Dear ones,
I started writing you a long note about the devastating shooting at the DIY punk venue called Nudieland, in Minneapolis, but I realized it deserved more time and space. I am so sad about the shooting, and although I didn’t know August, the tender-seeming 35 year-old punk who was killed, I know a lot of their friends and had a foot in the Minneapolis punk scene while I lived there, so it’s all feeling very close to home. I don’t want to distract from August’s friends’ grief, and I almost didn’t write anything at all, but like a lot of queers processed grieving strangers at Club Q and Pulse by writing about the sacred space of the gay bar, my whole heart wants to tell you about the sacred space of the punk show. I’ll probably share that on Monday, but in the meantime, you can donate to support the folks who were there who are now coping with the aftermath of a violent trauma.
Otherwise, this week has been similar to recent weeks’ past. P’s at the hospital five days a week; he is so strong, and I wish he didn’t have to be. (Sometimes I am strong with him, sometimes I’m not; and when either of us need to fall apart….we do.) My workdays are getting a bit more stressful as classes draw nearer, and he’s back at the composting collective for meetings (still counting down the days til he’s allowed to drive again). But, as always, there are also walks, and birds, and morning chats with our favorite barista friends, and a growing list of social outings. We are hanging in.
That’s all I have for now; links/recommendations below, as always. I’m sending you love and the kind of energy that shapeshifts into whatever you need it to be right now.
love & solidarity,
raechel
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