December 12, 2024

Happen To Notice

with

Vanessa Micale

Hello Reader,

A while back, I stood on my tiptoes to peer out my window and catch sight of the enormous moon hidden by the neighbor’s roof.

I was stunnedby the simple beauty of the moon, how it doesn’t hold back its beauty, how there is no need for me to hold back my adoration.

Years ago, I purchased a set of plates lined with delicate gold foil for under twenty dollars from a thrift store in rural Oregon. These fancy “good plates,” came out for special occasions.

Now, everyday is a day for “good plates.” A day for adornment. A day for softness, intention.

We don’t need to wait for a special occasion.

Storytelling exists everywhere around us, in textures, color, sounds, movement. The design of good plates on our dinner table, of words on a page. The trees high up, the moss low down.

We share the moon with people, animals and land living under conditions of violence, seen and unseen. I wish for all beings to know safety, awe, care, abundance and belonging.

As we wind down the year, we may feel afraid, worn down to the bone, committed, numb, protective, flooded.

Let’s not forget to set the table for the small pockets of joy, laughter, realness and release. Let’s notice and reflect the aliveness of the world around us.

Thank you for reading my first full year of writing a newsletter.

It’s been a joy to meet you here. I’ll see you in 2025!

Reflection

I made a list of decisions and experiences I am glad I said yes to in 2024 (a very challenging year full of highs and lows). Give it a try! You might be surprised by the richness, resilience and reciprocity you find there, as I was.

Resources

My Creative Updates & Offerings

I’m taking a break through the new year. Want to work with me in 2025? Let's make it happen.

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Interested in a donation-based group workshop on somatic practices? If you are part of a grassroots organization, informal collective or peer-led group without access to this kind of support, reach out to see if we might be a good match. Reminder that I am a bicultural, bilingual Spanish/English facilitator.

Community & Care

Jen Shin has organized a public reading, Feasting on Words: the Reading, on Saturday, December 14 from 2 - 4 p.m. in Portland, Oregon at the Filipino Bayanihan Center.

Cultural worker and artist, B. Stacey Villalobos, has an online dream workshop on December 19.

House of the Lorde applications are open for Chicago-based movement/performance artists for the Eros Artist Residency.

Joon Ae Haworth-Kaufka wrote A Debt of Gratitude: An essay for Tamara Abu Dayer, who you can support here.

Gabriel Cortez, poet and educator lauched a beautiful newsletter. Scroll to the end to order his chapbooks and support his residency.

Consider uplifting the Reyna Grande Scholarship Fund, or Lumos Transforms' fundraiser to support rights defenders.

Soft Pants for Your Mind

On the wide range of joy in a video with Ross Gay's Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude to the music of Bon Iver.

A poem by Emmanuel Xavier How Some of Us Survived Cuando El Mundo Did Not Want Us.

Notes & Citations

​https://time.com/4405827/the-healing-power-of-nature/​

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.