Thank you, and thank you!! 💜💜 I’m so grateful for the time you spent with my words!
Isn’t phallusies just fantstic?! I can’t take credit for it - I borrowed that straight from Dr. Jenni Nuttall’s fantastic Mother Tongue. (If you haven’t read it, and enjoyed this as well as my medieval stuff, I highly recommend!!)
This is such a bold and generous list. I love how it doesn’t just resist patriarchy in theory but rewires daily habits, relationships, and self-talk so the resistance actually lives in the body.
The ones about intentional community, refusing isolation, and honoring women’s time feel especially vital. Patriarchy thrives when we shrink, apologize, or over-explain. Your resolutions turn all of that on its head by treating joy, boundaries, and self-investment as political acts.
It reads like a blueprint for living in a way that starves the system without starving yourself.
I truly believe that my intentionality behind kind self speak has been the one habit that has changed my entire life. It bleeds over into absolutely everything and has made my entire world easier to occupy.
Thanks for spending time with my birthday reflections. It is always so fun to sit back with this list each year and talk with myself about which areas I could benefit from intentionally working on. Like a reminder to come back to myself each year.
Im sorry to say that Substack sucks so much now (it’s all just Notes it seems!) that I haven’t been seeing your posts at all!! And I thought maybe you didn’t post anymore. So I had to search — luckily I remembered 15th Century! And I found you! Belated happy birthday wishes!! 😊🩷🌸!
Elle! You are so wonderful for alerting me of this - a few others have also told me they no longer see my stuff. I wonder what’s going on with Substack? I think I may do an email that shows folks how to be sure they get my emails—but not sure yet. I’m not sure where the issue lies! But I so appreciate you communicating this to me. Thank you thank you thank you! So far 36 has been good to me and I’m thankful for the well wishes 💜💜
Oh my goodness did I need this one again this year — health struggles mean I’ve written less this year and it is so hard not to tie that productivity with self-worth!! I am so glad you stumbled upon this list too, thank you for spending your precious time with my words!! So grateful for that connection.
Thankyou for sharing these. Some great reminders there for myself. I absolutely love your work and can't wait to see where you go next. I especially love that you can wisely acknowledge the pause. That your work and thinking may be not exactly in lockstep with the populus , all the time. This is one of the wonders of the written word. It stays. Unlike a dance, a onetime creative gift, writing is a semi fluid art, ie it can be edited, rewrit, but it was and is and shall be, if available, present throughout times. In that way I fi at least find it liberates from the performative for those of us who wish to delve , or truth seek.
Happy Birthday and thanks for # 32 from an old white guy doing his best to fight the patriarchy. Like you said: "None of us are free until all of us are free."
Thank you. I am learning much from you. Patriarchy is the succubus of shame - that lands! I'm glad for your resolutions, and how you build on them. Thank you. Celebrate each year as you are able.
Thank you, Sheila! I’m so grateful! I found I really needed to sit with this one again this year - I needed the reminders, and many of them. I’m so thankful that you were able to find connection within too. 💜💜
I always love this — a great reminder for everyone. Happy Birthday!
Thank you! I needed to be reminded of quite a few of these this year as it has been a challenging one. Grateful for the power of words!
Such lovely writing!!! Filing this under, works I wish I had read when I was growing up 🙃 happy birthday!
Also, how have I not noticed "phallusies" before that is officially my new favorite word 🤩
Thank you, and thank you!! 💜💜 I’m so grateful for the time you spent with my words!
Isn’t phallusies just fantstic?! I can’t take credit for it - I borrowed that straight from Dr. Jenni Nuttall’s fantastic Mother Tongue. (If you haven’t read it, and enjoyed this as well as my medieval stuff, I highly recommend!!)
This is such a bold and generous list. I love how it doesn’t just resist patriarchy in theory but rewires daily habits, relationships, and self-talk so the resistance actually lives in the body.
The ones about intentional community, refusing isolation, and honoring women’s time feel especially vital. Patriarchy thrives when we shrink, apologize, or over-explain. Your resolutions turn all of that on its head by treating joy, boundaries, and self-investment as political acts.
