This past month was a LOT. There’s really no other way to put it. 

So many of us have felt helpless as entire communities and institutions have literally and figuratively burned. And as we scramble to pick up the pieces and find our footing in this new reality, it’s easy (and completely understandable) to feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the flow of information coming in like a firehose.

That’s why I’ve decided to be careful about tending to my attention. While I strive to be informed, I can’t “sit” with media content all day. Even if it means that I need to delete certain social media apps and limit the time I spend reading the news, my attention is what I can control, and where I place it does make all the difference.

With that said, I wrote a little poem to try to process and find my way through it.

Hold Steady 
In the storm of chaos
Our true North can get lost
in all the dust.
But once it settles--
and it will--
we’ll rouse from our stillness
test the ground,
take slow steps,
and soldier on.
Because as much as some may pull,
going backward 
was never an option.
We’ll immerse ourselves in stories
connect with our shared humanity
linked by our losses and hopes.
Use our hands to create something
anything 
instead of scrolling.
Let go of the weight of the past year
declutter our self-doubts
cultivate curiosity
become friends with our senses
curate joy in the tiniest moments
plant dreams and 
water them with possibility.
We’ll always punch back 
with sharp laughter,
savor our delicious secrets,
point our toes forward, 
keeping our eyes on what could be,
dance to the music in our heads,
because moving will keep us steady on this shaky ground. 

Navigating all of *gestures wildy* this…is hard. So remember to take breaks. Unplug often. Most importantly, breathe. 

If you can, care for someone else. And don’t forget to care for yourself.

Writing Updates: 
We’re gearing up for a few more events:

1/31: A Special School Visit/Workshop at Lowell Elementary

3/28-3/30: For those who aren’t familiar, Wondercon is like San Diego Comic-Con’s little brother. We’ve officially registered for our badges and will have a table. Yay!

If you don’t have a copy of Three Bee Honey, you can purchase it here on our website. 

Connect with us on our socials:
IG: @st.amantstories
TikTok: @stamantstories 
YouTube: @MisterSaintAmant (Jon's art tutorials)

Recent Reads: A First Time for Everything, by Dan Santat

A coming-of-age graphic novel? Yes, please! The truth is that I got A First Time for Everything for one of my sons, but the story caught my eye. So I dove into the book as soon as I had a chance. 

Santat recounts his first international trip, one he takes with a ton of trepidation…and without his parents. During his trip, he experiences many firsts along with plenty of mistakes and pleasant surprises. Throughout the pages, Santat captures the wonder and angst of becoming a teenager. This was such a relatable story of exploration and discovery, one that reminded me of how valuable it is for young people to travel to other countries. It really alters your perspective on the world and rewires your brain in all the best ways. Clearly, Dan Santat was profoundly changed for the better because of his travels. He reminds all of us that our precious little lives are short: stay open to opportunities for adventure that come our way.  

​Amelie getting a dose of vitamin D. 

Lilo helping me get some work done. 

Sanity Corner:
This past month, we finally decided to invest in raising chickens. We’d always thrown the idea around, but then we’d get busy with life and forget. But not this time, with egg prices being what they are. We thought we’d get our first chicks around February/March, giving us a chance to research. To our surprise, our local pet and feed store notified us that the chicks were ready sooner. So here they are:

(From bottom left clockwise: Suzanne Banana, Doris Donut, Shirley Omelette, and Margie Muffin)

These gals are already growing so fast! While caring for them at this stage is a lot of work, they are super cute and have distinct personalities. For instance, Margie is more shy, and Shirley is the confident leader of the pack. 

​Finn guarding the chicks, trying his best to feign innocence. Take it easy there, pal. 

That’s all for January. Thank you for reading! :) 

If you haven’t subscribed, make sure you click below to get the next newsletter in your inbox.

Take care,
Desi

I go on runs a few times a week. And when I say “run,” I’m being very, very generous.

Anywho, several months ago, I started seeing an older couple walking their dog in the opposite direction. When we first crossed paths, we’d politely nod at each other. Then we began waving to one another with a smile. 

During the past few weeks, the couple has begun cheering and clapping when I run (okay… jog) past them. It’s a little burst of excitement, and it makes me laugh. Best of all, it makes me forget about my aching leg muscles.  

