Mental Health

Let me start by acknowledging the fact that I never thought I would be this upset by an angry mob storming the Capitol. I mean, isn’t that the ultimate American dream? Name one person in this country who has never at some point in their life thought to themselves, “Ya know what we oughta do? We oughta go down and storm the Capitol. Show those lawmakers who’s boss.”

For the last few years, I kept checking for accessible foreign editions of some of these books. I reached out directly to Reza Dalvand, the illustrator of Ace, who put me in touch with his publisher in Iran.

Ayanna D.N. Freeman explains how she went from having no idea her destiny was in skincare to launching and nurturing her own successful brand.

“Zahra, where is that from…oh, did you know that Iraq invaded Kuwait?” “Yes, I was there.” He asked what my thoughts about the Taliban were, twice.

The problem isn’t that our laws are flawed (even though they are). The problem is that we care only to the degree that it won’t be an inconvenience or mess with our comfort…or even worse, our narratives. This is our problem.

It goes without saying there’s a lot riding on the November 2020 election and change isn’t gonna happen on its own. We are going to have to hit this one hard, folks! Here are some tips and resources for getting ‘er done.  

We thought it would be helpful to periodically summarize what’s out there to calm the storm of information that seems to be swirling around us. So here is a resource list focusing on mental health, wellness and financial assistance to help soften the impact of COVID on all our lives. 

Hey arts-loving friends! Albuquerque’s Arts Hub is raising funds for artists impacted by the pandemic. Donate at their Facebook page or at their website at http://www.abqartshub.com/relief

The opportunities listed below are pulled from our Facebook Group page and tend to be flexible and/or remote, though we will include some from our home state of New Mexico.

Host Peri Pakroo talks with Billy McCall about his new book, Four-Year Depression, shitshow politics, and using art to build new concepts and new realities.

We are hoping that we can recover these fumbles and reach a new generation of women. For this reason, we also took the time to modernize language and thinking about gender within the book, to include nonbinary and transgender people.

John Fugelsang is in Albuquerque to perform “Unpresidented: The true story of a comedian trying to raise a toddler while his country was electing one” and we were lucky enough to get him into the Pyragraph LIVE studio (a.k.a. my office) to talk about comedy, politics, religion, and how he’s pulled all those elements and more into his unique creative career. 

After last week’s tragedy in Parkland, Florida, I reached out to Maggie Byers and Emilie De Angelis of Moms Demand Action NM to talk about recent developments on the gun control front. Moms Demand Action is a bi-partisan grassroots organization fighting the epidemic of gun violence in the US.

We are close to something truly sprawling and ugly, so the big monsters are inundating us with lesser demons. In the spirit of keeping our attention on what’s really behind that flash flood, I created this Scale of Sexual Predation.

For the most part, I’ve had the good fortune of doing work that doesn’t compromise my beliefs. But a few years ago I wasn’t so lucky.

If you’re an independent artist, you have no choice but to roll with the punches. Things change. Things fall apart. Venues close down their business without telling you…and then you find out through their Facebook status update (yes, this actually happened).