This is 40, bare faced, with no filters.

This is what 29 survived suicide attempts look like.

This is what lifelong medication resistant depression looks like.

This is what a 6 year survivor of childhood sexual assault looks like.

This is what a woman who escaped 2 years of daily domestic violence and partner rape looks like.

This is what a formerly homeless individual looks like.

This is what resilience looks like.
This is what courage in the face of death looks like.
This is what fearlessness looks like.

This is what living in your truth looks like.
This is what being unwavering in your ethics looks like.
This is what being unpopular for the sake of being honest looks like.

This is what Autism looks like.
This is what PTSD looks like.

This is what a survivor looks like, at 40.

Thank you to every person along the way who has rooted for my failure, celebrated my struggles, and underestimated that I belonged at every table I fought to be at.

Thank you to the YMCA for ripping my entire life away and abandoning me during the 2020 Pandemic, and for firing me while I sat at my Dad’s literal death bed and all the folks there who called me “family: but stopped showing up for me in my darkest hour. It forced me to learn that the evils I was committed to fighting against were nestled deeply into the nonprofit systems that pretend to alleviate them.

Thank you to the worst job I have ever had in my life, as a “JEDI consultant” because it taught me that I am truly not for sale, and refuse to be punched down on by delusional 1%ers who think working on social justice from their 1.5 million dollar home isn’t hypocritical.

Thank you for the piss, and the vinegar, and the broken bones, and the broken heart…because all of those things burned away the pieces of me that doubted who I was.

And most importantly, THANK YOU to every person who has stuck by my side, committed to riding this life until the wheels come off.

Here’s to another 40 years of being “the squeaky wheel” and the “pitbull for justice”. Here’s to another 40 years of being a thorn in the side of those who use their power to harm the most vulnerable.

Here’s to another 40 years of being unstoppable.