Announcements

• This coming Saturday the 7th Dr. Katy Peplin and I are hosting Will That Work For Me? Experimental Approaches to Scholarly Life to help you design productivity experiments and make personalized plans around your results. Join us from 12-3pm ET or catch the recording (and so much more!) by signing up here.

• Co-working for premium newsletter subscribers is this Thursday February 5th from 12-2pm. You can learn more here.

If you are looking for additional ways to support folks in Minnesota right now as they navigate the terrible violence perpetuated by ICE and the U.S. government, here are some additional resources:

• The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

• Second Harvest Heartland, a food bank that works with hundreds of food shelves and hunger relief programs across Minnesota and western Wisconsin 

• A Book of My Own, a small nonprofit started in 2023 that is currently providing books to local schools to deliver to kids who are not currently attending in person due to safety concerns. They delivered 2,300 books in January, and their total since opening is 13,820. 

Thanks so much, friends. Now, onto today’s newsletter.

I hauled my second monitor across the state with me but forgot its charging cord, which I took as a sign from the universe not to work too much on my yearly visit to dogsit for a friend.

If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know that this I usually spend a week every summer taking the dog on hikes in the woods and savoring the warmth of a screened in porch. When I do the trip in the winter, as I did in January, I still take the dog on our daily hikes, except I’m bundled in a big puffy jacket and wearing yaktrax strapped to my boots.

One morning I awoke to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and wanted to skip our hike in the woods. I love watching the snow fall out the window, and I don’t even mind the cold when I get into it and accept the reality that mother nature is in charge, but driving in the snow scares me.

I didn’t learn to drive until I got into grad school in Western Massachusetts. I had always gotten around by bike, bus, or a girlfriend who drove me places, so I never needed to learn how to drive. When I got into the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I learned that while there was public transit to get me to campus, a car would do me well for things like groceries and getting to poetry readings. I got my driver’s license at age 23 and bought my first car off Craigslist, a maroon 1996 Chevrolet Corsica I called Baby. At the time I was really into the show Supernatural, and that’s the name of the Chevrolet Impala the two main characters drove around in. I also named my cats after the brothers, which nerdy vet techs always seem to clock when Sam and Dean show up for their check ups.

Fast forward (or I guess rewind) to a winter evening in late 2010 or early 2011. I’m on my way home to my small town in the woods from a meeting with the poetry press I interned at in a another small town across the river. I remember distinctly that I was listening to my favorite band at the time, Citizen Cope, when I lost control of my steering and fishtailed onto a snowbank. I had no cell service on my flip phone, and was well and truly stuck. I could get out of the car, but couldn’t dig my car out on my own, and luckily a friendly guy in a pickup truck picked me up and drove me home. I retired Baby soon after and purchased the Toyota Corolla I still drive to this day (who if you are wondering is named Dr. Reid, because I was really into the show Criminal Minds at the time). If I were to buy a car now, I’d probably name it after another fictional detective circa 2026. Maybe Morgan from High Potential?

All this is to say, I have driving in snow trauma. I don’t know if I’d call it capital T Trauma or lowercase t trauma, and I’m not sure if it matters. I don’t like it, but I still do it. Such is adulthood.

While dog sitting this January, I leaned into a mantra I’d been using while I was away from the security of my routines and my home and my chihuahua, cats, and spouse: choose the brave option.

So that morning, a few inches of snow awaiting me at the hiking grounds, I decided to clean off my car, suit up the dog and myself, and proceed to the woods. I drove slowly, and once I was there, gave myself permission to leave if it was too slippery, but I also urged myself to try to keep going and choose the brave option. I had my yaktrax strapped to my boots, and took my steps slowly, while the dog ran around as if he wasn’t knee deep in snow and 12-years-old. I don’t know if this was truly building a new neurological pathway for me or if it healed my trauma to have a bit more trust in myself, but I certainly felt proud.

I was brave and woods were truly beautiful that morning.

Curiosities

• I continue to be obsessed with the show Heated Rivalry and have now read the actual book Heated Rivalry as well as the second book about Shane and Ilya, The Long Game. I’ve procured a sticker for my water bottle that says “is lie, liar told you that” (a quote from one of the characters). I am a dorky fangirl full of serotonin. I think the last time I was this obsessed with a show or book was when I read Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch.

• Kris and I started watching Foundation on Apple TV and it’s good, but also there’s so much going on! You can definitely tell it’s based on a fantasy novel because there are many storylines and we’re zooming forward and backwards in time. We’re gonna stick with it and see what happens.

Take care and talk soon,

Dr. Kate

Email: kate@katehenry.com

Website: katehenry.com

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