There's Power Together
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Hello friends, I wrote about collective power for my Patreon supporters this week. I wrote about the importance of having each other’s backs, and protecting our neighbors. This was inspired by recent events in the US, of course, but the thing that coalesced my thoughts was a bit of sidewalk stencil graffiti. This is another reminder that the marks we make on this world are important. They invite thought, and conversation. Sometimes they keep a person going, when we don’t even realize it. Here’s a snippet of the piece: On a walk through the city the other day, I saw paused by a sidewalk stencil at a bus stop. “Everything Will Be Okay” it said. Beneath that, another person had scrawled “No it won’t.” And here’s the thing, both humans who left their mark on the sidewalk are correct. If we look at the long view, or what I like to call the 10,000 year arc, things likely will be okay. But in the short term? Not so much. Things are bad, and seem to be actively getting worse. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the excessive, deliberate cruelty on display. It is easy to freeze and think there’s nothing to be done. If that is you, it is time to thaw. We have power. We just have to claim it. We may not feel as if we have a lot of power as individuals, but collectively? The more we work together, and insist on the sovereignty of this earth and the sacredness of our humanity, the more our power grows. I go on to talk about the multiple, inspiring examples of collective power that are happening right now. If you’d like to read the rest, please head to my Patreon page. I’ve made the post free today. Some pretty magical things happened to me this week as well, but I’ll write about that next time. Stay creative. Best wishes — Thorn It’s hard to talk about my books these days, though I know how much comfort books, music, and film give me right now. But here I am: my new magical contemporary fantasy novel debuts on Kickstarter Tuesday the 20th. It would be a big help if you’d click this link and sign up to be notified on launch. I’ll have some special editions available that will never be on retailers. Thanks for checking it out.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, It’s a rainy summer solstice here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. The sun is hiding, but, as I move my way around the city, I still see all the ways in which things shine. There are roses in full bloom everywhere. People don’t call this Rose City for nothing. Some roses are fragrant, others, not so much. But each flower is gorgeous in its own way, whether pink, red, yellow, or white. What else is shining? The glint on a crow’s beak. Rain on the sidewalks. People. Yeah. People....
Hello friends, These are tough days, aren’t they? At least, they are for anyone paying attention to the world. In Portland Oregon where I live, a dedicated group of activists have been holding it down outside the ICE facility. This is a privately owned building, and another group of activists is pressuring our city council to revoke the lease, so ICE does not have a holding and staging area in our sanctuary city. Especially not next to a school and apartment buildings. Last night, the...
Hello friends, Last week, I talked about encountering foxglove on a city sidewalk, and asked how your heart was. But the foxglove also got me thinking: Who first figured out it could be used to help with heart disease? I’m always amazed at the ancestors who figured these medicines out. Who would think that these lovely pink bells would be useful for more than their beauty? Who first figured out we could cure olives and eat them? Who was it that experimented enough to know that the bark of a...