​I love how we don’t even know each other’s names, but that hasn’t stopped us from developing this silly little ritual. 

Then I thought: why don’t we cheer on more people? And I mean cheering outside of sporting events and performances. Why not applaud your friend who went on her 23rd date since the divorce? Or the dad who’s driven his kids to practice for the 210th time. Or the writer who got her 88th rejection from an agent.

So to you. Yes, you, dear reader. The ones chugging away on a project after hours. The ones organizing. The ones dreaming. The ones healing. The ones supporting. The ones quietly and consistently showing up, making this world a little less broken. 

Cheers to you. 

When many people think of poetry, they think of writing that may be confusing, old-fashioned—or worse: purposefully inaccessible. This book subverts that presumption in the most delicious way. A Bit Much is a delightful book that is equal parts funny and profound. I was so excited to read it that when I got the book in the mail, I inhaled nearly half of it in one sitting! Lyndsay Rush is hilarious and deep and honest--someone so many of us can relate to. Here’s an example of one of her poems. 

Garden Update:
Fall means it's apple season. And our gala apple tree is popping off. They are smaller than the ones at the store, but perfect for a sweet snack.

Sanity Corner:
Little treats are wonderful. And I think we all deserve them. One of my favorites? A matcha latte. Iced or hot, both are great. If I’m home, I’ll make my own (here’s a recipe if you’d like to try it).

It’s a small way to make a day brighter. What are some of your favorite treats? 

That’s all for September. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this.

​Go ahead--don’t be shy. Feel free to share this newsletter with a friend! :)

Take care,
Desi

​Poetry isn’t given the attention it deserves. But it sneaks into the cracks of our everyday lives via inspirational quotes, lyrics from our favorite songs, and stickers on water bottles. 

Poetry’s everywhere, so long as we’re paying attention. 

What I love most about poems is that reading them is like looking into a mirror. They each reflect essential human truths in some pretty surprising ways. 

So in honor of national poetry month, I’d like to put a spotlight on one of my favorite, albeit quieter 18th century poems: “To a Mouse.” 

Take a moment to read it, if you haven’t seen it before. It was composed in the Scottish dialect, but for this post, I’ll refer to the standard English translation. Written by the Scottish bard, Robert Burns, “To a Mouse” tells the story of a farmer plowing his field and accidentally destroying a mouse’s nest in the process. 

It seems simple and straight-foward enough…at first.

The speaker opens by addressing the mouse, feeling pity for him in the beginning. 

Small, sleek, cowering, timorous beast,
O, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With hurrying scamper!

Then the farmer reveals some self-awareness in this prophetic and poignant line:

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,

When I got to this point, I realized it was deeper than some dude talking to a helpless mouse. As the poem progresses, the farmer’s tone grows more despairing as he realizes that the mouse isn’t actually an inferior little “beastie.”

I want to focus on these lines toward the end:

But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

Still you are blessed, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!

Boom, there it is. The “mirror” moment of the poem. A golden nugget that reveals the essence of the human condition. 

We constantly dwell on the past and worry about the future. However, living in the present isn’t easy for us humans. But boy, do we try our darndest to make it our normal like the mouse does. There are entire industries built around this goal. 

If we’re lucky, maybe we can live purely in the present for a few moments, but the worries and anxieties, fueled by our egos, always seem to percolate back to the surface of our consciousness.

And in case we do get on our high horse and somehow forget about our flaws, we have poets to humble us. To remind us each and every day how beautifully complex we are. So yeah, grieve the loss of promised joys, the plans that went painfully askew, and remember that the whole point of this is to remember we are not the first ones to experience these ups and downs, and we definitely won’t be the last. 

So take heart in knowing we’re not going through this alone. 

Writing Updates: 
Jon and I created a little spring THREE BEE HONEY comic for our friend, Sarah Giles. We wanted to capture the bee’s POV when the weather gets warmer. For us, it’s time to enjoy some sunshine, but for bees, it’s time to get to work. 

