Hello friends & fam,

Welcome to my September edition of leaping greenly! We’re moving into fall and I am reflecting on this summer and excitedly looking towards a new season.

This week, a local letterpress artist named Jessica Spring (of Springtide Press)came over to our studio to give us a typesetting lesson for our smaller Kelsey press. For this press, we have to squish type tightly into a metal rectangular chase so that it doesn’t fall out when we pick up the chase and put it in the press. This was Jessica’s second time generously sharing her time to teach us about this type of printing. I continue to be blown away by the generosity and kindness of the people in the letterpress community and printmaking community. With the help of many local artists, Emma and I have a fully functioning printshop in her garage.

With the printshop set up, I have a renewed sense of excitement to make prints that display messages that I believe in, and sharing those around town. Maybe some art can play a very small part in increasing a sense of hope and community.

Alongside this increased excitement, I’ve also felt an increased fear and stuck-ness around expressing myself in my art, or in my day to day life. The events in America over the last couple weeks have been frightening, saddening and existentially concerning. I’ve been processing it all with friends, and also supporting clients as they process the way increased polarization and oppression of queer people and immigrants is impacting their lives and the lives of those they love. Many of my clients this past week asked me what it’s like to hold space for people right now. It’s a kind question and I assured them that I have the support I need in order to keep supporting them.

I am feeling the desire to be a little more brave about who I am, in the hopes that it can help me release some stuck-ness and share more freely. I’d like to practice that here, among all of you friends and family who know and love me. Thank you for reading this and therefore helping me in this!

Close friends know that I have been trying on the label “non-binary” and using “they” and “she” pronouns interchangeably for the last few years. Gender has always felt mysterious and ambiguous to me. In these last few years, hearing myself being referred to in a new way (they/them pronouns) has felt affirming to me. It makes me feel warm inside and more like myself. I feel understood when people reflect my identity as neither here nor there. I believe in making room for the whole spectrum between and beyond “masculine” and “feminine.” The God I believe in celebrates the wild diversity in and beyond that spectrum, too. In the last 10 years, I’ve learned to befriend my own body and accept the way it changes. By listening to and loving my body as it is, I am also learning to embrace the identities and parts of myself that I’ve been afraid to share in the past. Sharing about my gender ambiguity with you feels like part of that befriending. It’s okay with me if it doesn’t quite make sense to you, because it’s also mysterious to me! If you have questions, feel free to ask.

The transgender/gender non-conforming community makes up about 1% of the U.S population. The recent uptick in removal of trans rights and increased hate is a classic example of scapegoating a small, marginalized group in order to divert public anger and attention away from the people in power. We are also seeing this in the scapegoating of vulnerable immigrant populations. I know I am largely preaching to the choir here, but it’s important to repeatedly and accurately name what is happening. Maybe we can go back to worrying about increasing wealth disparity, poverty, homelessness, our crumbling healthcare system, etc.??

If you are a part of a marginalized community and you’re feeling scared right now, I hear you and I’m with you. Please take some gentle care of yourself and keep your loved ones close. Text me to vent, for a giggle, or a virtual hug.

If you are feeling scared and unsure of how to support marginalized groups that you aren’t a part of, I hear you and I’m with you! Let’s agree to keep talking and engaging so we don’t become numb and unable to support each other.

This week, I really appreciated reading Ben Greene’s Substack article called 50 Things You Can Do For Trans Rights. His publication is called Good Queer News and reading it has helped me keep up hope. What else is helping you keep hope and feel connection? I’d love if you shared in the comments.

I think that’ll be all for today!

Sending love your way!

Mag