Xismosa Xit

Hello all,

Happy New Year/Hopefully The Actual End of 2020! And yet…

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by new people reading, getting to see new and old friends, and cautiously going back to coffee shops.

Prose and Poetry of the Week

The Paradoxical Principles of Minimalism

When I feel my life getting out of control, which is often, I soothe myself by listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and YouTube videos about decluttering and minimalism. I have this weird dream of getting rid of 90% of my stuff, but I have no energy to do that, and I haven’t fully convinced myself to let go of the guilt that tends to come with decluttering. This piece was for myself and trying to explain how minimalism might not be what it seems, and to remind myself that I don’t have to do everything alone. This one is also s p e c i f i c a l l y dedicated to Jane and Sora bc of shared flashbacks. As an update to this piece, I now have all of my journals in a few boxes. They take at least two trips on a dolly.

Death Lay Beside Me

A poem about trying to appreciate my body growing and providing life more. My body doesn’t care if I want to stop, it keeps growing.

Rabbitholes

Things I’ve learned, laughed about, and/or obsessed over

• Encanto, with its Unionize Eldest Daughters message!! Isabela’s song was stuck in my head for WEEKS
• Dani Rojas, obviously

• Don’t Call after 5

• I want what they have

Personal Chisme

chisme = gossip

• It’s been a MONTH and I am SCRAPING through
• I helped to build a mini-kitchen for my little nephew over the holidays, winning him over to more strongly consider giving me more hugs 🙂
• Guess who fuckin’ saw J Lo, and who is NOT still Jenny from the block

• (she’s the one smack-dab in the middle of the pic. We were barely allowed to look her in the eye in the store.)
• I got accepted into a Death Doula program! I will be starting in April.

This whole newsletter is me just throwing out incomplete and imperfect stuff because if I wait until I thought it was complete, there wouldn’t even be a newsletter. I hope you’re enjoying my incompletes, and if you want to read more imperfections, you can find an archive at Colochos de Flores.

Abrazos and/or high fives,

Ariana