Three Cheers! Maggie Looks Ahead

Maggie says:
Turning three feels significant to me, because it's our number. The three Ms have now spent three years online collaborating and commiserating, and although our third year proved bumpier (for me, stops and starts and life changes and months of writer's block), I can honestly say I'm more excited about what's to come than I've been in ages. I love the energy involved with embracing change and moving forward, and I love knowing I can depend on Marjorie and Mikaela to keep me enthralled and amused and provoked for years to come. That's the kind of commitment that soothes me, especially now that I'm in Dallas and farther away from the Ms than I've been since I met them. (Not that distance will stop us, mind you - the three of us just went running down a West Mesa volcano in a hailstorm together, in heels, all for love!) For me, a continued commitment to m-pyre will mean writing more fully about the stuff that makes up my life - it's part sideline politics, sure, but it's also planning, books, movies, strange adventures, gender, place, the revolutions and implications embodied in food and cooking, and more than a few guilty pleasures. I'm looking forward to having a fuller existence on m-pyre than I've had before, and I know embracing wholeness will help me write more often, which really does wonders for my mood and daily sanity. It'll also be fun to start exploring my new town through words, and to write more about planning issues, which I have a newfound freedom to do in a way that really excites me.

As for my comrades...

Mikaela has had such an important year full of change, and I'm really looking forward to the ways she'll share her new experiences and perspectives on the blog and weave those into her analysis. I love her thoughtful pieces on community in all its forms: poetry, arts, religion, neighborhoods, culture, and identity. Mikaela is all over the map with her connections in Albuquerque, and her ability to tie them all together and find the common link is truly amazing. We're lucky to get a chance to sit in on that process. I also think Mikaela's perspective on civil liberties will be especially interesting as our global discussion about torture, terrorism, and vigilance intensifies. Her gut-checks will be a compelling, and increasingly necessary, point of reference for all of us. I'm also giddily anticipating lots of Non-Serious Mikaela on the blog... I want bad movies and embarrassing tv and small anecdotal moments and random musings! I want the stream of consciousness that she pours out in the dozens of journals that are always within her reach. I want that wry sense of humor and the moments I have reading her when I picture her "Mikaela face." This woman is tough (the Mikaela face can be scary!), but she's also the one who had me read Harry Potter aloud as we were cooking in her kitchen one night. Her spectrum is constantly inspiring to me, and I'm always anxious for more.

Marjorie is a woman of endless depth and experience to everyone she encounters, and being her friend and reader is as much about seeking out further understanding as it is about enjoying a major fit of giggles. I don't think Marjorie realizes how much I'm going to be depending on her for on-the-ground political insight now that I'm out of state. She is so in the mix of the crucial debates happening in New Mexico regarding equity and civil rights and representation and how those broad concerns play out in the very real world of CABQ/BernCo subsidies, APS politics, and more. And as insane as the NM political season is going to be, I'm thrilled to have her on the ground to keep me updated with what I'm missing. Serious in-the-know Marjorie is only part of the equation, though. Marjorie is so much fun. Being away from her has meant less tofu, less quilt talk, and less quirky confessionals... so I want some of those on the blog, too. The fact that her range spans from vampire novels to "junking" to labor to globalization continually astounds me, and her bravery and cool demeanor is endlessly impressive. We're so lucky to have front seats to the Marjorie show. And by the way, Marjorie is also a hell of a photographer, and I think we need to start demanding more photos online, don't you?

I think it's clear we're all huge fans of each other, and especially now that I've left Albuquerque, I'm so grateful to still have a place where I can lavish these two with affection - in public, no less! My endless thanks goes out to them for being patient through my temporary can't-write-anymore freakout, and then for being here with open arms when I was ready to come back. That's what friends are for, and I'm so lucky to have them.

So as their biggest fan, I say, write up, girls! It's going to be a fantastic year.

PS: The image used here was taken during M³'s last meandering trip through Santa Fe. I'm still working on re-discovering the gallery and the artist to credit them, but the sculpture can be yours on Canyon Road for thousands of dollars if you're so inclined!