march 2026 capsule
As anticipated, March was a fraught month for me. Not only was work relatively busy, but it was even more emotionally taxing than I anticipated it would be. There were a lot of projects that I needed to set down, but I have also been fairly creatively engaged even if what I have been writing isn't quite ready to share yet.
Many bloggers I follow regularly do monthly recaps and looks forward and I thought I would give that a try!
Blog Updates
I wrote a post asking "how are we discovering new music?" and received direct responses from two music lovers: scholarch and Nikki from The Listening Room. It was really cool to read about their own relationships to music (indeed, The Listening Room's "Marginalia" series is dedicated to conducting interviews with people about that very question!) and also receive some suggestions for music to try. It was a good reminder of the kind of community that Bearblog cultivates when people take time to engage with you and I am very thankful to them both!
As a result of that post, I was interviewed and featured on "Marginalia" last week, which you can read here. It was such a pleasure to reflect on the questions and I have enjoyed reading all of the other features that have come out so far!
Though they are still being written/edited, I am working on forthcoming essays on Bright Eyes and Björk that I hope will be ready to share soon. They are quite long (about ten pages each so far) and though I have considered splitting them into multi-post series, I just like the idea of allowing myself to write indulgently lengthy pieces now and then. It means fewer posts, but gives me the freedom to explore a lot of ideas in more detail. If you have strong thoughts about longer vs shorter posts though, let me know!
Other Progressions
A couple of my poems are forthcoming in a literary magazine later this month. It will be my first creative publication that I am genuinely proud to share. I have also been busy submitting to other publications and continuing to write and revise additional pieces for a longer manuscript.
I have started working with English Language Learners who are also studying for their U.S. Citizenship Test and it has been such a rewarding experience. I'm really glad that they put this program together and that I get to lead it.
A local writer's group is hosting a novel writing month and I spontaneously attended the pre-session meeting and might go ahead and give it a try. I have had an idea bubbling in my head for a while and now is as good a time as any to try cobbling them into something I can s how other people.
My first court date for my divorce is scheduled for tomorrow.
Little Things to Look Forward To
There is going to be a new season of Dimension 20 and Taskmaster starting next week! These have both been comfort watches for me this year and it will be my first time watching the latter live as it airs.
Laufey's A Matter of Time: The Final Hour releases and I will be getting the very cute pastel watercolor variant on vinyl.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream also launches on Nintendo Switch in mid-April. This is a series that is very dear to my heart and is actually, in its own odd way, a big influence on the novel that I will be drafting.
My cousins are hosting a baby shower near the end of the month for their second child. I'll be reviewing my photography notes so that I can document all of the sweet moments.
Every April, I think about the opening lines of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot: "April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain.” This time last year, I felt like I was in, as Anne of Green Gables called it, "the depths of despair." It's not going to be an easy period of my life, but I am hopeful that it will be rewarding in its own ways. I'm going to choose hope and see how much of it I can hold onto.