Current Read: Scattered, by Dr. Gabor Mate

When both of my kids were diagnosed with ADHD, I immediately felt overwhelmed and frantically grasped at every piece of information I could get my hands on. Podcasts, books, classes—you name it. Some resources proved to be more helpful than others. But Scattered is one of the more helpful books I’ve read about this topic. And Gabor Mate is SUCH a great writer. His lucid and engaging voice made it easy to digest so much rich information. 

Parenting has always been hard. But parenting in this day and age—when we’re overwhelmed and juggling so many responsibilities—is even harder. Since we’re not raising our kids in a “village” like our ancestors, I consider these authors to be part of my village, guiding me and giving me hard-earned wisdom as Jon and I navigate this path. 

I’m still learning and growing as a mom. While my kids have faced and will confront additional challenges due to being neurodivergent, I can better equip myself to understand, support, and guide them. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most. 

If you know a child or adult with ADHD, I highly recommend this book! 

Pet Pics:

Lilo enjoying some baseball and watching her big brother as he crosses home plate. 

Garden Updates:
Our fig trees are back in bloom! Looking forward to putting some slices of this sweet fruit on my salads and toast. 

Sanity Corner:
We recently purchased a new record player since our old one stopped working a while ago. And man….what a difference a great player makes! The sound is so much richer, and you catch nuances in the bass and drums layers that are easy to miss on other devices. 

​Also, since I wasn’t able to see No Doubt perform at Coachella, we jammed to some Tragic Kingdom from home. It made my inner 90s teenager so, so happy. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for a reunion tour. 

That’s all for now. Thank you so much for reading! I’ll be in touch again soon. 

Feel free to share this little newsletter with a friend! :)

Take care,
Desi

Here’s a short, sweet poem by one of my favorite poets:

Just as the hare is zipping across the finish line,
the tortoise has stopped once again
by the roadside,
this time to stick out his neck
and nibble a bit of sweet grass,
unlike the previous time
when he was distracted
by a bee humming in the heart of a wildflower.

~ Billy Collins, Horoscopes for the Dead

This poem reminds me of the Frog and Toad memes I started seeing on the Interwebs about a year ago: a Gen Z reaction against hustle culture.

​I’ve always operated like the hare in Collins’ poem. But I’ve envied the tortoise and have realized how wise he really is. We’re all racing somewhere. Racing to the job title. Racing to the accolades. Racing—and stressing and worrying along the way—to whichever status symbol that tells the world we finally made it. 

But who really cares?

The world is so much bigger than us and our precious little myopic egos. It’s healthy to zoom out far away from ourselves and hold on to that perspective. It’s humbling, but it’s calming, too. 

Once we cross a finish line, we manufacture another “finish line” to race toward. And then we go on social media, see what others have done, and feel inadequate all over again. Then we dream up new benchmarks. It goes on and on. 

And it’s exhausting. 

Sure, we can set goals and strive for them. But that requires balance. We need to remember to stop by the roadside once in a while. Touch the soft grass, feel the breeze and warm sun on our skin. 

Like Frog and Toad: 

My goal is to do this more myself. And I’ve been surprised by how hard it is after being conditioned to rush and race from one task to the other for so many years. 

So slow down. Be present. Enjoy the journey and stop to marvel at the insects along the way.

There’s no rush. 

Writing Update:
Jon has finished inking page 40 of Three Bee Honey—hooray! Progress has been slower than we’d hoped, but we’re inching closer each day. 

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the pages with Claire, Hannah, and Abi learning about the waggle dance:

So cute! 

Recent Read: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison

I read this book back in college. And now that I’ve had more life experience under my belt, I felt it was worth revisiting, and I’m enjoying it even more. I also wanted to re-read it since it recently stirred up so much controversy and has even been banned in school districts around the country. The Bluest Eye explores beauty standards and racial identity. It’s about a Black girl named Pecola who is growing up in the Jim Crow South. She dreams of having blue eyes because she feels that will make her beautiful, and in that yearning, we see the pain and tragedy that inspires it. 

Toni Morrison’s prose is both beautiful and raw. Every book I’ve read by her is filled with passages that make me slam on the breaks, reverse, and re-read because I’m so shocked she actually “went there.” While her stories aren’t for the faint of heart, and this one explores many uncomfortable topics (definitely not for young ones), they cut to the core of human nature with devastating elegance and should be read by as many people as possible. I highly recommend this book! 

