Hope Is A Skill

does anyone have that reddit exchange screenshot where someone is like "what colour is this mouse??" and posts a mouse who is like in some sort of purple world with confetti around it and the top comment is like "it would be easier to tell if your mouse wasn't at the club" . i keep thinking about & referencing mouse at the club and i cant find it

Hi Mr. Gaiman! I'm a big fan of your work, and recently I've been thinking about making my own comics. I made a tester page last night and frankly it looks terrible. Do you have any advice for beginner comic artists?

The same I have for someone the first time they sit down at the piano, or write their first book, or attempt surgery, or try to cook for the first time, or walk a tightrope...

Keep doing it. That's how you'll get better. One day you'll be good, but you have to make a lot of mistakes first.

The "Might as Well" principle for people with ADHD means leaning into your urge to take care of needs immediately when you notice them, and take that task-hopping tendency as an opportunity to "clean as you go".

You were probably raised to think there's only 1 "right" way to be productive. This is false. You don't need to (and honestly you CAN'T) become neurotypical, but you've probably spent a lot of your life striving to achieve success in a neurotypical way. This can be detrimental to your mental health. You have to learn what works best for YOU.

You don't need to feel guilty for not keeping a strict routine and an aesthetically pleasing home. Your goal should be keeping your environment (minimally) livable and safe.

This principle is intended to help with chore struggles, but it can also apply to personal care, and other areas of the ADHD struggle.

Going to the kitchen? Might as well bring as many dishes/cups as you can carry.

Going to the bathroom? Might as well wipe down the counter while you're in there (or for me personally, scoop the litter box while I'm there).

Taking a shower? Might as well scrub the shower walls while you're there (Be safe! I keep a utility sponge nearby for spot cleaning, but I don't use chemicals during my showers).

Forgot to brush your teeth in the morning? Might as well brush after lunch. No need to wait until the next "designated" teeth brushing time at bedtime (minimally, keep some floss picks, tooth wipes, or mouth wash at work/school).

Stuck in decision paralysis in front of the fridge? Might as well hydrate. Drink water!

Mount doom (laundry pile) giving you anxiety? Might as well pick one category, such as shirts, and sort them out. You don't even have to put them all the way away, just separate them so your doom pile looks smaller and less daunting.

Please feel free to add more!!

Ways to be a nuisance in our year of 2025

(from personal experience)

Get a small box. Write "take as you need" on the side. Fill it with period products. Put them in public bathrooms, including men's rooms.

Find a pothole. Paint a dick on it. Either your town will fix it or the public will enjoy your masterpiece.

Apps like No Thanks, Boycat, and Boycott X (my personal fave) let you scan items for boycotting shit. Money talks.

Red Cards contains all the rights that everyone, citizen or not, is entitled to in this country. They come in a bunch of different languages. Print them, give them out, leave them in places that need it, etc.

Don't be a snitch. Know someone undocumented? Someone traveling for reproductive or gender-affirming care? No the fuck you do not.

If someone asks your help doing #5, be their cover. If you live where they're fleeing from: no you don't know where they went, no they didn't tell you anything. If you live somewhere people are going to: that is now your cousin, friend from high school, camping buddy, etc.

Here is a fake person generator including phone, email, and address. Here is a free VPN for desktop and mobile. Spam the shit out of those ICE tiplines, trans bathroom reporting forms, etc. Here is a thing that lets you flood an email. Make their system useless.

If you're white, you have way more freedom when it comes to interacting with cops. Distract and divert.

See Nazi shit? Tear it up, kick it down, paint it over. See a Nazi? Rip into them. If you can't, record them, post it, send it to folks connected to them. Do not let them know peace.

If you protest: nondescript outfit with a change of clothes, cover scars and tattoos, leave behind devices that can track you, and either don't drive or park far away. Masks, goggles, and helmets highly suggested. Heavy duty gloves or tennis rackets for lobbing gas cans back. Fresh water or saline solution for tear gas and pepper spray. Have an exit route but also be prepared to hunker down or get arrested.

Nonprofit orgs are always looking for donations and volunteers, especially smaller local ones. There's a role for everyone, including admin stuff for folks who can't leave home. Reach out to them and ask what help they need. The people who aren't seen are just as important as the ones who are.

If you're taking someone to get an abortion, especially a place like Planned Parenthood that might have picketers, put something under your shirt and pretend you are the one who's pregnant to divert attention. Guys can do this too. Be their secret mpreg fantasy.

Cis folks: if your trans friend asks you to accompany them to a bathroom or locker room, do it. And if someone comes poking their nose in your business, pretend you're the one who's trans—again, taking the attention away from your friend.

It takes just a dozen emails or a few people showing up at local town hall or school board meetings to disrupt everything and steer the discussion.

If you have a job in the government or something adjacent, gum up the works. Let calls go to voicemail and don't return them for hours. Leave emails unanswered for a day or few. Don't work through lunch breaks even if it's busy. Take your PTO in its entirety, and leave something only you can do incomplete. Rearrange your priorities ("Sorry Janet, I can't look into who's hiring illegal immigrants, I gotta fix this printer first"). Create excuses to delay things—it needs to be double checked, it didn't pass inspection, it didn't contain some insignificant detail.

Gather some food or prep some meals for your local homeless folks. Make a portion for yourself too. That way if someone asks, you're simply sharing a meal with an old friend who happens to be down on their luck.

Get some Pride stickers/flags/posters and sprayable Gorilla Glue. Slap them on everything, including cars and businesses owned by conservatives. Make our presence constantly known.

get it done the weird way. do it in parts. do it “wrong”. do it “late”. do it scared. it’s just better to do it differently than everyone else rather than never do it.

I'd like to remind everyone that seeing such a radical push towards the right and towards facism is a sign of fear. 60% of the US wants abortion rights, many Russians don't want war with Ukraine, I'd like to think all people in the UK want to be able to critique their government. We have the numbers on our side and the next generation is much more progressive and the people in power know this but they're hoping we tear each other apart before we see this. We're going in the right direction, the government just doesn't reflect this and if anything is trying to combat it.

Art by Julia Sidorenko

advice from dad

So, my Dad is a 73-year-old Mexican man who has lived here since he was 16. He was in Watts during the riots in 1965; in 1992, when I was in LA, as soon as the Rodney King verdict was announced, he called me, told me what was coming, told me how to stay safe. He has survived horrible living conditions, being kidnapped, physical abuse, prejudice, discrimination. He learned English, got his green card, pays his taxes, works hard, and has three daughters. 

I thought he would be devastated today.

But he wasn’t.

He saw that I was sad and angry, and he asked me why, pretending he had no idea. I almost started crying. And then he said, “no se me chicopale.” 

It means, don’t lose heart. Don’t give in to despair.

I asked him why he wasn’t upset.

He said, basically, “The world has always been this way. There are always people who are afraid, who are racist, who are awful. This is not new. And it will never go away. He won. We can’t do anything about that. All we can do is what we can do. Fight for what matters to us. Take care of each other. And don’t lose heart. And here, I got these unsalted cashews for you and a bag of jamaica drink mix and can you show me how to use the new washing machine because it’s not working.”

And, for reasons I can’t articulate, I feel a little better.