09/06/2026
Usually, I end the month with a positive recap. But, oh boy, did I crash in August!
Preparing for Fundy Fringe Festival wiped out my days, and the nights were nothing but blurs. After the last show, I lied on a wall on Princess Street and watched the sky change from cloudy evening to misty twilight.
It was enjoyable to watch the clouds, stay off my phone (except for the pictures), and let reflections reverberate through my mind. It is sad, though: over a 90-minute period of wall-lying, three different people asked if I was okay. We're simultaneously habituated to drug addicts and the death of free spirit, so someone lying on a wall sparks thoughts of concern rather than thoughts of whimsy or simply existing in space and time.
The September weather in Saint John also hasn't made it easy for anyone to climb out of any funks within which they may be currently trapped. A curious case of claustrophobia, exaggerated by the fact that September signifies, for many of us, a new beginning. I don't have kids, but I was in school for so long that September is permanently coded as New Year month, even more so than January.
I started the Uptown Fridge project to raise awareness and spark conversations about food security. It eventually took on a second function: promoting local business and cohesive community relationships. Now, the third function served is a study of transparency concerning the human condition.
It's absolutely okay to be positive on social media, that's what I'm here for. But I also hate the toxic positivity that makes people feel like s**t by implying that they're not successful if they don't have a bunch of achievements and shiny things to post. I feel like the average person is short on money these days, and that leads to being short on patience and short on empathy. Maybe I'm projecting, but I feel like too many people feel bad about themselves because they've been told to by "algorithms."
Sometimes, the best you can do is exist, and if that's all you've got for september, then that's good enough.
