Love letters to my Facebook friends, bc I think I’m done with Facebook…

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Facebook, Facebook friends, holding on, letters, love letter, my own space, quitting Facebook, reaching out, sacred space, trying new things

Want me to write you a love letter on my blog? To the comments with you!

All I can think about lately is how much I want to quit Facebook. Then I want to post that on Facebook. Hello there, fence I’ve been on before. Um. More than once.

When you can embed two relevant self-authored links in your very short lead, you probably oughta make a damn decision already, huh?

Problem is–and I’m not pretending it’s a unique problem that only I have–there are people with whom 1) I would like to stay in contact with but 2) my only means of contact is Facebook. I don’t want to “lose” those people. But I don’t want to be at that party anymore.

I kinda thought making my own space would be like throwing my own party, but my invitations could be better. Hence this idea I have to write love letters to (some of) my Facebook friends, here on the blog.

It’s hard out here for a mouthy introvert poet. To Instagram?

Tags

amwriting, Instagram, Instapoets, more poetry, put more poetry into the world, self-publishing, social media, traditional vs. non-traditional publishing, trying new things, trying something new, writing, writing about abuse

I want to tell you everything and nothing.

I wrote this post for the Center for Creative Writing’s blog (I write and teach there) in response to the NYT article about the Instapoets. I don’t want to be an Instapoet, but I do want to explore ways of putting poetry–mine, yours, my literary forebears dead and living–into the world in non-traditional ways, because the traditional ways are less than desirable most of the time.

Trying new things, as a 3yo and as a 34yo

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breathe, daily calm, fight your demons, gratitude list, newness, self-care, stay inquisitive, stay young, take risks, trying new things

Photo by Flickr user Beth Jusino (Creative Commons license).

Preschoolers are this fun mix of new and routine. They’re old enough to know snack time, supper time, bath time, bed time; they’re young enough to still be delighted by the newness of a toy, snack, or sight they haven’t yet encountered.

Adulthood, on the other hand, seems rife with resistance to anything new. Or, it’s beleaguered by cynicism. Nothing surprises me anymore, you’ll hear people say. Oh, I know! I know that. I heard that somewhere. That’s what I thought. We already know everything, have seen it all, honey.

Jax says, does, feels, expresses, tastes, hears, sees, or tries something new every day. It’s dizzying—for me. Why isn’t it dizzying for him? Because life is still thrilling. Because he doesn’t have bills or exes or self-doubt or health problems. And generally because he’s a happy person.

I stand guard over his happiness, too. Know that. Despair and insecurity? You shall not effing pass.

Watching him from this defensive sentry position as he interacts with other kids gives me both pride and fear feels. More pride than anything. He’s adventurous. He makes me want to be more adventurous. To try, and try again.

My year of reclamation

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alone time, being an adult, coping, gratitude, my favorite things, reclaiming, reclamation, remembering, self-awareness, self-care, sense of self, settling in, trying new things

Mountaintop selfie: the view up here is good.

Earlier this week, I blogged about “taking my life back.” Sometimes you have to high-five yourself, be your own best friend. Rather than dwell on the events that precipitated this…yeah, rebirth seems like the right word…I feel like making a list of things I’m doing or have done in the past year to start over.

I’m a list-loving kind of woman.

I know this list is gonna sound a little Oprah, a little “be your best self,” but I lost my sense of self for a while. This is my welcome-back. This list is full of old and new favorite things that have helped me remember and grow who I am, one for every month of the last year:

A new thing I’m trying is getting people to try new things

Tags

food, spaghetti, trying new foods, trying new things, zucchini

Spaghetti made out of zucchini! With shrooms! In alfredo! Eat it and like it.

I used to think being described as “preachy” or “demanding” was a horrible thing. It’s something I’ve actively tried not to do, for a very long time, to varying degrees of success.

Mostly, this relates to food. I love food, as evidenced by the fact that I don’t have a food blog but I sort of blog about food constantly. I’m an 11-year pesco-lacto-ovo vegetarian (i.e., I eat fish, dairy, and eggs, but no other animal products). I’ve been the victim of countless, shameless attempts to coerce or trick me into eating meat, and it sucks, and I never wanted to do that to anyone else with, say, tempeh or kale.