A quick visit to the archives
Some tasty treats to hold you over until dinner.
But first, a quick note of gratitude.
Thank you so much for subscribing to this newsletter! I’ve received so many positive reviews and I appreciate each one so much. It feels great to have a creative outlet again and I’m excited to see where we go from here.
I have been working with my editorial team (Martini and the dead fly she’s been playing with for 2 days) on our September newsletter and we can’t wait to share the finished product. While you wait for it drop at the end of the month, enjoy some selected posts from the archive.
How Valentina Helped My Mexican Mother Accept Me
If I were to write a screenplay, I would base it off this story of my mom. This was incredibly personal to share, but I thought it would resonate with a wide audience. I’m so grateful for what Valentina was able to do for my mom and me. Never underestimate the power of a good lip sync.
This was the first post that got me fan mail. Reddit threads were created about it and I was so happy to see that so many queers of color appreciated it.
My sister once asked me why I was writing. “What’s your end goal?”
After a few moments of contemplation, I settled on, “I just want to be a guest on a podcast I like.” The Valentina post got me on two of them.
The first was the Sewers of Paris. I cringe listening to it now because it’s clear I had never been interviewed before. I have since removed the word quirky from my vocabulary because of it. I wonder if you can hear the panic in my voice as I try to articulate my love and appreciation of Jinkx Monsoon. Ultimately I’m still proud of the podcast, though. Baby’s first podcast.
The second podcast appearance was for the now-defunct NPR podcast, Nancy. My episode never aired, but the check cleared! I felt so cool going into the KQED office in San Francisco to record it. I was escorted to the studio by a producer and I heard them say into a walkie-talkie, “talent is walking and on the way.” My heart soared.
Baby Bricks
I wrote this in my head during a meeting at work. I wrote it out in the Notes app between the Downtown Berkeley and 19th Street BART stations.
When I left Kentucky, I had helped deliver 43 foals. I was attached to many of them. I hated 3 of them. One pushed me to the edge and then promptly kicked me over it. He bit me and I got so angry that I bit him back. We both stared at each other after it happened in a daze.
That baby grew up to be Mastery.
But Bricks and Mortar was my absolute favorite. I just had a feeling about him since the moment that he was born that he was special.
Someone sent a lovely card to my office in Berkeley letting me know how much the post meant to them. Bricks and Mortar now lives in Japan and I hope to visit him one day. Japan is on the table for a possible honeymoon and I would love to introduce Bricks and Mortar to Collin, if only for the absurdity of the situation.
I recently dug up the old pieces from my first blog. There is some good material in there that I’ve started to “Frankenstein” together.
But wow, 2015-2017 me loved to write about dead horses. There’s a “beating a dead horse” joke in there somewhere.
If there is something you’d like me to write about in particular, please let me know! Send your suggestions and love letters to ardavalos15@gmail.com.
Until next time!