No. 20: MD's Newsletter
Things I was taught only took me so far
Here’s a bunch of good things that happened to me and mine in 2024. Each of these good things has myriad lessons attached to it.
My potato became a tater tot. Have you ever watched a miracle in real time? That’s what happens when you kid crosses the baby-to-toddler threshhold somewhere in the 12 to 18 month range. Holy heck. I can have full-on conversations with this tiny, wonderful person who once only communicated with blissful gazes, tiny burps and tired sighs. He cracks me up on a regular basis (during a recent bout of strep, he grabbed the syringe of antibiotic and took it directly to the trash can). I am awash in love and pride and the particular form of grief for the time we never get back.
I helped start a dance company. As I wrote earlier this month, I am one of hte organizers of Dance Mojave, a new dance production nonprofit in the Morongo Basin. The Desert Nutcracker was our first performance and a fairly successful one, if I do say so mylsef — we sold out two of three performances! And we’re so freaking excited about the things we have planned for 2025. Watch this space — and sign up for our Substack to get the video of The Desert Nutcracker in your inbox!
Returning to the stage. Related to the above bullet point, live performance is back in my life in a real way. This began in the spring with playing guitar and my first open mic session in over a decade alongside the talented Eleanor Whitney of Skirting. I am learning it’s never too late to chase a latent dream, even if people on the internet say your voice sucks and your guitar is out of tune. Both of which happened on TikTok and Instagram this year. Whatever. Someone probably said that to Janis, too.
Willis! In August, we adopted a senior dachsund mix named Willis. He’s 10 years old, half blind and hard of hearing, and required a very expensive dental procedure to remove seven infected and loose teeth. Poor dude lived outside his whole life before spending nine months in the Morongo Basin No-Kill Shelter, where I accidentally fell in love with him. He has a hilarious, low-toned howl, and loves to eat trash. He sits next to my desk for much of the day, but watching him run through the yard with his ears flapping in the breeze is the real highlight.
We are all better for Willis’ energy in our lives. I got an Instapot. OK this is a silly one that didn’t happen until November, but I’m really excited about it! I recommend it if you’re trying to get more cooked veggies and fresh proteins in your life. More broadly, I’m paying more attention to diet and nutrition than I have in years, and it’s starting to feel like a second nature. I’m not depriving myself of anything, as evidenced by the several glasses of red wine over the course of Christmas. But I’m being more mindful, and it feels good to feel good. As I told someone recently, if I’m not in good health all of ~this~ falls off the rails.
I’m enjoying writing again. This is a hard thing to unpack, as I’ve been getting paid to write since I was about 18 years old. This is mind-boggling in many ways, and while I”ve spent a lot of time being self-deprecating abotu my work or level of so-called “success,” I can finally say I’m shedding the expectations. The fact is, I have been getting paid to write since I was 18 years old. Some of it I’m proud of, some of it not so much. Some pieces have been read by hundreds of thousands of readers around the world. Some of them have been read by just a handful of you who’ve kept up with me. All this to say, I’m enjoying the craft for the craft’s sake again, and I hope that yields good things in 2025.
Onto the links.
Supply chains & search strategies
The last couple work weeks of the year for me became really busy in the baby care space — partly because it was time to wrap up stories I’d been working on for awhile, and also just because it’s a really busy space right now. I’m particularly proud of my story on how the baby formula industry is beefing up its production muscle two years about the formula shortage. There were a lot of angles I could’ve taken but given our audience I thought it would make sense to look at how these products are getting to shelves.
I also wrote about a very under-the-radar law in California that’s going to require baby food manufacturers to share heavy metal testing information with customers. I expect to see more of this kind of regulation as the Venn diagram between the organic/all-natural die-hards and MAHA crowds grows. On the fintech front, I noticed that BNPL providers were increasingly entering the service space and came on some interesting data about it.
A new Civic Solutions
My final Civic Solutions column for 2024 looked at the historic restorative justice settlement and agreement between the city of Palm Springs and the Section 14 Survivors group, who are residents & their descendants of those displaced in a city-authorized razing in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s really amazing to me what a dedicated group of peopel can accomplish when they don’t give up. I wrote about their efforts in early 2023, and it was a pleasure to speak with attorney Areva Martin not just about the settlement itself but the *how* of restorative justice. In her words: “We had to do healing work—heart work, soul work—before they could feel empowered enough to act.” Would be honored if you gave it a read, as this is arguably the most important thing I wrote all year.
Eyes and ears
In the world of reading, I absolutely devoured “Bewilderment” by Richard Powers. I love the way his work manages to make the incredibly personal profoundly universal, and given that outer space is sort of my new theme/obsession going into 2025, it was a beautiful read. Superrrr sad tho, major trigger warnings if you are dealing with issues around grief, death or trauma. Otherwise reading has sort of taken a backseat, as I got a new phone and it took many attempts to get Libby set up again. Also doesn’t help that I’ve been falling asleep with my kid instead of staying up on my Kindle, but trusting that my mind will do its thing when there’s something to sink into.
While I was anticipating having some great music recaps to share thanks to Spotify Wrapped, the massive amounts of sleep sounds, medication music and classical/piano scores that we play in this house has totally taken over my algorithm. And I know artificial intelligence is horrible for the environment and threatening to do awful things to creative industries…but I have to admit that the new Spotify AI playlist feature is fun. I asked it to give me a mid-morning playlist of 70s, 80s and 90s soft rock, and it really nailed it. I forgot how good Bread is! And since Christmas Day, I’m back to listening to “Cowboy Carter” a lot — and if Beyonce doesn’t with AOTY at the Grammys in February for this work, I will officially lose faith in The Recording Academy as a body that knows what they’re doing.
I totally missed out on indulging in dorky holiday rom-coms, but we watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas” more than a few times. I forgot how funny Peanuts is for adults. I did get through Season 6 of “Virgin River” in about three days. The show seems to have regained its pace after a couple seasons that felt a bit droll, and it was like being covered in a warm blanket to hang out with those characters and their dramatic lives together. This one even had an aging musician!
With that, wishing you a healthy and safe New Year, and hoping you find a glimmer of peace and presence wherever, whenever you can. Thank you for reading.