Weekly Newsletter #50
This is going to be a quick one. That huge writerly part of myself continues to claw at the rest of me, demanding attention. But so far, I’m still glaring at it and choosing to devote my focus to pandemic parenting.
Pictured: Tzivia taking her turn on the tire swing, during a social distance playdate
Parenting—and homeschooling—right now is this really constant, really present thing that feels really, really right. I get a lot of intense, scary anxiety whenever I even try to imagine diving back into writing full-time while also somehow full-timing being with my kiddo. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s okay that I don’t do it all right now.
Party School!
Today my daughter and I are studying Antarctica and germs, among other things. We played a math game with coins; she played tag with our dog and then journaled about it.
Pictured: Tzivia writing down three facts about emperor penguins, while Violet Dog keeps her company
She read 5 books to our dog, then she read Red: A Crayon’s Story to me. And we discussed its themes: how trans folk feel when people assume who they are by the way they look, and the ways all of us sometimes feel like other people see us differently than how we feel inside.
I’m so thankful to have the luxury to focus on my family right now. (So, so, so thankful to whomever decided the gig economy should be included in pandemic unemployment insurance!)
This week, I’m going to share just one piece I wrote. From back in April, just before I started my publishing hiatus:
Social Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Art by Alejandro Guipzot from Mixkit (cropped)
And in that same vein of distant love and longing…
This song is my favorite pandemic art I’ve seen so far:
The Keep Going Song by The Bengsons, via YouTube
(Are you bawling too?)
VOTE
One last thing: I voted this week. Did you? Vote vote vote vote vote!
Thanks for reading, friends! I seriously appreciate all your reads, claps—you can clap up to 50 times per piece—highlights, comments, and shares.
I’m on a hiatus from publishing on Medium right now while I full-time pandemic-parent and homeschool my kiddo. But all of my old writing continues to earn money when Medium members read it. If you enjoyed these Medium essays, please share my writing on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else you’d like!
Love,
Darcy