Here to listen today. (Also, good events happening this week.)
Here to listen.
Image: Approaching Thunder Storm, Martin Johnson Heade, 1859, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Gift of Erving Wolf Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Erving Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1975). Used with permission.
So hello everyone! I hope you are as well as can be.
I wanted to let you know that we will shortly return to the topics of food, weight and eating with sanity for two reasons: That's my area of expertise and where I can do the most and fastest good in the world and because mine is not the anti-racist voice I wish to amplify. (Obviously.)
This week, I am mostly listening, reading and watching. On the topic of racism and anti-racism it's best I do a lot more listening than speaking. Like, at least 10x. Maybe 100x listening.
(But also participating! Because we have to GET UP, so everyone can live and breathe.)
I do want to acknowledge that
although I’ve not deliberately set about “creating community” as part of a business plan
communities always take form and
my community is mostly white gals in their 40s, 50s and up. (Emphasis on “mostly.” This community has never been all one thing and I'm ~genuinely~ humbled by the diversity that exists here.)
So I always want to hear from you ALL, at all times, but in particular if you are a person of color and have something to get off your chest—or just, you know, communicate—about my work, I am listening! And I will respond, personally, and also by taking a hard look at my work through any lens you might care to offer.
~Just if you want to.~ I know everyone has a lot going on rn.
I'm also answering the many of you who reached out after last week. (That was kind! Thank you :)
As for listening, in case these events would interest you too
Tonight I am attending Mule Design’s Semi-Post-Quarantine Book Club on cultivating friendship as adults. The event hosts author Kat Vellos, founder of Bay Area Black Designers, talking about her book We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships. Nota bene, gentle reader: every single Mule Design event I've attended has altered my life for the better.
Tomorrow night, for coaches and entrepreneurs, Rachel Rodgers, Ericka Hines and Susan Hyatt are hosting a Town Hall on “How will you continually and sustainably do the work of building an anti-racist business and community where everyone feels safe and valued?”
Thursday, Mule Design will welcome Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing. Does this sound like utopian fiction? Legalization, restorative justice, and harm reduction can happen! Details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-book-club-alex-s-vitale-tickets-107754171628. This is the whitest, male-est, most conservative-looking guy I've seen in my feed in years. Can't wait to hear what he has to say.
And on Friday evening, The Believer will present a free workshop on making a comics journal with Dr Ebony Flowers (a student of my teacher the great Lynda Barry). Info and signup link here: https://www.drawnandquarterly.com/event/2020/06/believer-comics-workshop-ebony-flowers.
You will see me at all of these places, probably staying stumm.
Next week let's talk about eating and weight.
Because we're all still eating, many of us with difficulty.
Last chance
Finally, last thing / last chance: I’m taking my 2020 planner out of the shop tonight at midnight.
If you have a hankering to think consciously about the rest of your year, and what you want to do with your precious, precious life, this planner will help. You can get it here: https://www.maxdaniels.com/store
That. Is. Thee. Week!
That was long. THANK YOU for reading! MWAH!