Pet Pics: 

​Lilo enjoying a lazy moment (and a cozy sweater) as her mom works. 

Finn keeping an eye out for his special outdoor cat friend. 

Garden Update:
Our blood oranges are back in bloom, which means some yummy juice in the mornings. In the past, we’ve made marmalade with the fruit, but life is just too crazy at the moment, so maybe next year. 

Sanity Corner:
Circling back to the poem by Billy Collins, one of the things I love to do when I want to slow down is going on walks. 

When I’m in the office or working from home, I try to take a break and go outside to clear my head. Just a 10 minute walk works wonders. 

If you can, squeeze in one 10 minute walk into your daily routine: before work, during the work day, or after. If we can spend 10-30 minutes doom scrolling, we can manage a short walk. :)

It’s well worth the effort. 

Welp...that’s all for this month. Thank you so much for reading!

I’ll be in touch again in February. :)

Take care,
Desi

​With that said, here’s a poem that helped me feel more connected to my “why.” It’s not a “professional why” or a “creative why”--it’s more existential than that. Once I read it a few years ago, it stuck with me as a favorite.

“Good Bones” by Maggie Smith. 

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

I have found myself asking, “What kind of world did I bring my kids into?” A world full of hate and fear and suffering and chaos. Yes, it feels bleak at times. Yes, I lay awake at night sometimes wondering how they will navigate through this. 

When I get overwhelmed, my mind goes back to that line: “This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.” 

Smith is right: despite the ugliness we see, there’s still hope. Why? Because we can always discover and nurture what’s beautiful. 

The “good bones” are harder to find these days, but they are still there. Despite the noise, there are many people quietly and tirelessly doing what they can to spread the good. 

It’s up to us to see the good. 

For your viewing pleasure, here is the video. 

 Writing Update:
We’ve completed our Crowdfunder and surpassed our 2nd and final stretch goal. Woohoo! 

You may have noticed that we re-opened the Crowdfundr website. We had to temporarily activate the storefront due to some issues a few supporters had with their transactions. Some transactions (processed with Stripe) labeled the contribution as “TikTok,” which caused confusion for several of our supporters and their banks. Luckily, we were able to get ahead of this and make sure to clarify what happened. 

If you didn’t get a chance to purchase a book, visit our site and get one asap!

Now, Jon is working hard at illustrating the remaining pages. Then it’s time to color. Once that is complete and we check that everything looks good, we’ll send it off to printing! 🥳🥳

Recent Read: Stamped (for Kids), by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi and adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul

My youngest son read this book, and it captured his attention right away. So much so that he finished it in two days!  It also prompted him to ask big questions, and we talked about what he learned about our country’s history and our current society. I appreciated how the book’s language is accessible and written for a younger audience so that they can wrap their heads around complex ideas. 

When he finished Stamped, he closed it and looked at me with sadness in his eyes, shook by the ugly elements of our history. But he had a newfound determination to share his insights with others--he even asked his teacher to make this book required reading for his class. My hope is that he will continue to stay curious and keep learning. 

Pet Pics: 

The band is back, y’all! 
In truth, this is a rare occurrence. But we’re glad they’re getting more comfortable with each other. Baby steps. 

Sanity Corner:
We discovered this show, and it was so eye-opening. Even our kids were into it. The host visits various locations around the world to learn how people improve their longevity. But it’s not just about living longer. It’s about living better. The people he features, those who’ve reached their 90s and even surpassed 100 years of age have so much wisdom to share. It made me think about my habits and how we as a family can have better balance. If you’re looking for a wholesome and inspiring show, I highly recommend this one! 

Garden Updates: 
Hurricane Hilary--you probably already forgot about her lol--was thankfully pretty weak by the time it hit our area last month, but it still did some damage on our pomegranate tree. We had to tie it with rope to our patio in order to keep it from falling. But the fruit is coming in and still growing, which is good. Once we harvest the pomegranates, we’ll have to prune the tree and add some support. 

This month’s question:
With so many products to choose from, I have to ask: which pumpkin spice products are actually worth the hype? 

Thank you so much for reading! I’ll be in touch again in October. If you have any friends who’d like this newsletter, feel free to share this with them. :) 

​Take care,
Desi