BRB: GONE ADULTING

I owe you an explanation for my absence this month, a heads up that I'll be gone a pinch longer, and some thoughts on this work we're doing . . .

Dear community,

I owe you an explanation for my absence this past month and wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be continuing this hiatus for a bit longer. I’m currently navigating some challenging personal circumstances — including a precarious immigration situation (expected) and health concerns (unexpected!) that definitely weren’t on my 2025 bingo card.

I don’t want to turn this ol’ Substack into a personal drama blog complete with tearful selfies and WebMD rabbit holes, because that’s def not why we’re here together. But I do want to provide context for my silence and express my deep gratitude for your patience. And to those who have offered incredible support during this incredibly challenging time: You’ve kept me going, and that’s not an exaggeration.

I’ll be using this continued break to not only take care of these pressing matters but also to plan some exciting changes for our space and this newsletter. I’m genuinely excited about what’s coming and ask for your patience as I prepare. Also, please note that all paid subscriptions will be paused until my return because, you know, ethics :)

But before I temporarily disappear again, let’s talk about the ‘revolution’ we want. Like, what is it? And what is it not?

Look, God knows I don’t have all the answers, but here’s something the last decade in this political-movementy-kinda-activist space has taught me . . .

This revolution we want, it is not made up of reductive us-versus-them mentalities. It is not finger pointing and division. It is not abandoning nuance for the dopamine hit of outrage. And it is not falling under the hypnotic spell of fascism by upholding hierarchical, oppressive, or punitive thinking that got the world into this mess in the first place.

Actually, the revolution is just you.

It’s in the way you choose to act and the way you choose to minimize harm. It’s in the way you demonstrate empathy and humanity under our systems of intended division and oppression.

Yes, it’s in your head, yet more importantly, it’s in your hands. How do you show up for people? Do you aim to make things better where and how you can, or just aim to feel better about yourself? Can you sit with complexity instead of seeking the comfort of black-and-white thinking?

The revolution is choosing mutual aid over doom-scrolling.
It’s remembering we’re fighting systems of oppression, and not each other.
It’s building sustainable resistance and resilience instead of burning out on outrage.

It’s quietly taking action when and how you can, without the need to tell the world.
It’s choosing empathy over judgment when someone challenges your worldview.
And it’s building the world we need inside the world we have.

So while I’m gone dealing with some decidedly adulty shite, I’ll also be doing exactly this kind of necessary work outlined in this other piece by me below. And I hope you can too:

SORRY, YOUR BOOTSTRAPS WON'T SAVE YOU: A GUIDE TO MUTUAL AID IN THE AGE OF BULLSHIT

The revolution isn’t waiting for the world to burn from behind your keyboard — and from the school of Trust Me Bro, I've Been There™, I can safely say that reinforcing simplistic binaries ultimately only serves to uphold the oppression we claim to oppose.

The revolution? It’s you, it’s me, it’s all of us — every day choosing to resist the toxic thinking patterns that created this nightmare. That will get us through this. We get us through this.

I’ll be thinking of you all during my absence and sending you strength to navigate whatever *gestures broadly at everything* life is throwing your way right now. And to be very clear this is an out-of-office, but definitely not an out-of-f*cks.

And with that, I’ll be back soon. No doubt sporting some new crazy-ass gray eyebrow hairs that apparently sprout overnight like Gandalf-inspired magical stress trophies.

Love and solidarity,

Jo

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