May, a Recap
On....the month I just had
So it’s been a minute, and that wasn’t on purpose.
May started out beautifully—I received an alumni award from Harvard Div, and got to go back to Cambridge and see the lilac bushes and my parents and many of my favorite professors, got to experience the absolute wonder of a ceremony organized by a committee of clergy and people who understand the power of ritual. I think most importantly to me, I felt seen and loved by a community that matters to me so, so deeply. I cried literally the whole time, for a lot of reasons that I’m still teasing out, but that had a lot to do with the marked contrast between how I felt here, and how I felt in my day to day life.
Am I romanticizing my grad school experience? Almost certainly. Should I expect to feel like I’m winning a deeply meaningful and affirming award every single day? No, I guess not. But I think the thing that most hit was how good it felt to be understood and appreciated for the work that matters the most to me. My calling is not anything particularly complex or obscure—I make nice sentences that try to uphold human dignity. That’s kind of it, that’s my whole deal. But I was in a workplace that either passively or actively devalued all of that, while also saying, “no, no we really care about these things, we love art and also human dignity.” And I think that contrast was what really became plain that day in Cambridge.
And so, after spending a weekend with
being coddled as I got an absolutely horrifying fever/cough combo on her couch, I came home intent on changing my life….Just as soon as this big fundraiser at work was over.
And I did it! Two weeks later, I worked the fundraiser, watched the organization raise a ton of money, coordinated 13 visiting artists, bound programs, orchestrated a ludicrously successful paddle raise, did the kind of logistics work that makes my brain go brrt….and then three days later, got laid off.
And so, for the last two weeks, I’ve been unemployed.
I’m ok—I have healthy savings, an active freelancing vibe, I have health insurance through my husband, I’m applying to new things which was a thing I meant to do anyways, and, best of all I’ve felt healthier and clearer in the last two weeks than I did any day at that job for the last nine months. And now I’m in a space of figuring out what comes next—a PhD? another comms job? Trying (again) to give freelancing a full-time go while working on another book? I feel a little bruised and uncertain, a part of the normal human experience and yet, such a uniquely humbling time whenever I experience it.
All of that being said—I’m coming back to this newsletter with renewed meaning and intention, it’s a great time to become a paid subscriber (hint hint)
and not just because of that, but because, at long last, I’ll be offering my journaling workshop, as well as some other fun things on Zoom for the first time, and paid subscribers get a 25% discount (check the footer of this email if you’re a paid subscriber!)
Dear Diary: Building a Sustainable Journaling Practice is a class where we’ll talk about how to get the most out of your journal—and how to make it a flexible, beautiful part of your day-to-day life that grows and changes as your needs do. I’ll be offering it on Saturday, June 28, 2025 from 11-1 ET, and on Sunday, June 29 from 7-9 ET.
I’m also trialing a new-ish workshop called Translation as Obsessive Re-Reading! I first taught this as a bilingual English-Spanish workshop for Lit & Luz Festival back in October, and you’ll notice that this one is at a discount—mostly because it’s my first time teaching it as a language-pair-agnostic workshop, and I expect there will be a few bumps! This is the only time I’ll be teaching this class at this price, so if you’re at all interested, please do sign up. Class will be Saturday, July 29th from 3-5 pm E.T.
Beyond that—if you’ve ever wanted to hire me to talk to your org, bring me in for a class visit, write for your publication, buy my book, whatever—this is a great time to get on the books.
The next newsletter is going to be on the 100th anniversary of a certain Wednesday in mid-June, and we are going to get the flowers ourselves.
Where I’ll Be:
“Following the Thread: Well Researched Writing” - Thursday, June 19, 2025, 7 pm CST, ZOOM—The Writers League of Texas invited me to participate in this fantastic panel with Eiren Caffal and Isa Arsen, to talk about our research practices. For me, research falls into one of those “I always want to ask 800 very nosy questions about people’s processes” so this will be very fun.
“Dirty Kitchen: A Virtual Reading and Conversation” - Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 7 pm CST, ZOOM - Jill’s new book, Dirty Kitchen, is a fucking incredible memoir of growing up undocumented in the U.S. that weaves in food and myth and theory. Here’s what I said about it in my blurb: "Jill Damatac brings together myth and memory, history and hauntings, colonialism and catharsis and seats them around her table. Any reader of Dirty Kitchen is in for a feast when they pull up a chair." It’s good, we are going to have a good chat.
What I’ve Written:
I wrote about my post-Marilynne Robinson Reading supercharged protestant molecules for Christian Century
for Presbyterian Outlook, I wrote about Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show, and nonviolent resistance
For Injustice Report I wrote about art and community and the Midwest Immigration Bond Fund.
What I’m Reading:
A bunch of things I can’t talk about (yet), between applications for orgs, books I’m reviewing, and books I’m blurbing (all I’ll say for now is…you had best preorder
’s forthcoming Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History). Between all of that, I’m listening to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry and reading Adriana Herrera’s Las Leonas series—Caribbean heiresses take Paris, in a very fun, queer, sexy way.
👏
❤️ Alejandra! love how you articulate your work - “I make nice sentences that try to uphold human dignity.” So glad to hear this glimpse into the sweetness of the hds event. witness and recognition is so powerful. will be following along with whatever comes next for you!