Hello, you.
I hope you are doing well, I hope you are hanging in, I hope you are settling into whatever weirdland we are living in.
Over the weekend I took a writing workshop with Lidia Yuknavitch – one of my favorite writers. She is strange, and brave, and hilarious all at the same time, so you can see why I love her.
She did a TED talk few years back, so if you are curious to learn more about here, here’s a little taster.
The course was called “Ecstatic States: Sex, Death and Memoir”. I spent two hours feverishly taking notes on “liminal space”, and “traumatic enactment”, and “catastrophic rebirth”, not to mention one book recommendation after another.
“How was it?”, Italian wanted to know when I finally emerged from the basement.
I was smiling.
“Dorky AF”, I said.
Few years ago I flew all the way to Portland to take a two day workshop with Lidia. This past weekend I got a chance to hang out with her from the comfort of my own home.
If one thing has become abundantly clear in the past few months, it’s that any community will find a way to do the things they love – hell or high water. It’s been a weird weird couple of months. I have taken QiGong classes with my acupuncturist, and spinning classes with a friend (Peloton app!), and writing workshops, and attended storytelling events, and… and…
If it’s important, we’ll find a way. Workouts, coffee dates, and playdates. Reading hour on Zoom with grandma. Meditation circles.
When you throw in a set of constraints, people get really really creative. It’s like gluten-free baking. Or writing Haiku.
Truth be told, I AM a little Zoomed out. I miss real life hugs, and staring into the plane window on my way to my next destination. I can’t wait to do that. [If all goes well, my next destination will be LA at the end of August].
But it is cool to see the communities come together, and band, and lift each other up, and push each other out of bed, and help each other survive, survive, survive.
Hugs, SOLO