what do we do now?

Just kidding. I don't want to read even one more post like that right now. I'm exhausted.

On Saturday I had a migraine; when it abated, I helped Rosie deep clean her room. We threw away two bags of trash and I bought her a Yoto mini so she can fall asleep listening to podcasts and audiobooks without having a phone in the room. They should really make one of these marketed to adults. We’d all sleep better.

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On Sunday I joined a new group at church called the Needlers. Fourteen women brought their fiber arts and crafts and we sat in a circle and talked about beauty and the sensual pleasures of knitting with various wools and rituals that keep us calm and ways to repurpose holey sweaters instead of adding them to a landfill. I mended five holes in a handed down cardigan and I plan to embroider daisies over them, but I haven’t gotten far yet.

At home I continued, cutting worn out jeans into long strips to braid together into a rag rug to catch the dirt when the cats and I come in from our explorations. I am following instructions I photocopied from a book circa 2011 and have not used until now. (Turns out they’re online, too.)

I used the 5 Calls app to leave voicemails for my representatives, letting them know that I don’t think any unelected person (but particularly one who heils and hoards immoral wealth) and his team of boys (particularly one who advocated online for racism and eugenics) should be granted access to our treasury data or given the freedom to rewrite code; I told them that while I’m sure that USAID is bloated by bureaucracy and could be more efficient, the way that the President is acting now is cruel and will do damage to our national security and hurt countless people. Those are the two for today. Others, later.

I don’t know which was more political, or more effective — the Needlers gathering or the calls. I’ve been reading about the long history of fiber arts and protest. I commend to you 2025 is the year of the craft night and Why Mending in Community Matters.

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On Monday I went to Fifth Season and bought seeds, sat in the sun on my half-built deck and got my hands dirty. I planted microgreens to grow on the windowsill above my desk so that when I’m writing and I get bored I can pluck a spear of arugula and call it my vegetable of the day.

I planted basil and tomato seeds and put them under a grow light in the basement, even though it’s really too early and I don’t actually have a garden bed in which to transplant them, and if I did, the bears would eat them. The seeds haven’t sprouted yet. Maybe they will.

We hit 70 degrees this week. Someone said “seasons are just a suggestion now.”

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On Tuesday another group of women met for Bible study. A trans woman sat next to a republican. They blow kisses to each other across the church on Sundays. She stuck around and prayed silently in the courtyard for an hour after. I called my representatives again and did a Duolingo lesson.

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I did the dishes, and did them again; I made the bed and answered some emails and edited documents and went for a walk and shared online about two new fully-funded writing workshops and bought concert tickets and booked a hotel, as if the future will be like the past. I lit a candle — a local beeswax votive that we blessed at our candlemas service last week. I wrote a sermon. Maybe I’ll preach it.

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Three Things:

• Truly, though, this Crunchwrap casserole recipe was so satisfying (sub queso for taco cheese and add a can of black beans).

• A country album from Julien Baker and Torres is on the way! Got tickets for this tour and I’m so excited. Playing Sugar in the Tank on repeat.

• I was moved by these journal excerpts.

Many of us are, actually, wondering what we do now. During the first Trump administration, I wrote about this. I think we begin with lament. And then we reconsider what our Christian call to virtues like kindness, hospitality, modesty, purity, and love means in this world, in this moment. That’s my book Where Goodness Still Grows. (If money’s tight, ask your library to purchase a copy — just google your library’s name with the words purchase request and the form should pop up.) Maybe it can be a help. And it’s great for group discussion, too.

Dangerous Territory is now available in an updated second edition and as an audiobook! Buy it in paperback or ebook at Bookshop, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
Where Goodness Still Grows is available wherever books are sold.