In with The New (Readers)!
If you are one of the brand new 332 subscribers who have joined me since Christmas day, WOW and HI! and THANK YOU.
If you are one of the ultra-loyal, original 179 subscribers who have been with me since July 2021 onward, THANK YOU.
We will soon return to our regular programming, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t embrace you each with a proper WELCOME HUG OF AN EMAIL!
What’s going on?
Substack featured this very publication on its homepage recently. ♥️🥲🙏🏻 That beautifully timed moment of visibility has brought so many of you here to me just in time for the new year.
Get to know what we read here:
Here are some choice selections from my Substack to help get you acquainted:
David Foster Wallace Fills Me with Hope
Teaching Pixley to Read: A Story of Redemptive Babysitting
The 'Gifted & Talented Program' Comes to Morley School
Who are you?
You are strangers to me and, though I’m not one to pander (I don’t have the social skills for it 🤷🏼♀️ !hooray!), I do want to *delight* you with my intimate storytelling so. I’d love to get to know you first.
Before I touch you …
with … my stories!
😕…
(I’m a little nervous.)
Here are some handmade, DIY prompts through which you may introduce yourself. Comment below with responses to one of these, if you feel moved to:
Most absurd thing that happened to you in 2022?
A prediction for 2023 (can be personal, or political, global, intergalactic, or in a different time space continuum, but try not to go overboard and be boring).
What animal (or fruit!) do you most look like and why?
Something rude a family member said to you over the holidays (recent or in the past).
What gets you out of bed in the morning? (If you say “coffee” then, please, I would like to know your coffee ritual).
You wake up at 3am and can’t sleep. What are you worrying about?
Wild card. For people who hate prompts. Just say whatever. (I’m just glad you’re here. 🤝)
nota bene: My not-so-new readers are welcomed to comment, too! Introduce yourselves.
I can’t wait to read your responses. And then, don’t worry, we won’t do any more “community stuff” for awhile. Curmudgeons, this is your safe space, too. 🙌🏼 You don’t hafta make friends if you don’t wanna. ♥️
More soon!
Happy New Year!
-Emma
I have one for #1! That time during childbirth that my epidural accidentally was never hooked up to me, but was instead dripping onto the floor every time I pushed the button, for several painful, confusing, and gaslit hours of my life. That was absurd.
Congratulations Emma! This is amazing!
Ok so coffee doesn’t necessarily get me out of bed but it is one of my favorite things in life. Here’s my coffee ritual: I use an Aeropress to make my coffee every day, nothing else compares, I love the taste and the process! I heat up water in an electric kettle, grind some dark roast beans in a burr grinder… I’ll spare you all the other details but in the end I like to mix about half a mug of Oat milk and half a mug of coffee to make a “cafe con leche” Puerto Rican style. And, you’re gonna think I’m crazy, but I add a tiny pinch of salt with 4 drops of agave nectar, because it accentuates the flavors in the coffee just a little while adding a nice low-calorie sweetness.