Danny, maybe 6 years ago. He hasn’t really aged much.
I sat down to write yesterday, and nothing came out. I’m sure you know what those days are like in your creative outlet. It doesn’t matter that it’s something as straightforward as a newsletter. I couldn’t even remember what had happened over the past couple of weeks. So, I took a nap. I’m back today with actual news.
May 10. That’s Cicada Day here, the day the cicadas begin crawling out of their holes in the ground and screaming. I wrote a poem about them screaming last time they were around, I’ll have to see if I can find it. This year is supposed to be worse.
I lost my big jar of cicada shells. If I can’t find that, I’ll have to start collecting again. When I was little, my godparents had a farm. Their sheep barn had a metal roof that would get covered in cicada shells. We’d climb up there where we were not supposed to go. Up there, we would cover ourselves in cicada shells. Then, we’d go running to where ever the adults were, yelling “they’ve got me, they’ve got me!” Good, old-fashioned fun.
Books I’ve read recently:
Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks—Sometimes shocking, sometimes beautiful set of memories of growing up in poverty in the South. She was a smart girl who didn’t keep her mouth shut, and thus was in trouble all the time. I grew as a person by reading this book.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski—I wish I had this book ten years ago when I was in the middle of my own burnout. If you find yourself there (or almost there) get this book immediately. It shows how your body handles stress and how you can work your system to avoid or come back from burnout.
Weyward by Emilia Hart—Three women from three different times each with her own story braided together. One faces a witch trial. One is raised as a very sheltered aristocrat. One is fleeing a violent, controlling man. What do they have in common? You have to read to find out? Really enjoyed this one.
Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier—A wild fantasy adventure set in the Pacific Islands. The author is from Pacific Culture and paints a rich, sensory setting while adding fantasy elements like water dragons. The pace of the adventure is fast, and I could barely put it down anyway. This is YA, but you don’t need to be young to enjoy it.