you're not crazy and this isn't okay.

what we could become -

it is a part of my praxis to look to the people most affected by a problem to gain an understanding of what's really happening. in regards to COVID and our society's ableist response, i find that what i know from personal experience is valuable and worth sharing.

this newsletter is dedicated to the work of disabled scholars, which should be guiding us right now. it is dedicated to those for whom quarantine is not new. finally, it is dedicated to those we have lost, who we didn't have to.

first, a bit of framing

for a deeper dive into what COVID should be teaching us about intersectionality within the disability community, check out the article below.

COVID-19 Teaches Us A Lot About Differences In The Disability Community
These disparities within the disability community aren’t new or unique to the present situation. They reflect longstanding differences and inequalities that the disability community has long struggled to acknowledge and address. They also reflect back on fundamental inequalities in society.
ForbesAndrew Pulrang

it feels like groundhog day.

i'm not writing new things about the pandemic because.... i already wrote the things about the pandemic and almost nothing has changed except the shit is more contagious. this morning, i reread some things i wrote last year and i think they bear repeating. i'm an "i said what i said" type of bitch.

you may still believe that things aren’t so bad and you’re doing okay. believe that if you need to in order to survive, but know that they’re not and you’re not...you may feel “crazy” because of how you oscillate through feelings during the week, the day, the hour, the minute. you are not crazy. crazy is an ableist, capitalist, patriarchal word used to dismiss your very real concerns and experience so that you can keep filling your role and benefiting others. the fact that others are projecting a different energy / appearance / message than you are does not change the reality of your reality. none of this is normal. none of this is okay.
harm reduction amidst a global trauma.
this piece is about harm reduction amidst a global trauma and is written from the perspective of a white queer american woman with plenty…
Mediumkatie wills evans

and a bit more poetically,

resist the urge to unnaturally bloom through the seasons of planting, harvesting, and dormancy. don’t believe those who would have you think the soil in which you grew would not shape the way you blossom. let your buds unfold as you see fit, in your own time. there will be pests, and rot, and hard freezes. see, nothing in nature is certain but change, but everything in nature labors for life, certainly.

https://katiewillsevans.medium.com/on-chronic-illness-the-unnatural-expectation-of-persistent-bloom-c2a7974648ad

i love you. i hope you are safe. i am praying for you.

as always, i hope this was useful,

if it was and you've got five bucks a month to spare, click here.

with hope,

katie wills evans