Juniper Disco | No. 36

My last Substack post

This is my last Substack post. I will be going dark for awhile. You may have noticed I unpublished most of my writing here, took down my web site, archived most of my Instagram photos, deleted Facebook, and have been erasing my presence on many previously abandoned socials and online tools. Even Tumblr, the first home of Juniper Disco, is gone.

This choice is about protecting the people in my life who are in the cross-hairs and making sure I am in the best position to help them. It is clear we have been jettisoned without seatbelts or safety nets into a world-order shifting, cataclysmic blender of a dark villain coalition’s fantasy. I need to squeeze into my Super Suit (a.k.a. my Rebel Scum tshirt) and focus on my family, on my friends, and on my community in the OG of fascist-kicking commonwealths.

I’m guessing many of you are feeling the same way about your world being destroyed, too. And experiencing the same rage and fury and sadness and grief and terror and fear and confusion.

I validate all of that. ALL of it. Every dark thought you may have had (my favorite: a woman on the socials who spent a great deal of time considering the most appropriate infectious disease for each of the IQ47 douchebag squad.) Every hour you lost of sleep worrying about devastating changes to the life you currently have. Every scream into the void. Every single body-shuddering sob that’s left your soul. All of the horror, the horror. I validate it ALL.

I’ll still be writing, just not publishing — at least not in this way right now. Captain J. Disco, his rainbow dragon floatie, Miss Missy, and their friend, Magenta Chicken, will be back. Another time. Another place.*

Godspeed to all of you. Take care of yourselves. Stock up. Grow some food to share with your neighbors. Get a VPN. Lockdown your digital footprint. Wear masks. Go to the dentist. Get your vaccines. Support the scientists and the cancer researchers and the weather forecasters and the park rangers and the people who process your parents’ social security checks. Don’t give your money or your time or your attention to the Big Jerks. Read something spicy. Watch cartoons. Hug your dog. Call your parents. GO DANCING.

Note: I’ve decided to leave up some Merch for the time being — get your Juniper Disco rainbow gear while you still can!

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The last word, a choose-your-own-adventure activity evocative of the current timeline:

1 … according to Twin Tribes, a dark send-off into the void, with Xaden Riorson vibes:

2. … according to John De Sohn, more of a GO-DANCING-into-the-end-of-the- world-and-together-we-might-just-make-it vibe:

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*You can find me in the meantime in one of these places, under some form of “juniperdisco”:

I have a Pixelfed account with no photos yet, but stay tuned.

I often post under the #ThreeGoodThings hashtag on Mastodon.

If we’re already friends on Instagram you can message me there (yep, still there — I need my Kit Connor photos and my bookstagram girlies and my dog videos to survive right now.)

I’m also on Bluesky, but mostly I use that to follow scientists.

Tea Dance this summer — exercising option 2 in my own adventure.