I am Alma, strong and brave

The energy we all need for 2022

H friends,

I had a bunch of ideas swirling about for the last post of 2021, but I have to admit that I’m fighting a despairing mood to close out the year (we’ve been listening to this Mountain Goats song quite a bit if that gives you a sense of where things are).

Instead of bemoaning the state of the world, though, I wanted to share some of my four-year-old daughter’s mantras with you. Alma has the most evolved sense of self I’ve ever encountered. She marches around the house chanting “I am Alma, strong and brave.” Her favorite song right now is New York City by They Might Be Giants, and when she gets to the line “everything is beautiful, when you’re young and pretty,” she yells “young and pretty like me!” Yesterday she was hard at work on her magnadoodle. I asked her what she was up to, and she said she was writing herself a letter: “Dear Alma, I love you very much because I love myself. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Love Alma.”

Whatever 2022 may hold, I encourage you to channel a little bit of Alma’s swagger into your life.

Thanks for reading this year, and look for fun things to come in the next year - on a fun note, check out this article I wrote about how Miracle on 34th Street, the best of all Christmas movies, is a feminist triumph.