Doing Being Do Be Do Be Do

I've never felt so alone.

I've never felt so connected.

I've never felt so clear.

I've never felt so confused.

Everything that is going on in

the United States right now feels surreal and strange.

The kidnapping of Maduro from Venezuela.

The frightening presence of ICE agents in Minnesota. The slaying of Renee Nicole Good. The mobilization of citizens to protest what we are all, ironically, funding. The fear and anger and trauma all around us.

But I was sitting on a lily pad which is what you do when you take a week off and go to a place like Palm Springs. I sat silently in a mid-century modern house, and read fiction.

F Scott Fitzgerald. Lawrence Durrell. Patricia Highsmith.

I looked at mountains. In clouds. Clearing, seeing bighorn sheep.

I drank coffee. I went to a spa.

I attended The Palm Springs International Film Festival.

I ate whatever I wanted to. And I slept so well.

Remembering that last year we had no vacation. We had wildfires. We had ICE agents all over Los Angeles. Henry James, a member of this household, developed lymphoma. Home was about caregiving. And then he died.

Making an album, performing music, didn't connect for me. In fact, though I continued to write and play and record, none of it seemed relevant to the suffering that was taking place all around me.

So part of me at the start of 2026, begged for time off. Begged to not care.

Now home, it hits me.

Though what occurs is different than how I might have responded last year.

I believe I need to do less ,but less, better. One small thing at a time.

This week, it is simple. I call my representatives and senator every day to express my feelings about the injustice that is going on. I pay taxes, but I do not want the lion's share of my money to go to untrained and terrifying groups like ICE. I need to keep calling. And I will.

There are other things I will do too. But this comes first.

Important this year: to keep going,, keep doing, but do intentionally and don't overdo to overwhelm. If you do that way, you can't be.

I am finding my way.

I am finding my voice. My 2026 voice.

You are too. I am going to keep blogging.

Here's to the start.

And may we all keep our brave hearts.

For we shall not then fall apart.