Dispatch #8 - Chickens - 1/19/26

[Check out Dispatch #8 ＞ watch or listen with the link above, or read it like a blog below. Designs by Shmarper (https://www.tumblr.com/shmarper) ] Hey everybody, Quixotic Joy here! It is Monday, January 19 and I’m just sharing with you a view of a day on our farm. We call it a farm. It is not a true farm. We just have three chickens, one bunny, a garden and a greenhouse. But it feels like a farm to us. So that’s where we stand :) And like I’ve said before, there is no reason for you to be staring at my talking head with headphones on! Let’s turn the camera around and look at the beautiful world around us! OK yes, you’re right...It’s been a while since my last dispatch. It’s mid January and my last dispatch was at the end of October! After my last one, I decided to start interviewing people. I have a set of questions that I want to ask all my interviewees, to give us some context about them, and then let the conversation ramble from there. I have a long list of people to interview. They and I are all just average people, yet we all have a story to tell and are experiencing the madness that is the current moment, so I want to interview them! I decided to interview one of my daughters first. The one I traveled to DC with one year ago. The interview was so cool! But afterwards, I went down a rabbit hole about if I should share about her. I mean, I wouldn’t want the interview to someday be something she regrets doing. So, I decided to sit on that interview for a minute. Yet, I got so excited to interview others! Like I said, I have a long list! And then I was thinking what a cool podcast that could make! And then I ruminated about an idea I have to make a podcast with my two friends, and then I was dissecting all the things needed to make that podcast happen, and I just drowned myself in all the details! I know I was also challenged to find the time to create a full dispatch. I have been writing in the meantime tho. And then today I found the time! And I am so glad to be back! It feels really good! Unfortunately, I’m still in the same ol’ space I’ve shared with you before... telling myself that I shouldn’t be spending my time making art, instead I should DO SOMETHING IN THIS 5 ALARM FIRE that we’re in! Something meaningful! I could be writing to Congress or protesting on the street corner or doing service work like feeding the hungry or building housing for the poor or picking trash on the beach. Or I could be taking care of my body and be outdoors or hiking in this beautiful place we live or gardening in my amazing greenhouse or garden my husband built for me. I have done all those things, but for today, I’m focusing on the fact that I am an artist and time spent making art is not wasted. Then of course my negative side slips in and insists on throwing some shade...atleast I’m not sitting around playing violent video games or watching reality TV or writing bigoted, racist, sexist, vitriol on the socials. And dare I bring up the dictator in chief / whiny little man who is spending his time trying to take over countries across the globe and terrorizing people in the streets of Minnesota and many other cities across the US, among other things! Ugh, plenty of people aren’t choosing to do positive societal acts today. Which is obvious, considering the current state of affairs. And clearly plenty of people are choosing to do those negative emotionally violent acts, which is obvious, considering the current state of affairs. And I’ve got to remember.... plenty of folx are just spending time with family, cooking a nice meal, watching a funny movie together, or taking a little walk around the neighborhood. And oh geez, only now after writing all those privileged things, I realize there are many people who are working their second and third job, or carving out time to see their kiddo due to divorce, or living on the street or in war zones, or being raped or molested or terrorized. OMG my brain can go so dark. But it’s true. And that’s my brain...welcome to my world. A quixotic joy world. But I want to be a light in the world. And here, on this page, is where I am currently doing it. In the aughts, my light was shining on humans hands on the earth through my photography and my day job was raising artists voices by providing them grants, resources and training. From 2009 til now, my light has been shining on growing our children, who I truly believe will one day save the world. And now, today, I am focusing on me and sharing my story and stories. For that spectrum of activities I just presented folx around the world could be doing right now, I think what I am doing is right in the middle, and I’m ok with that. I’m not saving the world nor terrorizing it. I am fortunate to have a roof over my head and grateful to be an artist. Thanks as always, for being here with me! For today’s story, I am sharing “Chickens”. I wrote it a few years ago, so take that into consideration...the housing m...