All The Things
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Hey y'all!
Hopefully, this showed up in your inbox this morning, despite the new email address (please add hugh@thehughsletter.com to your address book!). This is all part of the migration to the new platform, away from the clunky (and expensive!) 3 step process that I had before. Thanks to the 30 or so folks who helped me trial this new platform. In my little trial newsletter, I wrote a bit about why I made this move - you can read that here.
Over the next few weeks, I will be tweaking things here and there. I appreciate your patience. If anything seems glitchy, let me know.
There was no newsletter last week, as I was traveling to Emmitsburg, Maryland, to the National Firefighter's Memorial Weekend, where my Dad's name was put on the "Role of Honor" for those who died in the line of duty. Here is his entry, along with the bio statement my family asked me to write. It's the thing I've written this year of which I am most proud. We got back home late Tuesday night, exhausted. (Here is the official Flickr photo album of the event on Sunday if you are into that sort of thing. It was lovely and kind of them, and my family felt cared for.)
I always think I will be more productive on the road than I am capable of being. It often isn't the time but the lack of structure that does me in.
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Me and my family watching as they give mom a flag in Dad's honor.
Writing
Because I was on the road, I only wrote two things over the last two weeks:
What I’m Not Gonna Do: A piece about my reluctance to talk much on social media about my day job organizing faith communities. It's good for the work but terrible for me.
(That said, if you do want an occasional email about the interfaith work I'm doing in Mississippi, organizing folks across party lines, you can sign up here. No spam, probably no more than one email a month. The next email is to come late next week. )
Open: As we grow older, many of us become more closed off, more sheltered, and more fearful. I want to avoid this with all of my powers.
Last Year
This time last year, I was just starting to get into the swing of the new blog and wrote this piece about a question my friend asked me when we were preparing to get married: What do you want your home to be like?
Things I Liked
Nothing I have ever done has changed my life as much as starting a blog did, back in 2003. So, of course, I love this. (That part about owning your own space? Crucial.)
Last week was Fat Bear Week! Each year, the National Park Service holds Fat Bear Week in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, where the internet votes on 12 contenders among the 2600 brown bears who live in the park, as a way to raise awareness. The bears must bulk up as they prepare to hibernate, often doubling their size over the summer. People get really into it, and apparently, this year, there was even a voting scandal.
I like notebooks. But I'm not precious about them, and more often than not, I use an old-school marble-covered composition book. But those look a little less than professional in meetings, so I am ridiculously happy about this leather notebook cover I found, which fits a composition book perfectly and make me look like a grownup.
Thank You!
This newsletter, like all my projects, is a reader-supported publication paid for by my members. I can only do it because people like you buy me a cup of coffee or forward this letter to someone else. And if someone did forward this to you, you can get your own subscription here.
Take care,
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