setting intentions

I've intended to start a blog for some time now, but procrastinated out of both a fear of the public venue of blogs and being overwhelmed by trying to decide what exactly to write about. After several years of this, I have come to realize that I can blog without my writing being perfectly formed or put together. In fact, some of the blogs that I most enjoy reading ask more questions than they answer (case in point: The Pearl of Civilization). I'm also not very web-savy so fear that my version of a blog will be quite plain and outdated. But despite these internal grumblings, I'm taking a leap of faith in writing my first post in this new space.

I hope that this blog can be a venue for me to write about some of the issues I'm grappling with in my day to day existence, both big and small. Quite often, I find myself reading about issues without an opportunity to talk about them with anyone. Maybe I miss being in grad school with other critically engaged people who have looming deadlines forcing them to process several books a week, for better or worse. Or maybe I miss having a group of close friends that I get together with regularly, now that many of my friends live in different cities or are busy with their own lives and families. Regardless, I feel like I need a way to digest some of the things I've been learning lately so that my brain doesn't get completely lazy. I anticipate some common topics will be: colonialism; death, dying and grieving; Indigenous community revitalization and renewal; making stuff instead of buying it; creating "community" in spite of being a loner at heart; and hopefully something a little lighter like my love of coffee, tea and other warm beverages.

I have a nagging feeling that I lost many of my convictions in my mid-20s, and am now wandering willy-nilly through life without grounding. In my teen years, I felt passionate about creating change in the world. There was a direct correlation between my beliefs and my actions--I chose to be vegetarian because I learned about the horrors of slaughterhouses, I raised my voice at rallies in an effort to stop the coastal rain forests from being turned in to profit for multinational corporations, and I spoke out against injustice without fear of the arguments that would result, however aggressive they might become. I'm thankful that my work has kept my mind sharp in some ways, but still feel like I've lost the link between my vision for the world and the way I move through it.

In the spirit of nurturing these connections, I begin this blog with a photo from a Take Back the Night rally from the early 90s. Although I no longer feel moved to participate in rallies, I hope to revive the passion and fearlessness with which I marched close to 15 years ago, in order to turn it in to a different kind of action. Thanks for reading, friends.