(Hellooooo and good new week to everyone reaching global action through local care, if nothing else! 💪🏻)

Some days I wake up thinking:

"This is what human beings are like with an active war in progress, after years of pandemic, with climate change events accelerating displacement all around us."

"This is us trying our best to think globally."

Eesh.

Monday morning thoughts, am I right? 🙃

Second writing task almost finished. (SNW review queued for early morning posting: Torontonians, assemble for this one!)

Time for a quick walk in the drizzle, then rereading another article I need to send off.

Then Task #3 (a tougher editing gig: best for last!) and off to bed, early to record. 👍🏻

Good evening, good night, & Good CoSo! 💛

I didn't fit in. And it made me self-conscious.

When I joined CoSo last year, I felt seen *as a human*. I'd forgotten this was possible! I'd been swimming in toxic circles for so long, but here we can just be people together. We lean into respect for what we share. No performative jockeying for "position".

So I just want to say how much I admire, respect, & appreciate all of *you*.

We can live with *so much* more integrity & courage, when we know we're not alone in containing multitudes. 💙

This morning @Minholkin said a kind thing that reminded me of a reason for gratitude.

I do try to "serve my values" every day, but this has been a very lonely pursuit on other forums. I often second-guessed myself while trying to be human in writing worlds with... let's call them affluent forms of public outreach and community building. Social media activism that centrally serves to affirm class status, and otherwise favours the most popular or those making the most provocative statements. /x

I keep meaning to do BookTube bright and early, but I have been looking haaaaaggard this past month. 🤞🏻 Tonight I will sleep early and well, and rise ready to record three pieces at once. And if I still look like the distant cousin of an albino raccoon, or like a stereotypical cartoon bandit-ghost? So be it.

And... I had a conversation with a COVID denier here. 😅 Now I have an opening anecdote for my newsletter this week.

Just going to say that I never feel prouder than when I can navigate a *very* delicate conversation in a second language.

More later! 😘

It's a long weekend here (Día de San Pedro y San Pablo mañana), so lots of locals are off on big (drinking and touring and maybe spiritually enlightening?) adventures in chivas rumberas (these fun vehicles, traditionally used to help rural farmers going to and from market).

Who doesn't want to hop on and sing along? 😅🇨🇴 #Colombia

Okay. Three-writing-task Sunday! 🥳

(Plus crossword time with a friend during this rainy early morning; I love sharpening my Spanish and learning new words - and the sheer *delight* of knowing esoteric synonyms in another language! #NerdAlert)

Hope everyone's got a lovely day of rest and/or mental stimulation ahead. 🌧💛

I find that my first draft of a poem or prose piece is me telling the story to myself.

The poem I'm trying to write right now is... tough. It draws on a real situation easily buried by optics. I look at this mess of a violent episode and I just see how every facet of it tweaks different discourses. How a victim is supposed to act toward a perp. What is and is not acceptable to dwell upon or feel.

Big, big challenge - but I want to find my words for this. And will. One draft at a time.

#Poetry

For some reason, I have a hankering to revisit Nightmare Alley (1947) tonight.

Something about carnivals of horror just... fits the mood today. 🙃

#CoSoFilms

👋🏻 Hi new CoSonauts!

In past surges, folks built their profiles out of anger at the awfulness on other forums.

Many new users immediately launched into how much they hate Musk, TFG, & other racists, transphobes, fascists, & hypocrites.

The online world is SO toxic that we've normalized feeling like we *have* to name what we hate as a baseline for ID, eh?

But you're honestly among likeminded (messy) humans here.

So try posting about who you are & what *you* love instead. I promise, it's safe!

Where have I BEEN before discovering Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't?! 😅

If you like botany, ecology, evolution, natural history, & other deliciously nerdy facts, AND want them delivered to you in casual academic perfection by a drawlin' Chicago-ite in enthusiastic conversation with relevant field experts, hot dog is this the podcast for you.

I want more accents from the streets confidently sharing facts from the sheets.

#IsThisMyKink? #ThisMightBeMyKink
#Science #Nature
https://pca.st/podcast/d2da56c0-ff5b-0136-324e-08b04944ede4