And I should add that this person heard. He doesn't have access to things like therapy where he lives, but he heard. We talked about addictive behaviours, the difference between explanation and excuse, how to show up with respect and withdraw from behaviours that feed trauma cravings for conflict over healing... lots.

But mostly he needed to hear that he had caused harm from someone who still sees him as having value. Our cultures are so deeply damaged & damaging, the two keep getting mixed up.

One reason I talk so much about rehabilitative and restorative justice, and why I think so much about the stories we tell about male transgressors esp (like some in my latest collection - no promo, just defending that this has been a career-long interest; though he 100% reminded me of Leave-Taking's protag) is because we often narrate in favour of human disposability. It's much harder to find good storytelling that teaches people about life after causing harm.

(The Bear is great for this, e.g.)

Many situations can bring us to a point where we feel it's over.

(I live with a precarity that makes some times super hard myself.)

But one of the most challenging might be the one my friend found himself in - because he did harm that will have consequences. And he needed to hear that yes, he *did* cause harm. No excuses. There would be consequences. He now has to work on himself & take responsibility.

But also... that his life still has value after the shame of letting himself & others down.

I have been up all night with a friend in crisis. Still on the line.

Funny how much added energy one can get when someone else is hurting, but hooo boy I'm going to need some gentleness with myself today.

"Insofar as she recognized at all that she was dreaming, she realized that she must be exploring her subconscious mind. She had heard it said that humans are supposed only to use about a tenth of their brains, and that no one was really clear what the other nine tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing #Potatoes."

I received such a kindness of deep praise from a reader on my last newsletter. I'm sitting now with its generosity, and the thought of how hard it is to maintain the confidence in oneself that others have in the value of one's work & one's presence.

But that's just it, isn't it? We need each other. Not to put each other up on pedestals. To *see* each other, & to *keep* reminding each other that they are seen.

Delicate times, friends.

Thanks so much for the chance to show up with all of you. 💙

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic #Potato.

#BookTube up!

Here I talk mental health, the stress of both indie & trad publishing work into which you've poured so much, the struggle to imagine better, and upcoming book reviews for this channel.

Oh, and I discuss and read the intro to A TOWER FOR THE COMING WORLD (hard launch July 11!).

Be good to your noggins, loves! (And apologies for the rainy-day voice.)

#SFF #WritingLife #WritingCommunity #Indie #IndiePublishing #Writers
#WritersOfCoSo

https://youtu.be/h7HVfsFVTCc

Okay. This morning's second video take was *adequate* - though near the end my voice is verging on breaking and emergency vehicles start tearing through the rainy morning backdrop. 🙃

Oh well. It's currently uploading, so I'm going for a quick wander and a tinto. The key is to get full videos back into the weekly routine again, so I can dive into book review video segments soon.

(I have three book reviews lined up! Lots of SF-literary fun forthcoming.)

Today didn't go well, but we keep showing up, and maybe tomorrow will. 🤞🏻 https://youtube.com/shorts/goJEsiSysHQ?feature=share8

Do you follow our very own messy-brilliant human @BosmangBeratna on YouTube?

His shorts are sweet, sweet daily reminders that we hurt together, and we heal together, by making space for the ongoing work of self-acceptance. Why? Because it serves no one to think that any of us can or should have it all together before fighting for better.

The world doesn't need you to clean your room. It needs *you*. Full stop.

(And do follow this rad, working-on-it dreamer for more!)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Qj_lnm74LTs?feature=share8

Outdoor tasks finished.

DEFINITELY want a shower after that gross run-in, but lots of work to dive into first. Happy Friday evening, all. Try not to be jerks!

Racism *does* show up in Colombia, but it's almost invariably from people with strong European roots.

Today I made a friendly comment about someone's dessert order, and this older woman told me she'd lived 30 years in Spain, 16 in Switzerland, but agreed that both cultures were very closed off compared to Colombia. Happy to be home at last, she said! Happy agreement on my part!

"But also," she added. "France and Spain have too many Arabs and Blacks. Very violent. Worse than Medellín."

🤢 #Nope

Also, I feel vindicated! I always thought 🙏 meant prayer, so I didn't use it even when people told me it also meant high-five. The high-fivers are a niche group globally!

Do you! But there shall be no praise or prayer hands from me.

(I also laughed at the emoji for cucumber showing up chopped on some apps, making for very unintentionally menacing sexting at times. Flirt online with an emoji dictionary on hand, is I think the lesson here! 🙃)

Healing right now is an episode of Ologies while finishing the rest of my errands.

(Emojis are SO recent and such a fascinating site of meaning creation and re-creation around the world!)

#Linguistics #Semiotics #Language #Technology
https://pca.st/episode/17dfb0f4-33b8-4069-be31-4ae5f9061426

The drunken fellow who bothered me two weeks ago ran into me when I stepped out between tasks. He apparently lives part-time here, & while he wanted to apologize he also again was not good at leaving me alone. The whole passive aggressive "¿porqué estás mala cara con la gente?" routine (Why are you so grumpy with others?) was so freaking annoying.

I feel like I am... definitely in need of a few days away from the city - little finca, all alone - but I have to finish the novel first.
#PasoAPaso

Oof. One of these days I'll have a nice one for you, I promise.

But today for #OnlySky, I have a news brief that ties together some of what I've been reporting on all year: the consistently grim findings of our international bodies when it comes to climate change readiness.

We need to do more--but *will* we? Can this latest heat wave finally, finally, finally be enough?

#ClimateCrisis
https://onlysky.media/mclark/broken-heat-records-and-the-promise-of-more/