Rest Among Mess
Hey, hi.
We have arrived at December, that liminal space between past and future as we reflect on our year and plan for the next one. We’re here, and we’re there, our minds occupying multiple spaces at once. The same was true for me much of November, the month we closed on a house and said goodbye to a really special place that held us during our first experiences in Portland. Excitement and grief, anticipation and sadness. I packed my belongings into cardboard boxes in one place, and unloaded them in another place, all in a matter of days. Most things are in temporary homes (aren’t we all) while we figure out new patterns and settle in. The resting and nesting is imminent, it just has to be.
To give the precious moments from the past month a place to land, here’s a few ways I spent it: filled my camera roll with photos of the gorgeous leaves, got the keys to our new house on a Friday, raked the leaves in the yard into big piles, picked up a 12-pound turkey from a local meat market, cooked for five people for Thanksgiving, ate way too much specialty cheese, won and lost at board games, picked up a secondhand replica Bertoia chair, acquired a new beanie, installed weather stripping, crouched in our crawlspace, scrubbed our old apartment clean, said goodbye to neighbors, booked plane tickets for Christmas, lamented the bitter cold, discovered a new park, soaked and sweat at Knot Springs, and finished all but one of my final assignments of the year.
Now it’s your turn. Tell me some of your November highlights…
From my (new!) corner of the world,
Latest Stories
For Field Mag, I compiled a little roundup of running gloves for all the cold-weather runners out there. Keep your fingies warm!
This series for Osprey will feature gear libraries across the country and the intersectional work of Outdoors Empowered Network
For Narrative Initiative, I wrote a feature on Empowerment Avenue, the organization I volunteer with. We uplift the voices of incarcerated artists and writers by connecting them with mainstream media outlets willing to compensate them. One of my favorite quotes from the piece: “We’re popping up in places you normally don’t hear from us, and we’re reaching new audiences. This gives us a chance to affect new hearts, new minds.”
December Mood
Monthly Curiosities
Reading: Just started Wolfish by Erica Berry, who explores wolves, both real and symbolic, and the cultural constructions of predator and prey
Listening: My 2023 Spotify Wrapped was rigged lol, so instead, here’s a song that should’ve been on there
Watching: The final episode of Great British Baking Show is tonight!!!!
Drinking: Completely obsessed with Prince Coffee in Portland
Coveting: This sofa chaise, this shade of blue paint, and this sconce
Subscribing:
is always a burst of joy and thoughtfulness in my inbox