Someone asked me why I draw flowers so often when I don’t really seem like a “pretty, floral kind of girl” and that’s a very fair question (and possibly a hidden insult?) so I made this in response:
“The lovely thing about drawing flowers is that when I fuck them up they just seem more real.”
The same thing goes for people, really. Our strangeness and flaws make us real.
By Scottie Andrew, CNN 2 minute read Updated 9:22 PM EDT, Mon July 22, 2024
(There was a time when this would not have been allowed to be spoken of within the pageant, even after VAWA passed. I’m glad we’ve managed to raise a few generations with more confidence than we had at their ages.)
Alexis Smith was crowned Miss Kansas last month. She wowed audiences when she told them that her abuser was in the audience, reinforcing her platform of ending domestic violence. Miss America/AP/FileCNN —
Being a pageant winner takes more than beauty and talent. The newly crowned Miss Kansas Alexis Smith showed that winning the title sometimes requires bravery, too.
It only reinforced the importance of her platform — “to eliminate unhealthy and abusive relationships.”
When asked about her vision for her tenure as Miss Kansas, Smith maintained her composure in a sparkly azure dress.
“Some of you out in this audience saw me very emotional, because my abuser is here today,” she said.
“But that’s not going to stop me from being on this Miss Kansas stage and from representing as the next Miss Kansas,” she continued to applause and cheers. “Because I and my community deserve healthy relationships.”
She provided more context in an Instagram post the month after her win. On the night of the pageant, she said, “someone I have been healing from tried to disrupt my peace.”
“Instead of falling into silence, I chose to live out my vision for a better world,” she wrote. “I took back my power — not just for myself, but for my dreams and everyone watching and listening.”
She added, “I’m ready to use my story, tools, and resources to end unhealthy relationships in all forms.”
to Scottie, a few times. It’s Jenny Lawson, the author and bookstore owner. She has an art Substack, too, to which I subscribe on the free plan. Again, Jenny Lawson is hilarious, but also sensitive, and sharing in a good way. Maybe some of you have caught her books. Anyway, I just read her recent blog post, referring to this Substack entry. So here’s the Substack, because there is a Share button there. Enjoy!
This week I was more exhausted than normal. I fell asleep on the couch at 6pm. I couldn’t drag myself to see an author I love that I’d been looking forward to for weeks. It felt like it took an extraordinary amount of energy just to breathe, and the time that I normally devote to drawing while watching 90-Day-Fiance ended up with me curled up in a little ball wondering if this was illness or depression or both.
By this weekend I was feeling much better but I didn’t have enough time to draw the more complicated doodle that I’d sketched out with a pencil but never started to ink, so instead I did a simple portrait of my son, Hunter S. Thomcat, who was having his seventh restorative nap of the day and not feeling guilty about it at all. And it’s messy and imperfect and probably one of my favorite doodles because it was fun and ridiculous and reminded me that art is can be all of those things.
We can all take a lesson from cats sometimes.
It’s okay to rest, my friend. It’s okay to not always be productive. It’s okay to just be.
You’re further along than you think.
Hugs,
Jenny
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Another note from me (not Jenny Lawson): Jenny Lawson also blogs on WP, and is hilarious also there, but there is no reblog button; so check it out: https://thebloggess.com/ . I’m not trying to drive readers away from Scottie’s, but I bet we have time to read another article now and then! She’s great.
A friend used to blog on a health website that is no more, and she always started out with that, no matter what else she had to write. It just really put light into my day to read that, so I’m borrowing the idea for today. Today I have errands that I don’t want to run, don’t even want to get out of the house, I only want to read and post, but there it is. So, here’s a song for all of us.
Scottie's Playtime 