Next Year’s Words Await a New Voice…
I’m experimenting with a few. We’ll see what sticks.
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” ~ T. S. Eliot
Eliot’s quote seems apropos at this particular moment, on this particular day, the last day of 2024. I feel like I actually need another voice for this coming year, one that can hopefully start fresh, be optimistic; speak about uplifting things. The one I’ve been using is notably exhausted and a little sad, and I don’t want to leap into 2025 with either of those states weighing on my personal zeitgeist.
It was a tough year, 2024.
For those of us who went all-in on the election — some even in the years leading up to it — it’s been hard reconciling the fact that a great portion of our society doesn’t share a value system that once seemed essential, expected, and non-negotiable. We’re left to await the incoming administration with a mix of dread, fear, anxiety, and anger, poised to push back, stand firm, and hold strong to principles they may not hold dear, but good people still do. It sounds exhausting already, but that’s what we’re in for. And we’ll do it; we have to, but, yeah … that’s tough.
It was also a year in which wars stacked upon wars, each with the deadly cost of lives and hope for peace. Gaza was decimated at the expense of tens of thousands of its citizens. Ukraine was forced to continue the fight with Putin’s Russia. Sudan battles its civil war, with violent unrest in other African countries, as well as in South America. Syria, perhaps, offered one glimmer of hope with the fall of the long-running Assad regime; the world now waits to see what evolves from that surprising development.
All over the globe, social justice and compassionate inclusion (or, as hardcore right wing wags call it, “woke mind virus”) take a beating from a growing trend toward fascism, white supremacy, and rabid nationalism. Identity battles related to gender and sexual orientation, women’s rights, the rights and freedoms of many marginalized groups (including marriage equality and reproductive freedoms) are at risk. As are the freedoms typically afforded public schools and other taxpayer funded organizations as fundamentalists and right wing theocrats attempt to control what we read, learn, and think, and how we pray or don’t pray.
On a personal level, this year has been a mix of tough and tender, heartbreaking and celebratory. I lost a beloved little sister to metastasized breast cancer, even as I observe my own “five-year clear.” I held my breath as one of my dearest friends worked to recover from a stroke, then celebrated news of the imminent arrival of my only child’s first child. It’s been a hearty mix of emotions, but that’s life, isn’t it? It’s all a hearty mix.
But now I want to rethink what I “muse” upon going forward, especially on this Substack platform of mine. What I focus on. What I use my voice for. What I dive into. I realized, as I sat here writing this on December 31st, that since the night of the election when I swore off all televised news and mainstream media, that I really do feel better keeping a healthy distance from the nonstop, relentless, clickbaiting, endlessly hyperbolic coverage of all-things Trump, politics, Biden, congress, Mace, Trump, Musk, politics, Johnson, Bannon, inauguration, Trump, Trumps, more Trumps…. aaaaaggghgh! I really do. So I’m stickin’ with that. My mental health is more important than my full-body immersion in “what’s going on today in politics?”
To be honest, I don’t care. Well, I do care; I care passionately. But there’s only so much I can do about the many things I can do nothing about at this moment in time. And while that sense of impotence feels gutting in so many ways, there’s also freedom to acknowledging that I can step back and put my able attention on other things. And those things I can do nothing about? They’re off my table; shelved, back-burnered. I’ll keep a peripheral eye on things — just so I can stay abreast of when there might actually be something I can do something about — but other than that, it’s all going to have to roll down that long, winding, rocky road of the next four years without my finger on the pulse.
What I am going to pay more attention to? Life. Life beyond politics. Things I’m doing, things people I admire are doing; causes I believe in and organizations I support. I keep thinking about all the good people in this world who surely deserve more word count than the worst amongst us, people like Jane Goodall, Malala Yousafzai, Melinda Gates, and Marley Dias. Young climate change activists, good men standing with women to fight for the preservation of their rights; immigration activists going knee-deep to offset the upcoming (and naziesque) “mass deportation” movement. Let’s talk about those people for a change.
There’s also the day-to-day of my own life, stuff I’ve got going on, things I’m working on. I want to talk about some of that, too. For example, I’ve got a fourth novel coming out on March 28th of ’25. Chick Singer. I’m excited about that. It’s a book I’ve put a lot of heart and soul into; it taps into my long background in the world of rock & roll (one of the things I love most about my origin story), and I’m going to write some about it as it gets closer to its pub date. I promise I won’t overdo it, but I’ll want you to know enough that you can access and enjoy the book … I’m convinced you will.
I also want to continue to inject humor into things. Actually, as often as possible. Bring my slightly skewed perspective of life to the page from time to time to hopefully engender a laugh or two… that’d be nice, right?
There’s more, but that’s enough for now. Is that a “new voice,” “another voice,” or just my old one refocusing? I’m not sure. All I know is I want to broaden the scope, widen the subject matter; pull myself out of the dark stream of political disconsolation. That new voice will likely be lighter. I hope so. Lightness of being can go a long way toward balancing the dark that persists in this human endeavor we call life. I’m counting on that.
So as we ring out this maddening year, I wish for you whatever “new voice” you might need, and all the lightness of being you can possibly muster for the upcoming year. Let’s make it a really good one … in spite of it all. I’m convinced we can.
Happy, Happy New Year, my friends!
