Hello Reader,
Near midnight, I wrote:
What do I have to lose by being myself and asking for what I need to be well?
I’ve already lost so much.
In this life, we know loss is coming, but it still catches us off guard.
I wrote this by hand in my journal after practicing radical honesty in an external request for accommodation.
Now that I know more about my needs, it is less of an option to ignore them. I am more able to discern what I need and what is not sustainable for me.
My body needs a place to be vast, to honor swells of emotion, to be messy, alive.
I cannot tell my body “Not now, not now, not now,” and never give it space to release, to just be.
For me and many people I love, we are in a season of loss of some kind.
I am headed to a memorial. Also, some of my loved ones passed away across great distances so that I could not attend the grief ritual.
A friend and I are planning a sad movie night just to create a container for crying. I’ve been listening to soulful music, writing, playing music, listening to the wind and birds.
I am finding my way to mark sacred sorrow even as I endeavor to infuse the summer with bright spots of local low-cost joyfulness, inspired by Nedra Tawwab’s idea of “adult summer camp.”
I started a list of summer sensory experiences to try new things: places to take my picnic blanket, small galleries, events, new flavors to taste.
I am open to a summer of presence to the full spectrum of emotions.
Bring it all: the quiet, big, tiny, hand-held, hand-made, vast.
I’ll be here on my picnic blanket taking in the sky and being taken in by the sky.
Reflection
What experience would you like to have in the coming months for a couple of hours, even a handful of minutes? Would you like to share the experience or have it on your own? Can you calendar it?
Resources
My Creative Updates & Offerings
Join me on August 22 for workshop 9 at Performance Works NW featuring new and in-process sound and music curated by stephanie lavon trotter, with warm canopy, Maxx Katz and me, Vanessa Micale.
In May, I wrapped a beautiful Literary Arts creative writing workshop residency at a high school.
In early June, I did a few private virtual group offerings, a bilingual somatic workshop for Latino Network, and “Writing with Care: A Somatic Workshop for Caregivers” for Kim Moy’s Ambiguous Loss group.
I’m now creating a new "Burnout Prevention & Belonging" workshop for organizations.
I am in the midst of a six-week contract for website content and copywriting for a local Portland company. It's nerdy but satisfying technical work.
In spring, I completed a seven-week program PQ: Positive Intelligence with Shirzad Chamine, offered free for coaches across the world.
I did another DIY friend writer’s retreat to move the dial on my book draft, and I joined a year-long “Revise Your Memoir” series with Lisa Cooper Ellison. As a non-linear writer and thinker, this series has been super helpful for me at this stage of my book draft.
Community & Care
I’ve been watching films on Kanopy, free through the library. I’ve been on a kick of watching documentaries about women and femme artists. Most recently I enjoyed, Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, directed by Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom, rest in peace.
A heartfelt conversation on Love, Music and Caregiving, with Jon Batiste & Suleika Jaouad.
on labor & commerce:
It's been one year since a day-job lay-off flung me into freelancing. Here's a few articles on the topic of labor, in case you are in this uncertain landscape with me:
Oregon Humanities “Women’s Work.”
Asterix Journal This Woman’s Work: A Listening Session, "chronicles the feminine and feminized labor behind-the-scenes in hip hop and reggaeton."
Comedy from Atsuko Okatsuka, “Workplace consultant.”
From Giovanna Ventola, founder of the Rhize community, who wrote a three-part series on the job market.
There’s a new term—hurray for doomjobbing!
Soft Pants for Your Mind
Brian Eno, Beatie Wolfe - Afterlife (Audio), an ambient song.
Deep angst but this music shreds, by Gwenifer Raymond.
This poem shreds too, "i didn’t eat the sun," by ire’ne lara silva about grief.
Notes & Citations
https://nedratawwab.substack.com/p/adult-summer-camp
Let’s resource! Let’s play! Let’s happen to notice, together.
In peace,
Vanessa Micale
Founder of Poderosa Voz LLC
(she, they, ella)
P.S. You can show your support by sharing this micro-newsletter with a friend, or you can send me a digital tip and treat me to a pastry.
P.P.S. Sharing resources is one of my love languages. Is there a resource related to somatic and creative realms you want to see or you know of? Hit reply and let me know.
