put yourself into what you are doing.
• Philautia: self-love, to love oneself or regard for one's own happiness or advantage
• Philia: affectionate regard, friendship, usually between equals
• Pragma: enduring love
• Storge: love, affection and especially of parents and children (Or I would add found family)
• Xenia: hospitality, "guest-friendship" or "ritualized friendship"

This is a great season to take a moment and think about all the places love shows up in your life as well as all the forms it shows up in. This is also a great time to think about how to focus Philautia, Xenia, and Meraki into your life. 

C2E2 2021: My review

I made it to C2E2 this weekend. It was the first in-person convention I have been to since the before times. Everyone was required to be vaccinated and to wear masks the whole time and it had a much smaller turnout than past years so I felt comfortable going. 

(I know many others who did not feel comfortable enough to go especially with uncertainty around Omicron but doing a risk assessment and talking to those I have regular contact with I felt ok going)

This year C2E2 was much smaller than in years past and even so I was very gentle on myself. Since this was the first extended period with a large number of people in two years I knew I was going to get tried much easier than normal. This meant spending shorter days at the convention.

I went to 7 panels (which is much less than some years but I found sitting and trying to focus for hours on end was challenging this year)

1. Coffee & Comics: Writing Masterclass 101
2. Amplifying Black Voices and Bold Stories in Comics and Creative Tech
3. Witches, Gods, & Monsters
4. Celebrating & Creating Diversity in Pop Culture (featuring one of my friends)
5. Caped Crusaders: Creators talking About Crimes Alleys and Dark Knights
6. Hip Hop and Comics: A Dynamic Duo
7. Tis the Season: Hack the Holidays (and Save Your Sanity) (this was an interesting panel but for various reasons the topic of the holidays did not really come up it was more about mental health in general)

This year I ended up spending much more time on the show floor. I was glad that it was spread out more than in past years (in part because there were fewer vendors) so I very rarely felt like I had to get within 6 feet of anyone else. Many of the traditionally big names were not there such as Marvel, DC, or the larger book publishers but it just made it feel like a smaller more local con instead. 

I ended up with a few of the free books offered by the Science Fiction Outreach Project.  One that stood out was the above magazine that covers Legends of Tomorrow and even included two photos of my Captain Cold. I also ended up walking up and down artist alley much more than is typical for me which felt like going to a free fandom art museum.

While there were clearly fewer people there still were good costumes including a whole range of Loki variants, and several holiday based cosplays. Since C2E2 has traditionally been in early spring all the holiday themed items kept surprising me. Overall I had a good time and I am glad I decided to go this year. Now I will need a few days to decompress from so much people time but that is fine.