some notes on the patriarchy

Originally sent October 14, 2025

Hi, friends, 

Today is going to hit many folks in my immediate community hard. My workplace is undergoing yet another round of layoffs, and after nearly a thousand people getting laid off in four waves last year, and the fast and steady decimation of the US government, it's been traumatic for those of us in and supporting civil service. 

We've been exhausted. Burnt out. Needing support, and getting met with punches every step of the way. Our reasonable accommodations have been denied. Our job market is dire. Our infrastructure is crumbling around us. The rhetoric everywhere is detrimental, pulling the weight of daily existence down beyond the ground and far beneath the earth. 

It can feel like we'll stay there forever. 

But we haven't lost yet. 

Every day, someone new speaks up. Every day, something new gives us hope. Every day, we still have access to public resources that have not died yet. We still have access to freedoms that have not been removed yet. Or that have been removed and returned. 

We have lost our hope, but we haven't lost everything. It's still here. 

Things are changing. Sometimes for the worse, yes. It's undoubtedly exhausting. But the destruction of our system is incomplete. And those parts that have broken present an opportunity for change. 

Because even when our systems are dead, we are not yet.

We can still rebuild. And now that we know how to do it better, we can make it better at the beginning this time. 

We can share information still. We can learn still. We can teach still. 

And today, I want to share the learning process of someone who has actively engaged in that process, changing into various shapes over time and continuously learning and growing -- the stuff of life. 

For your consideration. Hope it resonates with you like it resonated with me. Sometimes, internal transformation is the way to create peace -- internally, and societally. 

(The bolding is my own editorial, but all the words are the author's.) 

Image source: Lany-Jade Mondou (https://www.pexels.com/@lany/)

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