In the last two weeks, I admittedly have been on a bit of a spring/summer shopping spree. It was an emergency: part of it was emotional coping, and another was realizing that a good portion of my wardrobe was compiled of clothes I'd bought during quarantine. You know, quick, easy, Zoom-able sweaters and cardigans and shirts—and not enough pants and shorts. I needed an infusion of clothes to feel like I'm moving away from mindsets that were founded in the early, tumultuous parts of this decade. Then, out of all the packages that eventually started flooding my porch came this one package. It was clearly shaped like a book.
Hmm...curious. I didn't buy any books, you can't wear those...
And then I remembered! A friend of mine had told me she was sending a copy of her newly published book, one that I had edited with her back in 2019. She'd finally broke through the gates of traditional publishing. I was deeply happy for her and proud of her, and the note she sent me nearly brought me to happy thug tears. You made it, fam! I thought. And I hit her up immediately.
Clothes are great, but being able to share a victory of that magnitude is something I wish we got to wear more together. I wish I got to wear it myself more. Not for my own glory or looking-fly-ness, but for that reinvigorating, hopeful feeling that there are still so many moments to come where you get to celebrate someone else's breakthrough, one that you were somehow integrated with and helped facilitate.
That sort of hope is what keeps me going.
I hope you get a win today.
Kyle V. Hiller
BSR associate editor
