Month: March 2026

Sunday Confessional: leaning hard on my brother-in-law

/ Tracy Abell / 14 Comments

Today would’ve been my brother-in-law’s 73rd birthday and I’ve been thinking about and missing him an awful lot. As his sister said to me in our text exchange earlier, “He was the easiest person.” It’s true. As I wrote here, Bob was always my refuge. He accepted me for who and what I was, no judgments attached.  I wasn’t special, though, because Bob was easy with everyone. That’s not to say he was a pushover. Bob fought hard his entire life for the most vulnerable among us. The thing about being in the struggle is that we win some and also lose battles along the way.

I know this and yet earlier today felt myself descending to a dark place. I’ve been collaborating with folks in my community to advocate for the unhoused who are being threatened with new policies that would further criminalize them for the “crime” of having to sleep outside, and today received a response to emails I’d sent city council this week. This particular member outlined policy proposals they plan to introduce at the next council meeting and those policies contained zero glimmers of our shared humanity, and instead focused on proposals to protect property and “public safety.”

I felt so deflated. And when soon after that I learned our local Planned Parenthood was shutting down next week, I wanted to curl up in a ball and pretend none of this stuff was happening.

Then Bob popped into my head (again). Bob didn’t give up. As was highlighted over and over at his memorial, Bob never turned cynical or stopped hoping and believing in a better world.

Apparently, he showed up in these glasses!

Today I am honoring Bob by refusing to give up on the struggle for a better world. Happy Birthday, brother. (P.S. Bob, please forgive me for posting this photo your sister shared with me today as I couldn’t resist documenting your goofiness!)

Ode to turkey vultures

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

As  I walked with Emma a few minutes ago, I saw a turkey vulture circling way up high. Then there were two. As Emma happily sniffed at the grass, I tilted my head and watched the vultures gracefully circle each other against the blue sky. Then a third joined.  A fourth and fifth. Everything inside me felt lighter as I witnessed those birds soaring above. They circled higher and higher, their red heads no longer identifiable, as white underwings flashed in the late sun.

Image not great but this is exactly how the light flashed on the underwings. April 3, 2024

Eventually, they started flying back toward us and just before they were overhead, a seventh vulture joined. I kept my eyes on them, turning to follow their flight until the sun blinded me. Such a gift. And when I saw that Emma was sitting quietly, waiting for me to finish, I felt even more at peace. What a good doggie.

We’ve been seeing turkey vultures on our walks for the last few weeks which makes me happy. It helps knowing they continue to fly free above all the cruelty and violence happening down below. It also just helps knowing such amazing birds exist, we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

That same trip to Lake Hasty. April 2, 2024

Because, did you know this fun fact from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology?

  • The Turkey Vulture’s stomach acid is extremely acidic, so Turkey Vultures can digest just about anything. This also allows them to eat carcasses tainted with anthrax, tuberculosis, and rabies without getting sick. By taking care of the carrion, vultures provide an essential service for the health of our ecosystems. Without them, carcasses would accumulate, and diseases would spread from rotting flesh.

All hail the Turkey Vulture!

Heartbreaking decisions

/ Tracy Abell / 25 Comments

Just had a lengthy phone conversation with Wildebeest, our older son. He and his partner are navigating choices involving their future together and what that might look like. Without going into detail, suffice to say the decisions they’re being forced to make are greatly influenced by the state of this country, the global community, and the planet itself. The ongoing chaos and degradation weren’t caused by them or any other young people in this world, and yet, those grim realities are shaping their choices.

I know it’s a pointless use of my energy but there are days I feel immense guilt for being part of a very privileged class and generation that brought about much of what is wrong today, and then blithely brought two children into the mess I helped create.

Thank you for reading this far. Here are some cormorants (and ducks) for your time.

December 12, 2025

 

Wordful Wednesday: assorted musings

/ Tracy Abell / 14 Comments

For years and years, I exercised my writing muscle as I wrote novels for young readers in hopes of publication and did so almost every day until my literary agent dropped me while we were on submission to editors in August of 2024. That split was a deeply traumatizing gut-punch and I immediately stopped writing the second draft of my work-in-progress. Unfortunately, I’d suffered a series of such gut-punches and couldn’t put myself through that process ever again, so I quit. The thought of getting my hopes up again only to be cast aside without thought by someone I’d considered my advocate was too much to bear. It was painful not having my creative outlet but it seemed best for my well-being to stay out of that arena.

