Julie explores life with curiosity, creativity, and connection. I share observations with humor, offering perspective on the world and how it shapes us—lightening life’s complexities along the way.
When Frida Kahlo died, her husband locked a room in their house. It stayed sealed for fifty years. Because apparently even in death, a woman’s life needed a man to decide when the world was “ready” for it. In 1954, Diego Rivera stood inside La Casa Azul—the brilliant
A Short History Lesson We Probably Should Have Learned First Before we roll our eyes, dismiss it outright, or forward a snarky meme, let’s slow down and do something radical: Look at the history. Because the claim that Jingle Bells has racist origins didn’t appear out of nowhere
Ah, December. A month for twinkling lights, warm drinks, and — if you’re Donald J. Trump — casually suggesting that a major American news network should be forced into a hostage sale because it hurt your feelings. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” quite like an aspiring autocrat demanding control over the national
What Russia’s Lost Progress Teaches American Women in 2025 Dear Friends, Some stories echo across continents. Some warnings travel through time. And some lessons arrive wrapped like a gift from history — the kind you open slowly, the paper trembling, because you know what’s inside might change how you
Late-Night Shenanigans, Presidential Delusions & the Sounds of a Mind Unraveling Well friends, pour yourself a cup of courage (or Chardonnay) because the former Guy-With-the-Nuclear-Codes had himself a late-night meltdown so dramatic it could have qualified for an Emmy—if only delusion counted as a performance category. According to him,
🍫 Newsletter: Meet Amaury Guichon — The Sculptor of Sweetness Julie’s Journal | The Mindful Activist in the Kitchen A New Kind of Chocolate Magic My friends, if December has a patron saint of dessert, his name may very well be Amaury Guichon. While the rest of us are out here rolling
Yesterday, when I walked into the Indiana Statehouse to protest the Redistricting scheme that tries—yet again—to silence Hoosier voices, I wasn’t alone. I carried a piece of my mother with me. I wore it intentionally, not as an accessory, but as a quiet act of remembrance. A
A Mindful Activist Newsletter December Edition Opening Reflections: A Warm Welcome to Our Fiery Times December is supposed to be the season of light, peace, mulled wine, and pretending we actually enjoy peppermint-flavored anything. Yet here we are once again navigating a political landscape that feels less Silent Night and
Julie’s Journal – The Mindful Activist Monday Edition Gather ’round, my friends, and let me tell you a story that will make your morning coffee taste just a little more ironic. Before Vladimir Putin perfected the art of shirtless horseback riding and aggressive geopolitical mood swings, Russia—yes, that Russia—
Your Story Matters (Even If No One Ever Reads It) There seems to be a quiet little myth floating around that if you’re going to write, it has to be for someone — for an audience, for social media, for a book deal, for posterity. As if words only matter
A NEW MONTH, A NEW YEAR AHEAD — AND YES, THE BIRTHDAY GIRL HAS ARRIVED “December is proof that endings can be beautiful.” — anonymous but wise “The world softens in winter. Even the sun sleeps in.” — someone poetic “The older I get, the more joy feels like an act of rebellion.
You know, some people talk about “rock bottom” like it’s a place you eventually hit. A limit. A boundary. A moral guardrail. But with Donald J. Trump? Honey, the bottom isn’t just gone — it’s been excavated, bulldozed, and leased out as an underground event venue for hate