Welp, America elected the felon. I am beside myself. I really thought the majority of Americans would be turned off by how vile this man is. Let’s see… 34 felonies, convicted of rape, known sexual predator, six bankruptcies, a slew of deeply offensive remarks about women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, basically any minority. He is decidedly un-Christian in his values—and that’s not based on “the liberal media,” it’s based on HIS OWN STATEMENTS. His 40 cabinet members THAT HE APPOINTED last time (remember guys, we already did one round of this… was life better then?) have all said, “Don’t vote for this person.” Leading economists say his plans will be terrible for our country. Abortion bans have already shown to be killing MORE women and babies (which should negate the “pro-life” argument). I don’t get it. Honestly. I am trying hard to understand because, clearly, I am missing something significant here. My daughter is upset. She is only 7. She said before the election, “Donald Trump does not seem kind and I think the President should be kind.” Her sadness and confusion breaks my heart. I don’t know what else to say.
Quote of the week:
“If you feel pain, you are alive. If you feel other people’s pain, you are a human being.” —Leo Tolstoy
What I’m reading:
How the Light Gets In by Joyce Maynard. It’s the follow-up to Count the Ways, which is such a beautiful book. This one is equally beautiful, and I don’t usually say that about sequels. There is so much in it that’s very timely. It never ceases to amaze me how I tend to pick exactly the book I need when I need it.
I am also reading a couple poems a day from You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson, a birthday gift from my dear friend. It has been a true comfort lately.
What I’m listening to:
I just started Did I Ever Tell You?, a memoir by Genevieve Kingston that has been on my list for a while.
What I’m watching:
Season 2 of Shrinking. It’s so good, a real comfort show. I’m also in the middle of Season 1 of The Terror. Oh, and I watched the new episodes of Simone Biles Rising.
Writing news:
The People Who Knew Me podcast won a Lovie Award! Yay!
My next book, Woman on the Verge, has a release date of June 17! I can’t wait to share the cover soon. The cover makes it feel real.
I am a couple short chapters away from finishing a first (and very messy) draft of my novel that will come out in 2026. Woot.
Interesting things I learned this week:
- The word recrudescence means “the return of something terrible after a time of reprieve.” Appropriate this week…
- An NPR survey found that about 1 in 4 people have ended a friendship over political differences
- English has the largest vocabulary of any language
- A new report from PEN America covering the full 2023-2024 school year shows a 200% increase—that’s a tripling—in school book bans. The report analyzes 10,046 bans nationwide that sought to pull more than 4,000 unique titles from school shelves
- Last weekend’s NYC Marathon was the largest marathon in history with 55,646 finishers
- Blood donors in Sweden receive a thank-you text message when their blood is used
- In 2021, 52% of women in the United States were unmarried or separated, which is a record high
- Throughout the four years that Trump was previously in office, California sued his administration more than 120 times
What I’m grateful for:
- Living in California. I feel so privileged to be in a state where the legislators care about things like the social justice, the environment, and women’s rights
- Community. As I type this, I am on a call with tens of thousands of people via weareworthfightingfor.org. I have been connecting with lots of friends and loved ones about how to support each other as we face whatever is next. I live in a red area in a blue state… I’m clinging to the people who share my values
- My daughter and her sweet heart. I don’t have much control over the next four years, but I have control over raising a decent human being
Snapshot:
Just one this week. This was my daughter on election night. She asked me to print out Kamala coloring pages. We are saving them despite how things turned out.
