Stardust and granite.

Deep breaths.

The only way we get through this is together.

I wish I could go back to this moment when I was walking down the rain-soaked Colorado road and smelling green and soil and rain—the wild only a doorstep away. This flower stood alone in a landscape of grass and brush, blooming and carefully catching droplets on its petals. Holding its own against the elements. Delicate and strong.

Families are imprisoned at our borders, our black and brown neighbors are killed by state-run institutions, LGBTQ folks are fighting for acceptance and access to basic services, unions are undermined, poor folks are demonized, and women are a blink away from losing control of our bodies.

It is dark—I know that. It’s as if a weight is holding down a wet towel, suffocating us, immobilizing us. But in spite of that oppressive darkness, we are brighter and stronger. Together.

We are made of compassion and strength and love. We are forces of nature, hewn from stardust and granite.

I believe in us. I believe in radical love and true justice that breathes beyond ideologues and simplistic legislation.

We are more than what we believe is possible and that is what terrifies them. That is why we will fight.