If like me you are feeling as if nothing is in your control or at least nothing in the new White House regime and what is happening is the exact opposite of what you worked for and supported then these last few weeks might feel like cold fingers around your neck. The visceral pain punctuated by every step in the project 2025 playbook. We knew it was coming yet we stand powerless as our divided world is torn further from reality and straight into fiction. I don’t really know how a democracy dies or a civilization implodes but as I recycle my Amazon recycled cardboard and drive my e-bike for errands and eat organic local food I think this may be exactly what we are all bearing witness to. The Rolling Stones watched many of the pretty dreams and peaceful aspirations of the 1960’s float away in smoke yet deliberately allowed a modicum of hope in their iconic song, reminding us, “You can’t always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, well, you might find, You get what you need…” This week I found bits of what I need in the small and beautiful world I inhabit. Perhaps that’s a start.
Author Archives: Nine Cent Girl
year of the snake
2025 ushers in the Year of the Wood Snake, providing us with the opportunity to shed the old and embrace the new. The Economic Times tells us “Snakes are traditionally seen as wise, strategic, and mysterious.” Personally, I can’t think of a better time to open the way for wisdom and sensibility. Hate is running hot these day, as is fear and anxiety. Regardless of your past voting record or lack of one, the avalanche of recent executive orders was probably enough to fray anyone’s last nerve. If like me, you are part of that most vile group, ‘the intellectual elite’, or you just lean towards humanitarianism, you are desperate for a full breath of untainted honesty, a quality not currently found in the White House, so, holding this image of “the Snake shedding its skin, representing the opportunity to renew oneself, embrace new possibilities, and leave behind outdated ways” might be the only way forward. (Economic Times)
January is for Self-care
No matter where you live in this vast country, the past week has been a tough one. From deadly wildfires in California to deadly arctic conditions up and down the East Coast, to crazy in a little town called Washington, all of which has left us feeling an array of unfathomable devastation and crippling dread. Searching my previous posts reveal many such moments when tragedy spoke loudly and brought us to our knees. Watching people rise from such suffering is indeed miraculous and this January asks nothing less. But there is much to do before we will be upright, for first we must nurture our selves. Thankfully there are generous people to help us do just that, and they don’t ask for a dime. Read on to hear about two such gems.


