June 25, 2021

Dear Friends,

As you read this letter, I am on a road trip for the first time in a very long time, after many years (decades) of traveling every single week, interrupted abruptly by COVID-19 last year.

It’s hard to explain the level of trepidation I feel about a simple driving road trip, but I can feel it in my bones. The weight of the past year is heavy. As someone with a heart condition, COVID still scares the life out of me, almost literally. So I will be wearing my mask and practicing social distancing and wiping down my hotel room to within an inch of its life. And yes, I am fully vaccinated. Call me paranoid, call me crazy, but we all do what we need to do to cope, don’t we? This hypervigilance is my way. I followed up on 9/11 by wearing non-flammable clothing and study shoes I could run when I flew. Don’t apologize for what you need to feel safe. It is different for all of us.

It would be easier to stay home, but this is a road trip to show Feliks a college he might want to attend. He needs to see a future. The enormity of those words is not lost on me, after years of wondering if such a transition might be possible in his life. Like many kids in the pandemic, he is worried that he has no future, that he has lost so much time, that he doesn’t know what he wants to do in his life. Recently he said to me, “I can’t go to college next year because I don’t know anything. I don’t know anything.” Whatever we do, we cannot minimize the impact of this year in isolation on young people.

This trip is to open the door to at least one possibility for his future, and there will be more trips, I’m sure. If you were going to open the door to one possibility for your future, what trip would you take? Let me know.

CLASSES AND EVENTS

I received a reflection about my most recent women’s writing retreat and wanted to share it with you and invite you to my next virtual writing retreat in July. This will give you a sense of what these retreats are like from the perspective of a participating writer, and it helps me see what others see, as well. It’s long, but she addresses that:

“I thought I wasn’t a group person. I thought group work, in whatever modality they are gathered, is difficult to work in. I’ve known Patti for several years. Her books, Geography of Loss, her humor on social media, her fierce loyalty to justice and humanity, Hard Conversations, and her ability to gather rare gems, odd pieces, lost relics, intelligent beings and tutus, Life is a Verb Camp. Patti’s depth of care for humanity, writing, and joyous laughter makes her a unicorn as a facilitator. This testimonial is long but it’s worth it. Read on:

Recently I signed up for her 3-day writing class. Online! Another f’ing online course. We gathered from all time zones. One waking at 4:00 am to join in. Take that in. The way Patti holds a group is ineffable but I can tell you how it made me feel. When Patti spoke it was always in a cuddle in a cloud of softness which is misleading and adorable. She’s adorable, wise, smart, and determined. She don’t play.

Her wealth of knowledge of other writers was a bucket she dipped into often, with quotes, books we should read and cross referencing. All useful. All needed.

As she quietly yet firmly held us with a clear structure, staying on time, her self authority leaked in a permission for each one of us to show up exactly where we were. Some nervous, others full of rage that the page and pen ached to capture. Wherever we were, we became more as we held one another through our writing process. I’m still not sure how the nine of us fell in group love in three days but I can assure you the spell was cast by the breath, depth, and care of Ms. Patti Digh. P. S. Beware, you’ll want more. -Melanie DewBerry

Thank you for helping me see myself, Melanie. And for the rest of you, come, let’s play. Calling All Writers!

LINKS TO LINGER OVER

Transgender people are telling their stories. It is important that we listen to understand.

Poet Toi Derricotte is amazing--as a poet, as a human.

Here are the best reviewed books of this week.

​we stress-resembled bees when they went berserk​

“I didn’t know where this book would take me.” Next on my reading list. What’s next on your reading list?

I’ll see you next Friday from my orange desk. Until then, plan your trip into your amazing future and move at the pace of your own healing, y’hear?

With love,

Patti

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