Eventually, I couldn’t ignore the creative itch or GRAPPLE which was the manuscript that’d been on submission. I reread then revised it, cutting over 10,000 words in the process, and was so happy being in that mode again! I truly do love me some revision. I’m so freaking proud of that very timely story (friendship story set against the backdrop of a small town divided over the presence of a private prison and proposed expansion of a detention center) and submitted the manuscript to one publisher that accepts unagented submissions. Now I’ve started thinking about another project I started and abandoned years ago. It’s unlike anything I’ve written and I’m kinda-sorta considering revisiting it. I do so love writing middle grade novels. At the same time, I’m also very tired of writing books that are never read by my intended audience. Anyway, I’ll sort through all the feelings and do whatever’s best for me.

Why am I sharing this now? Because earlier this week I struggled big-time to write a 3-minute comment I’d planned to present to city council last night. And that struggle was probably due to the fact that my writing muscle had gotten rusty. Writing for young readers had been such a huge part of my daily life and now I wasn’t doing it. How could I keep in shape?

*smacks forehead*

Hello, maybe you could fully utilize that blog  you call “Another Day On the Planet”?

So here I am, publicly recommitting myself to this space and my writing. As mentioned before, I love reading old posts about stuff I’d completely forgotten. And in that spirit, I’m going to document a few things now before they also slip my mind.

  • I did successfully complete my public comment regarding the unhoused, our shared humanity, my opposition to criminalizing homelessness and forced treatment for substance use, and read it at last night’s city council meeting in a voice that shook because (1) public speaking is hard for me (2) I was flustered from accidentally showing up late and (3) my turn came after two speakers who shared their views in loud and aggressive tones–views that did not match mine–and I was convinced the room was filled with their supporter so it was like being in enemy territory, and for context I’ll add that one comment can be paraphrased as “I was in a basement jail cell during 9/11, one block away from Ground Zero and that’s how I got clean because you have to hit rock bottom to get better and my rock bottom was a block away from Ground Zero and everyone’s recovery has to look exactly like mine!”
  • On Saturday morning I ran 1.75 miles on the Olympic Discovery Trail next to the water, the farthest I’ve run in months (YAY!) as I rehab my right heel, and when I slowed to a walk and looked over at the water I saw a brown furry head looking my way and then it was gone and even though I watched the surface for another minute I didn’t see it again but maybe it was one of the Otterly Magical gang?
  • A few minutes ago I took advantage of the break in rain and walked Emma Jean-Jean around the neighborhood where she enjoyed all the aromas while I enjoyed the rain-scrubbed air and rescued four earthworms from the streets.
  • Right after that last worm rescue we saw two dapper crows walking and poking around a neighbor’s yard and I wondered if crows eat worms, and after a brief search of the interwebs upon our return I can confirm that YES, crows do eat earthworms.

One last thing to share: hellebore plants in the front yard. The photo on the left was taken after today’s walk and the other from a couple weeks ago is the more common representation of these plants which like to hide their faces which mean’s today’s sighting is a gift, and that visibility is due to the fence’s support. All hail the hog wire!

             

 

No to War, No to Empire: An Anti-Imperialist Reading List

/ Tracy Abell / 22 Comments

Here we are again in the never-ending War on Terror™, blowing up people in the Middle East. I cannot remember a time in which the United States was not bombing or subverting governments around the world. U.S. imperialism is the one constant in my lifetime (and throughout the history of the United States, that plus genocide. Oh yeah,  and colonialism).  It’s almost as if those in power have never fully grasped that we are all connected on this earth–the people, the land and water, flora and fauna–and that we must recognize and honor our shared humanity in order to survive.

American Wigeons in flight at Ediz Hook, 12.29.25

In the meanwhile, we’re flying our flag of Palestine and focusing on some local issues that need our voices. And we continue to read. I’m being more intentional about sprinkling in lighter fare to keep myself afloat, but am also finding inspiration and greater understanding in some non-fiction such as the excellent UNBUILD WALLS by Silky Shah and THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE: GERMANS, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer. I recommend both and also want to share this anti-imperialist reading list from Haymarket Books. The following text appears at the top of that Haymarket Books page:

“The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.” —Muhammad Ali on refusing to fight in Vietnam

The myth of American innocence is perpetually reinvented in the face of an unprecedented history of violence, upheld by bipartisan consensus and a pliant corporate media.

Alongside its history of settler colonialism, cruel border policies, and overt and covert military intervention around the world, the US also has been home to a long tradition of resistance to war and militarism—often including the participation of active-duty soldiers and veterans. There are histories that urgently need to be remembered.

To better equip the movement against imperialism for the struggles to come, we offer a reading list on the tremendous violence carried out by the American Empire, and the heroic efforts of those who oppose it.

No to war, no to empire. Open the borders. Refugees welcome. Unconditional support to war resisters. 

I hope you’ll peruse the list to see if something sparks your interest. Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong reading anything by Arundhati Roy or Harsha Walia. And Light in Gaza is one of those books you can pick up and open to any page where you’ll find something soul-expanding.

Solidarity! ✊🏽