May 8 🎂
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Another trip around the sun with the humans I love.
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Grateful to feel so connected, loved, supported & poured into by the people here in these Polaroids (and so many not here, who stay just as connected through the countless voice notes, phone calls, and messages. And you know I love a long voice note).
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I feel grounded, grateful and free.
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Like @mariahcarey , I don’t celebrate my age anymore, I celebrate my anniversary of being on this planet.
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Looking forward to what God has in store for me this year.
Chasing dreams & laughter…These photos are evidence that during this first third of the year, I did do more than just hustle.
I was also blessed to say goodbye to my grandfather in person. He lived a long life; he was a complicated man with a massive legacy. When my grandmother forced me to come out to him, something I had not planned to do, “You know, he already thinks you’re gay, you should tell him,” and so I did…It went something like this:
“Okay Sonny, I thought you had something important to tell me; Did you think we would love you any less?; You’re still my second favorite!” (which he called me and all my cousins).
He loved my dog Theo, and loved to feed him against my request. That’s a video of him feeding Theo half his meal in the nursing home with a grin on his face saying: “he really is a good dog.” My grandmother, by his side, was giggling at him the whole time, as she often did, while slightly adjusting his blanket.
My grandfather’s beautiful cowboy boots that I wore to the funeral are also pictured. He gave them to me about 15 years ago and every time he saw me since, he asked about the boots and if I got compliments when I wore them.
So long Gramps.
TikTok now sensors anything that isn’t pro-Israel.
People are getting murdered on the street in the USA as ICE goes door to door the same way the Nazis did.
Genocide is still happening in Palestine.
Americans who were silent about genocide are suddenly politically active about ICE, which I don’t understand becuase it’s the same tactics Israel has done to Palestinians for 100 years. You must be mad about both. You can’t choose. If you are only mad about one, there is a major disconnect in your reasoning. You either care about humanity or you don’t.
Michael Jackson wrote a pro Palestine song…one month later… the accusations came. We have to understand and learn and intentionally read (because it is intentionally hidden from us) how much Israel influences American politics.
Yesterday, my neighbors and I shoveled our driveways together. We laughed, we helped each-other, we shared salt. I tried to find a video from my ring but it wouldn’t load. The community I feel on my street gave my soul the little boost I needed to believe it’s not all over
I’ve inherited so many things from my mom. My love for the ocean and the sun. My achingly sensitive heart. My love of good food and drink. My reflective stance on life.
My mom has always been an endless fountain of love and compassion that I hope to one day embody.
I’m grateful for the conversations, laughter and tears shared with my mom in Costa Rica- December 25’
If your parents are in this realm, take the time to bask in their presence.
Jump(v): to push oneself off a surface and into the air by using one’s muscles. Every good thing in my life came as a result of jumping. I love the idea of pushing oneself off a surface (safety, comfort, patterns, routines) into the air (unknown) by using one’s muscle (will power, strength, intuition). I love this definition because it focuses on the choice to push and to use one’s own muscles to do it- it’s a choice to leave the ground into the unknown.
I love these two photos and the childlike feeling it captures that I experience every time I travel. Is this poetic caption just an excuse to post them?….maybe.
The first taken by my new friend (that I met 8 minutes before) @morenosamantha on her film camera.
The second captured by a stranger who was watching from the beach as I made this very (un)safe decision, after a day of Peroni, to climb a cliff and jump after watching the Italians do it and thinking I was just as skilled.
I want to travel the world, but I always find myself back in Italy, the land of my ancestors. I get lost and found in this land. I get inspired and broken open in this land. I am well fed and well loved in this land.
I fell particularly further in love with Italian culture this trip. I saw more Palestinian flags, than Italian flags. When I asked folk what people thought about Palestine, they were surprised that there was even a discussion or debate…Italians care about community and humanity. Sicilians and Southern Italians are proud that their land has been home to a collection of humans from the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East. The street signs in Palermo were written in Arabic, Italian, and Hebrew, representing their history.
My time there reminded me of how confused Americans are on the purpose of life and living. I leave, once again, inspired to be better.
Fun Fact: Jesus in the second picture is in the cathedral in Cefalu. They specially depicted Jesus as Arabic/Palestinian, as he truly was, instead of the inaccurate white-washed depiction we are used to seeing.
What happens when your captain was unbeknownst to us putting gin shots in every Aperol Spritz…you may or may not have blacked out, laughed until crying, and did a photoshoot while hanging off the back of a moving boat.
Love laughing across the world with this family.
Every summer I feel like a kid again and I hope that feeling never ends. Frank Ocean sings: “Summer’s not as long as it used to be; everyday counts like crazy.” I connect with that line in all the seasons, but intensely in the summer. Here’s to trying to make everyday count like crazy.
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Some photos, somewhat chronological
Most days, I feel very lucky. On the other days, overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at the choices that the human beings in “power” make to kill other human beings. I’m disgusted at the people who cheer on the killing of anyone, for any reason. I often think about how aliens are laughing at us, watching us bomb each other and literally destroying our planet to uphold fake man-made systems of oppression and power. Laughing that we have made a hierarchy of human life; laughing that we think countries, religion, and money matter; laughing that we have bomb collection competitions to maintain control; laughing that we have complicated and tainted the human experience with so much hate that we completely missed the point of our little life: to love, to be loved, to become love.
My heart has felt heavy for so long. I feel powerless, so l just weep. I weep for Palestine, for my trans family, for my queer family, for my undocumented family, for all the Israelis who want nothing to do with what their dictator is doing. I try to read more and learn more, I try to talk more and educate more, protest more, something/anything more, I try to not become resentful for the dumb and hateful Americans who have been brainwashed to not care about Muslim people and Palestinian people and Lebanese people and Iranian people, and Sudanese people, and Congolese people...Resentment and hate are heavy and I see it building in me when I hear people like Jerry Seinfeld and Jamie Lee Curtis and so many other Jewish Hollywood folk continue to spew hatred and lies about Palestine or when I see videos of Anti-Muslim rhetoric being screamed in peoples faces right here in NYC—
Always from people who have completely missed the “why” behind our human life. Completely trapped in hatred...without even knowing.
Encouraging everyone to stay fighting for love and joy and laughter in your little life so that the hatred doesn’t take over. Basking in so many moments of joy these past few months with people I am honored to call family.
I never thought I’d be a dog person. But this little guy turns 5 today and it’s hard to describe the love and relationship one has with their pup. I wasn’t looking for a puppy; In fact, I wanted to adopt an elderly dog, but @_chrissantamaria forced me to meet @htico33 who was fostering him at the time (best foster mom ever) and I couldn’t say no to those little puppy eyes. The universe gave me Theodore Whitney Houston at a time when I needed some stability in my life. Theo and I are both Taurus, both love driving with the top off, both love the beach, the mountains, and the birds. He has been perfect since being a pup (never had an accident). He has road tripped with me and @brian_ontherise & @songofsoloman to Florida, he worked as the therapy dog at my school when I was a principal for almost 4 years (Until I got in trouble because he’s not actually a therapy dog 😂), and he’s shown me exactly what being present means.
I had way too many pics for a story, so heres a few for your viewing pleasure.
