Dear 2021

Dear 2021,

Thank you for being OVER! 

Thank you for starting out with the power of me providing a space for other artists to shine their light! A community filled with beautiful Blackness - Thank you Gumbo Lab. 

Thank you for showing me after the reading of Black Bitch Cape, what an amazing show it will be in 2022. 

BUT...

You also have been filled with people showing their true selves over and over. You gave us all some hope and then slapped us with new variants - Delta and Omicron. States passing bills literally stopping people from having actual conversations about race, sex, gender justice, and everything in between. Masks and vaccinations were politicized. Schools were unsafe. Reproductive rights were rolled back to the stone age. And the sheer exhaustion and hilarity of the fuckery continue. So here are some lessons for 2022. 

Lesson One: Wear a mask. Period. 

Lesson Two: Get vaccinated and boosted.

Lesson Three: Before you gather with new people or with family you have not seen since 2019. get tested. Because Lessons 1 and 2 are not enough. 

Lesson Four: Read. Educate yourself. Focus on truth and not myths. Real and False history is right at your fingertips - - Choose wisely. 

Lesson Five: Give yourself your flowers today and each day that you are blessed to be here. Do not wait for someone to send them. Go select the blooms that lift your spirit and soul TODAY! 

Lesson Six: Whatever you have always wanted to do but were always too afraid to make it happen. Go make it happen. You may find actual joy and longer life after you free yourself from the mundane and the necessary. Even if that means doing NOTHING! 

Lesson Seven: Go to therapy. Period. 

Lesson Eight: Be kind. Love YOU. And remember that NO is a complete sentence. 

Lesson Nine: Seek out authentic and honest communication 

Lesson Ten: Be reflective every few months and keep what works and discard what is not. That includes habits, employment/careers, organizations, friendships, family, and intimate partners. 

Live fearlessly in 2022! And unabashedly. 2020 and 2021 taught us that life is precious and we are not promised to leave this plane at a certain date or time. We are only promised today. No one will ever love you as well as you love you, so practice every day so you never forget what that feels like. 

Until next time. Love and Light!