Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud
I write stuff down. writer • humorist • activist
A newly elected board of education member posted hateful comments, promoting violence and intolerance towards the Sandy Hook shooting. This Newtown resident called him out on it. A campaign began in our community and quickly spread nationwide: 26 Acts of Kindness, counting down the days until the somber 1 year anniversary of when our nightmare began. It grew quickly via social media, with people sharing our message of love and kindness with those they
I would like to post regularly and share what is happening here in Newtown, but there just isn’t enough time or energy to do that. I want to, but I’ve been muzzled: first by grief, then by fear, then by responsibility, then by trolls, then by frustration, then by friends, then by time. When trying to find someplace to channel the grief, to get away from … well … me,
I’m having a hard time getting back to life: attending multiple wakes and funerals for dead 7 year olds and dead moms tend to do that. Harsh words, but it’s a harsh world we’re left with. I’m left speechless. And ambitionless. And aimless. And well, just tired. I sleep a lot these days – soundly, like when I was pregnant and just need to shut my eyes for 10 minutes
I received many notes of support about the horror here in Newtown, and appreciate every single one. There is one more thoughtful and poignant than all the others, because of who it is from. Back in 2008 I took a 12 week NAMI family-to-family class for people with family members suffering from mental illness, of which, I am one. One evening, a guy showed up to share his powerful, personal story with us,
The media is suffocating, clogging the roads and parking lots with bright lights and satellite dishes and polished professionals putting on too much makeup in their caravans before venturing out to stick a camera in our weary faces.But I don’t want them to go away. Because as hard as it is to see my quiet sleepy town on the 24 hour news cycle, it is far far worse to turn
An irreverent storyteller with a foul mouth and big heart, Kathryn Mayer (aka Kathy and/or Kate) is a writer, humorist, and (former) activist writing out loud with humor and grace about little life moments with big ripples, including the space between parenting and aging parents, social issues, angsty reflections of midlife, and, sigh, gun humpers. Still. Sometimes a big deal, sometimes not Mayer is a national award-winning columnist, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and her essays have been recognized as Voice of … Read More Here...
kate[at]kathrynmayer[dot]com
xo Kate