Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Join us tonight at 5 p.m. PT for a virtual poetry reading hosted by poets Melissa Ferrer Civil & Kay E. Bancroft. Come with your love, your big feelings, and let's stir things up. Free to register with funds raised to Trans Latin@ Coalition and Trans Lifeline. Hello Reader, Over the past year I’ve received gestures of love to celebrate, congratulate, acknowledge grief, or just because. A bouquet from a friend’s garden. Mysterious directions to a surprise...
22 days ago • 2 min read
Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Lately, I’ve been ink-drawing images from my day with playful acceptance. I’m inspired by American cartoonist Lynda Barry who says, “Adults think that kids playing is some nothing thing [...] But play is a different state of mind, and it can help us do so many things if we just allow ourselves to get back to it.” I drew the shape of my body-mind one day: a sieve or ultra-fine-mesh strainer, not a colander with large holes that lets most...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I continue to be moved by active practices of community care and solidarity. In the wake of the Los Angeles fires, musician, director and photographer Vice Cooler, wrote an article in which volunteer Justine Suzanne Jones says, “Don’t wait for some external authority to give you permission to ask another person what they need.” We also can’t wait for external systems to give us permission for what is called “self-care.” I don’t mean luxury...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
January 16, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, During days of deep rest, I wrote the word “attention” on a post-it. A reminder to tend to my attention this year, because my attention is how I love. I added new boundaries to my daily rituals to quiet the noise. I slowed down the inhalation of social media, news, even Netflix (though I made sure to finish binge-watching Heartstopper first). But then, Los Angeles went up in flames. I carry California with me, all these years...
3 months ago • 3 min read
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...
4 months ago • 2 min read
November 21, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I once took a self defense class. We punched into thin air. We yelled “No!!!” to embody the response as part of our physical vocabulary. I felt stronger in a room of people shouting “No!!!” My voice grew louder in a chorus. My “no” felt more possible. In the presence of a trusted person or community we amplify and explore practices and possibilities that might otherwise feel out of reach. Seek support with an accountability...
4 months ago • 3 min read
October 31, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Our environments and expectations often demand that we act like an ever-new car to extract from. Press the gas pedal and keep going. But we have mileage! Dents! Dog slobber on the passenger seat! Nails in tires! Maybe if we turn up the bass on the stereo we can drown out the sound of a slow leak, but only for so long. Sometimes we have to slow down, pull over. Get a tune-up. We aren’t machines (yet). And even machines need attention. I...
5 months ago • 2 min read
October 17, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Do you ever think back to yourself as a child in a new, small body learning who and how to be? As a child, I was a sensitive “old soul," often flooded by emotion and overwhelm. I turned to creative expression during times of loss and change. I still have my first childhood poems full of pain and wonder. I even self-choreographed solo dances for the talent show, making up moves, shameless and joyful. As I teenager, I was an...
6 months ago • 2 min read
September 26, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I have engaged in creative expression for most of my life, sometimes privately, sometimes in public venues. I wouldn’t be whole without creative expression. I am bolstered by artists who are vulnerable about their struggles and dreams. We are not alone in our creative lives. We can call upon a larger lineage of creatives, legends, icons and the everyday people around us. I watched the new documentary about singer, composer,...
6 months ago • 2 min read