Protective Measures

my week has been shit

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Dear Readers,

I have had A WEEK. I’m sure many of us have. Mine was peppered with some difficult trauma stuff and the realization that someone who assaulted me has an office in a building near me. All week I’ve had terrifying flashbacks, off/on nausea, and trouble sleeping from picturing his eyes.

This person has a fairly large Instagram following that has been written about in local media and that sickens me. Before I blocked him, I saw that we had 13 mutuals.

I had an intense therapy session related to this and my therapist and I came up with a protective visualization for me. I thought of a wall of falling snow on all sides of me (because, of course I did). I’ve been using this visualization off and on all week.

I’m feeling better about it all, but also feeling more stressed/scared when I’m onsite at my job. I am doing my best to ground myself in moments of panic and anxiety. My brain doesn’t think I’m in physical danger, but my body sometimes does, so I’m trying to connect the two. Rarely are they on the same page.

Aside from that mess, I got to touch and hold my actual book in actual life this week and that has been bringing me immense joy.

she’s here and she’s real and she’s soooo pretty! (not me, the book…but also me)

I’m beyond grateful to everyone who has purchased a copy or has asked their local library to get it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

1. I did this quick and free naloxone training through End Overdose. Everyone should make sure they know how to respond to a potential overdose!

2. Used Car Salesman Fascism -

   New Means

3. Into the Demiground or: notes on obscurity in the age of algorithmic surveillance -

   Birds Before the Storm

4. Wife of detained Palestinian Columbia student says she was naive to believe he was safe from arrest - Jonathan Allen

5. How media bias shapes our perception of war and resistance - Jenna Martin

6. Don’t Forget the History of COVID in Prison: An Interview With Victoria Law - Maya Schenwar

7. Federal workers with Long COVID face firings, loss of accommodations, and more challenges under Trump - Betsy Ladyzhets

8. Kurdish Women Journalists Who Work Under Constant Threat Have Lessons to Share - Nyki Duda

9. Why We Fear Real-Life Dystopia but Love Dystopian Fiction - Laila Lalami

10. I’m new to Ecca Vandal, but loving them: