I'm joining a new community!
WELCOME! Alive! with Joy has migrated to Substack
To my Mailchimp “Alive! with Joy” readers:
Thank you in advance for coming along for another change of newsletter venue. Whether you’re new here or have been getting my Mailchimp newsletters since 2015 (and my Wordpress blogs for more than a decade before that), I’m moving over to Substack and invite you to come with me.
The Substack version of Alive! with Joy you’ll get in your inbox as a subscriber will not be as pretty as my Mailchimp layouts, but everything else you’ve come to expect (or be surprised by) will be the same, including plenty of photos and I hope some laughs.
I have four reasons for switching:
Substack newsletters go directly to subscribers’ email, AND they also live online at Substack.com, where non-subscribers can happen on them and subscribers can easily find archived issues.
Substack is a community of creative people who are encouraged to engage with each other, sharing ideas and recommendations. Writing a newsletter is a lonely endeavor, so it feels good to do so among talented peers.
Substack costs me nothing and subscribing costs you nothing. When/if I choose to go to paid subscriptions, Substack takes a cut (about 15% including credit card fees). But that’s 85% more than I get for charging nothing! And a heckuva lot cheaper than paying Mailchimp every month.
It’s a way to clear my mailing list of folks who get it but never open it. Also it’s one less email those non-openers have to delete.
I realize that I’ve been on a political streak for the last couple of months. It’s been incredibly stressful to watch the rapid decline in Biden’s vigor, Trump’s rise in the polls, and to read the scary plans for a Trump victory, so clearly defined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Oh yeah, and the latest Supreme Court rulings. Writing about color, or really anything but the elephant on the table seemed like fiddling as Rome burned—I just couldn’t.
I mean, just yesterday in Palm Beach Trump basically told a bunch of evangelical Christians, “my beautiful Christians,” that if they vote in November and he wins, they won’t have to worry about voting again. No really. He’s said it in several venues. If he gets in office he will not leave:
Speaking for millions of concerned citizens, our hearts soared when Biden handed the baton to Kamala Harris. Compared to Donny Darko she is a ray of sunshine and hope. Like most vice-presidents, she’s had to labor in the shadow of the president, so the general public only had their impressions of who she was. As she’s stepped into the spotlight—allowed to be her genuine, powerful, joyful self—we are wowed and catapaulted out of our paralytic cringe state. Democracy lives to ride another day!
Now we can expect the worst from Trump and his MAGA supporters: slut shaming, racist innuendos (she’s a “token DEI hire”), misogynistic insults, and a flood of lies. Follow reputable news sources, check your facts and speak up.
Unfortunately it’s dangerous to come out against Trump in many parts of the country. His violent rhetoric resonates with his base as permission, and even encouragement. Election officials have quit from the threats they get. Lawn signs and bumper stickers invite vandalism. A good friend who lives near Tucson wrote to me:
I might get shot here…Robert wanted to put pro-Democrat stickers on his Jeep but we have gun-toting nutters in trucks with flags who wouldn’t think twice about shooting out our tires or worse.
So if I spill more ink here on politics than usual, bear with me. I’m doing it for the future of the country I love, for my kids and grandkids, and for yours too. Let’s go!
For your amusement:
A magic fashion show. I have no idea how she did it or where the clothes she took off went.
Trae Crowder, a hillbilly comedian reacts to the Biden-Harris news. He put it out just 24 hours after Biden’s letters came out. I bow to his quick mind and hilarious turns of phrase.
Put yourself in the way of beauty
In honor of the Paris Olympics, I bought and assembled Notre Dame in Lego—all 4383 little pieces of it. As usual, the designers did an amazing job. Side view and from the top (roof removed).
If you're new here, you can catch up on the last 25 issues of Alive! with Joy until I disconnect with Mailchimp. And I've posted lots more over the years on my various websites:
ColorstylePDX.com/blog 65 posts about color analysis and seasonal style.
joyoverstreet.com/ My author website. Learn about my book, the Cherry Pie Paradox: The Surprising Path to Diet Freedom and Lasting Weight Loss, plus other magazine writing, links to guest appearances on a bunch of podcasts and video interviews.
congrats on your move!
Welcome to Substack!