Well here we are! I’ve been wanting to create a private podcast for paid subscribers for months…maybe years? The final pieces to the idea puzzle have been falling into place over the last couple of weeks. It’s almost as if there was a direct line of inspiration between me and my higher-self that suddenly opened, or de-clogged, and now it’s an effortlessly flowing river of ideas for what Passing Notes can be.
It wasn’t until a recent exhibition opportunity (for the 50th Anniversary at Milwaukee Institute Of Art & Design) where I installed a pop-up Dear Self With Love letter writing workshop that I realized something big. Maybe it’s obvious from the outside looking in, but for the first time I saw all of the DSWL projects as a way to tap in with your inner child.
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Growing up some folks had teachers who would encourage students to write letters to their future (graduated) selves. The teachers would hold the letters and share them with students on or after graduation.
When we sit down and take the time to write a letter, color and decorate an envelope, and use our imagination to connect with our future-selves we are tapping into our playful inner-child. (Trust me! It takes a lot of vulnerability to sit down and actually commit to this exercise. The concept alone makes some people totally uncomfortable and I understand why!)
The primary physical product that has emerged from the DSWL brand are my annual self-love planners, which totally remind me of being back in school and the simple joys of documenting days via a weekly planner.
Even the font that I designed specifically for the DSWL brand is my playful handwriting that has been with me for as long as I’ve been writing letters and passing notes!
And the Self-Love Sunday Newsletters that I send out each week here on Substack remind me of the way I used to wait for Post Secret every week for Sunday Secrets (IYKYK)
I didn’t even realize it! And now it’s shining bright in my face, inviting me to embrace it even more. So, as I’ve been following this thread, I discovered another highlight of adolescence was passing notes!
Alas, the Passing Notes Private Podcast. A paywalled bi-weekly podcast where I share the stories and secrets of my heart that I’d only feel safe enough to tell a BFF ❤️ 💌
In this first episode I tell you the story about the time I went to a psychic and was told I was a proud member of the queer community years before I came out.
