The Messiest Love Letter You've Been Waiting For.
Hey There Readers,
Welcome to the first official bi-weekly newsletter.
For about a week I thought about what to write. As the first newsletter is going to be something I know I will look back at in a couple of years, and as a mile marker for me, I don’t want to write something stupid in my first letter.
And of course, trying to write something concise made the whole dang thing messy, so we are rolling with it.
So here’s what crossed my mind to write about:
At first I thought about talking about bikes. Yes, bikes. I’m in the process of interviewing an Iranian born and raised woman for the blog, and in one of our most recent conversation I learned that the bike is a symbol of freedom and mobility for women in the Middle-East. Learning this was a serious privilege-check for me as a woman who has never had to think about my ability to ride a bike (other than thinking about not falling on my face while riding it)...but it seemed a little too early in the newsletter game for a feminist flex.
Then I thought about writing about how I felt when I was recently asked to be the lead devotional speaker for a women’s group. I’m a God-loving woman in a Pink Floyd t-shirt with an impressively large curse-word vocabulary (that I exercise often) and a Friday night beer habit. I love my God, however I am most comfortable sitting at the atheist table where the conversation is generally void of conspiracy theories and religious bullying and damaging messages about the LGBTQ+ community. I try to love people the way Jesus did, and stay out of the rest. I am aware that I stand in relative contrast to the stereotypical J Crew-clad sister-Christian, so when I was asked to take the lead all I could think to myself was…”well that's weird.” I didn’t go this direction because a faith-based angle also seemed like the wrong lead for a policy-based blog newsletter right out the gate.
Then I thought about talking about the fact that I have been sitting in lockdown since October, and am still sitting in heavy lockdown (like, I haven’t been anywhere but the grocery store in 6 months because everything has been shut down since October)...but then I thought, thats boring and whiny so lets not do that. Pictured above is a view of my little town from my run because lockdown meant a lot of running.
Oh yeah, I run now...that’s an update in it of itself.
So instead, I settled on this:
I turn 30 this year, and by now I really thought I would have had it all figured out. I thought I would have been wiser and definitely out of debt. I thought I’d have a brag-worthy job title that would make me slightly more interesting than the people sitting next to me (yeah, I did just type that because I tell the truth) but instead I have a keyboard and more questions about the world than I have ever had before. I thought I would have had all the answers about God figured out in my head, but somehow still the most common prayer I pray is that I don’t say something asshole-ish out loud.
The older I get, the more confidently I can say I know very little about the world, or the people in it. I do my best to approach the world and its people gently, lovingly, inquisitively and with an open heart. I am still learning my own worth. I’m sensitive and strong and I am working on leaning into both. I jump into deep personal questions too early in relationships and sometimes it freaks people out. One of the skills I have in life is standing upon absolutely absurd soap boxes on a whim. (Ask me my thoughts on parking meters, I dare you.) I sometimes get accused of sarcasm when I am not being sarcastic, and I can’t do craft-projects worth shit.
Welcome to the messiest love letter you will ever be invited to read. It’s going to have everything from policy to God to bicycles, soap box rants to personal-privilege checks, the occasional curse word, plus a spattering of personal stories.
I tell you these stories in a policy newsletter because it is messy, human, imperfect, relatable stories like these that are shaped by (and shape) policy. The human is not mutually exclusive from the system in which they exist. I know this because I am a woman living outside of the system in which she was raised and this brings up “stuff.” As I try to outline solutions to real world problems in the blog, it’s best that you know I face the real world alongside you.
See you in two weeks,
Taylor Patrice
Reading: Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance - This is an excellent read about a subculture within US borders. I got to witness some of this during my time in the Midwest. I HIGHLY recommend this read & if you order from the link below, I make a small commission. Here’s Luna, hoping that reading = snuggle time.
Eating: Leftovers. Like, a lot of leftovers. And chicken from the chicken man who comes through our village once a week. Eric is taking command this week so as he has been preparing for that, I have been taking this opportunity to not make 8,457 meals each week, like I have for the last 6 months of lockdown.
Loving: Remember how 5 minutes ago you read about my soap box skills? Well, straws are on the list of weird rants. These reusable straws are one of my favorite kitchen items. They are easy to clean, don’t take on a weird flavor like plastic ones do, and are big enough that I can use them for my smoothies. Again, order here and I make dat paper. Even if you don’t order here, please stop using single-use plastic straws.
Doing: My time has been most often spent waiting for what feels like super lockdown to stop being a thing, but in the meantime my time has been spent working on all things blog & prepping for Eric to take command. Command is no small potatoes, especially in the middle of a pandemic, so we have been gearing up for that.
Last Monday, I published a piece on Policy 101. It’s where we talk about the very basic questions of “what is policy?” and, “what makes good policy?”
It’ll likely be hyperlinked in every future policy post I write, so if you can’t wait to read about policy, it’s definitely the place to start. Incase you missed it…
As of this coming Friday, mini-series are now being moved to the paid section of the blog. As part of the 80% of Americans that carry debt, I’ve got bills to pay and mouths to feed, and this is how I can do that without becoming the world’s worst exotic dancer. If you want to read the paid content while it’s still free…
Next Monday’s Policy Issue will be focused on social media policy - specifically that of Facebook Corporation and all its offspring. We will be talking about all the policies you should be aware of, what they mean, and what that means going forward. There’s a reason I picked social media policy as the first focus piece and you won’t want to miss it.
If you read the letter above, you might have caught onto the fact we are working on integrating an audio component. That’s right! And the content we have lined up is actually really cool. More to come in future letters.
We had more sign ups for premium content than we expected, considering there is no premium content yet. The whole dang household cheered. We are so (so so so) grateful to those of you that invested in the platform.
I am still trying to get into the rhythm of researching & writing the free content + the newsletter + integrating audio. Paid content is coming very soon. First in that section will be a completion of the sex trafficking mini-series.
If you want to sign up early for premium content click here.
What is cool about premium content is that you get the series posts + you get to help undo the damage that is being done in the media industry and to small writers. Your dollar is a protest vote and it supports my family. This drooly dude and his toy habit included…