I've always loved yellow, so it brought me some joy to see that the Pantone color of 2021 is this lemony, buttery tone. Can you believe there are people who declare a "color of the year" before that year has happened? What a ridiculous thing. A few weeks ago I was at a paint store and noticed a nearly year-old cardboard sign declaring that the color of 2020 was "minty fresh," chosen to capture "the optimistic spirit of entering a new decade of fresh starts." Ah yes, I thought, 2020: A year that ended up being full of optimism and freshness. 

The Pantone people have paired their 2021 yellow with a stony gray for "a message of positivity supported by fortitude." I'm not sure it's specific to this calendar year, but the yellow-and-concrete combo makes me want to listen to the Jonathan Richman song "The Morning of Our Lives." Richman is a part-time stonemason, and this sunny song is a live track from 1978. I think I first heard it when my dear friend Lara played it for me. Fitting that it came through a friend, because the song has a sincerity that can be eye-rolling in art but comforting when expressed directly by a human.

Let me be the person to pass this song on to you, or maybe just remind you of its existence, here in the golden morning of our year.

Listen to your own heart inside. You're not as bad as you think. I've got faith in you. I'm just gonna tell you that I like you. I like you. That's all I came to say.

Deep thanks to my paying members. If you're not one already, you can join them for just $15/year. Especially if you open and read this newsletter often, I'd love your support for my ongoing work.

Your dollars also support my new fellowship program, a chance for two not-yet-established writers to get some editing and mentorship and show their work to all of you. Fellowship applications are due Jan 10. 

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Tools for:
- Strengthening your personal commitment to ending prisons and policing
- Setting up a childcare co-op
- Eating at home while supporting woman-run brands
- Finding your doppelgänger
- Making a braided rag rug