Three AM Grief

Two years ago today, I was dancing in the kitchen while processing six boxes of apples from a local food bank into applesauce for distribution. It was the height of the pandemic, and I had somehow, in that way that is uniquely me, ended up accidentally setting up a small scale food distribution network for […]

Social Media Monsters and CSPOs

Several years ago, I ran into an online troll who then spent several years harassing me. I thought I finally managed to get him to leave me alone when I completely erased my online presence, only to have him find me again in 2018. I’ve become only a minor target to him now, and his […]

Finding My Faith

I find God’s grace in the hard moments and the soft ones. I find it in holding scared children tight against my chest and whispering reassurances as I take them from terrifying situations into safer ones. I find it in sharing a cup of coffee with a friend having a bad day. I find it […]

Ukraine

When I meet others like me I recognize the longing, the missing, the memory of ash on their faces. No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.  – Warsan Shire “Aila, what do you think about this Ukraine situation?”I’ve been asked this several times. I feel like everyone looks to me […]

On Compassion For Perpetrators

  CONTENT WARNING: This post deals with discussion of sexual assault, stalking, and harassment.    I think about compassion within the framework of abuse and racism a lot.  If we choose to live our lives with the core values of love and justice and community then we do so with the intention of providing everyone […]

I Love You

Hey. Hey you. Over there. I don’t know you. Not personally. We’ve never met. But I love you. I love the way you move through this world, trying your best. I love the way you wake up every morning, even when it’s hard. I love you when you drag yourself out of bed and move […]

On Community

We can’t survive without a community, and the single most powerful act of compassion we have at our disposal is our willingness to risk everything to keep each other afloat. In a society where we often find ourselves subjugated, alone, and struggling, our most powerful weapon is our willingness to love each other.

Share The Love (Even With Yourself)

I spend a lot of time worrying if I’m kind enough. I always want to be the person who responds to a situation with compassion and empathy. And sometimes that backfires. Sometimes people take advantage of that empathy and compassion. One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is to share that empathy and […]

On Hopepunk

We live in a world where many of us struggle every day. We struggle to be heard, to be valued, to survive in a universe that seems set on making our lives as difficult as possible. Some of us are struggling to pay the bills, to eat, to raise kids on our own. It’s hard […]