It reads like a blueprint for living in a way that starves the system without starving yourself.
I truly believe that my intentionality behind kind self speak has been the one habit that has changed my entire life. It bleeds over into absolutely everything and has made my entire world easier to occupy.
Thanks for spending time with my birthday reflections. It is always so fun to sit back with this list each year and talk with myself about which areas I could benefit from intentionally working on. Like a reminder to come back to myself each year.
Thanks for the thoughtful engagement!
As someone turning 36 in November, this post deeply resonates with me now and I'll be saving this post to reread frequently.
Happy early birthday! I’m so glad my words found you when you needed them. 💜💜
Im sorry to say that Substack sucks so much now (it’s all just Notes it seems!) that I haven’t been seeing your posts at all!! And I thought maybe you didn’t post anymore. So I had to search — luckily I remembered 15th Century! And I found you! Belated happy birthday wishes!! 😊🩷🌸!
Elle! You are so wonderful for alerting me of this - a few others have also told me they no longer see my stuff. I wonder what’s going on with Substack? I think I may do an email that shows folks how to be sure they get my emails—but not sure yet. I’m not sure where the issue lies! But I so appreciate you communicating this to me. Thank you thank you thank you! So far 36 has been good to me and I’m thankful for the well wishes 💜💜
"I will not shame my struggle." I'm so happy I stumbled on this list!
Oh my goodness did I need this one again this year — health struggles mean I’ve written less this year and it is so hard not to tie that productivity with self-worth!! I am so glad you stumbled upon this list too, thank you for spending your precious time with my words!! So grateful for that connection.
Happy belated birthday! Keep up the good fight!
Thank you, Jonathan! Grateful for you!
Thankyou for sharing these. Some great reminders there for myself. I absolutely love your work and can't wait to see where you go next. I especially love that you can wisely acknowledge the pause. That your work and thinking may be not exactly in lockstep with the populus , all the time. This is one of the wonders of the written word. It stays. Unlike a dance, a onetime creative gift, writing is a semi fluid art, ie it can be edited, rewrit, but it was and is and shall be, if available, present throughout times. In that way I fi at least find it liberates from the performative for those of us who wish to delve , or truth seek.
This note is just so lovely, thank you! Thank you for affirming my desire to sit and work with the words and sources in such a way; to not rush it!!
“It stays.” YES! I’m going to get the couplet wrong, so forgive me, but is reminds me of shakespeare’s “so long as men can breath and eyes can see
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” words stay. 💜
Oh, happy birthday! What a wonderful tribute you your own self that benefits those around you now and those in the future.
Thank you so very much!! I’m so grateful!!
Fabulous words to live by! Thank you for succinctly summing up what I suspect we all would like to grow toward. Happy birthday!
Thank you for spending your time with my words, Emily! I’m grateful 💜💜
Happy Birthday and thanks for # 32 from an old white guy doing his best to fight the patriarchy. Like you said: "None of us are free until all of us are free."
We are all in this together, Mike! And I’m grateful to have you in my corner. Thank you 💜💜
A lovely, wonderful list. I may need to revisit it often.
I found I really needed to sit with it again this year, perhaps even more than last year. Thank you for spending your time with it! 💜
I love the hell out of this. Thank you.
Thank YOU! I’m grateful for the time spent 💜💜
Thank you. I am learning much from you. Patriarchy is the succubus of shame - that lands! I'm glad for your resolutions, and how you build on them. Thank you. Celebrate each year as you are able.
Thank you, Hans! And thank you for always witnessing my words with so much presence. A true present really 💜💜
Keep writing when you are able (no pressure).
900 words into a new essay and feeling life sparking in my fingertips again, thank you!!
I look forward to reading!
💜💜
What a great list! Thanks for sharing. Happy Birthday!
Thanks for spending your time with it, Steve! I’m grateful 💜
Happy Birthday, awesome human!💕💖 I loved reading your list, nodding along. I look forward to seeing this list grow as you accrue wisdom.
Thank you, Sheila! I’m so grateful! I found I really needed to sit with this one again this year - I needed the reminders, and many of them. I’m so thankful that you were able to find connection within too. 💜💜