Yeah, it’s the 4th. The part of me that loves where I live and loves my community always struggles with the celebrations of today. This year especially since Utah is on fire and people just don’t seem to care. I will say, and kudos to my city, I didn’t hear a single firework go off in my surrounding blocks last night. We’ll see how tonight goes.

The truth is, this country is not what the propaganda says it is. The constitution is a living document that gets torn up and reworked in our laws and our news every generation.

The Declaration of Independence never envisioned a land where Native Peoples were people, where enslaved Americans were free, and where women had equity.

In 2026, with Queer and Trans rights being rolled back, where this generation of women has less legal access to health care than my mother’s generation, where Tribes are seeing land taken again in places like Bear’s Ears, where the West is running out of water and the East is under a deadly heat dome, where the Voting Rights Act is all but gutted, where our nation’s leaders refuse over and over again to take a stance on whether or not Nazis are bad, it’s hard to look at the celebrations and go “yeah, we’re doing it!”

So, if I can give any thoughts to celebrations today - in between the potato salads and the fireworks and the jello shots, may I offer:

​What to a Slave is the Fourth of July (book by Fredrick Douglas/Read by James Earl Jones)​

​History of Union activist Joe Hill (wikipedia)​

​communion by bell hooks​

​A People’s History of Native America (PBS)​

We Went to Phoenix!

A quick sidebar of fun: We went to Phoenix! My dad lives down there and we try to get down at least once over the summer to hang out and go to Mercury games. We also hit up local places and so we got to hang with the most cursed of all Princess Diana dolls at the Pink Door Teahouse and talk zines and community at the Wasted Ink Zine Distro and we made a new friend at Changing Hands Bookstore.

Of course, there were sports and we were able to hit up two Mercury games and I got to spend a lovely night with my dad at a Diamondbacks game.

And did I mention that we got to meet SCORCH and Bridget Pettis at a frigging wine store? Come on. It was the best day.

It was really a perfect trip, one of those ones that make me think I could live down there. Even when it’s 900 degrees outside …

Celebrating Kit My beloved friend Kit Cactus had her book release party at the Legendarium this past week and I am so beyond proud of her. She is an artist, graphic novelist, performer, and more. To celebrate the book, she made slides and put them up on an old school projector for the packed house. ​Please check out her stuff and support her! ​

The Days Come Ever Closer to 7/20/2026

Speaking of rights that people are still dying for - yeah, I’m getting married. I’ve said it a few times and despite my abject desire to stay cool and collected because society expects me to be a way about it - it really does matter to me.

This past week, we went over to the county building. I forgot to fill out the application on line or make an appointment. Honestly I thought the appointment was just for if you were getting married, so yeah that was on me. But they weren’t busy. So we sat there while an Indigenous woman took our information and handed us a certificate with instructions on what to get signed and when to bring it back.

Eleven years ago, same-sex marriage became legal in this country. The image of the interns running out of the Supreme Court with the decsision, racing to see who would have the news first, is embeded in my mind. I never wanted to get married. In fact, during the legal battles, I talked a lot about how marriage wasn’t worth as much without guarantees for not being evicted or bathroom safety. But the truth is, having the government recognize your legal right to marry does matter. Because with the stroke of a pen, thousands of small rights are granted to you that can’t be guaranteed even if you go through all of the legal paperwork to grant each other those marriage rights.

So I’m getting married and I’m excited and nervous and joyful. Because eleven years ago, while I was dating the woman I am now about to marry, we were told our relationship was legal. And it isn’t easy and I keep getting reminded that families are complicated and emotions are hard around these kinds of things. I keep tripping over myself and not always giving people the grace they need to sit with these changes.

But I’m getting married. And I hope that even as I bend to the patriarchy’s will so that I can have health insurance, that I don’t fuck it up.

And, if you’d like to help me buck the patriarchy’s idea of what a wedding and what wedding gifts can be, check out our registry. We don’t want anything - we want you to donate to causes that matter to us above all else. That would be an amazing way to celebrate as we move our rights forward.

Patreon!

This is my monthly pitch for my patreon - which is the best way you can support this writing journey I am on. For just a few bucks a month, you too can support a writer who would like to see her books in print.

Patreon is a platform where creators can post their stuff and hopefully their followers pay them for it. From me, you get an additional ramble where I talk about writing and such. You get character breakdowns, excerpts, and coming soon - art and merch!

I am writing stories about queer folks in Utah and every time I tell that to people, their eyes light up. Honestly, when I’m frustrated and lost in the darkness of trying to make this plan work, I think about the people who say “you mean, our stories?!” to me. Yes, I am querying and hoping to live a hybrid-publishing lifestyle, but paying for art and editing does cost money. And, I can’t get a dog until I’m making rent money through patreon. (Only … $1100 to go …)

So check it out and come hang with the Salt City Queers. We’re cute (and poor).

See You in August!

SPONSOR Lady Mina, Miss Stampy-Stamps On the night of the 22nd, we lost our beloved Mina Cat. She was 15 and sweet and floofy and perfect and if you want to read my post about her, it’s over here on patreon. I just know that she’s stamping on the Rainbow Bridge, waiting for someone to turn on the bathtub water. Hug your pets, people.