2018: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2018: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I still believe 2016 was the worst year ever. And 2017 was so god awful I didn’t even bother writing about it. However, I was confident that 2018 would be better – good, even great! But as with most years, 2018 was a mixed bag. Speaking universally, for sure, but personally as well.

Here is my recap of 2018 from my own personal perspective.

The Bad:

The beginning of 2018 felt like the absolute decimation of my career. My book sales were so poor that the publisher decided to take it out of print (don’t worry it will live as Kindle version and cheap paperback resale forever). In fact, the publisher asked me how many copies I would like to buy back before they literally shredded the rest to mulch because they were taking up warehouse space. So now I have 200 copies under my bed and I no longer need a boxspring.

Clients ended contracts, longtime business partnerships dissolved, a book deal fell through, and I basically felt like I was being constantly hammered over the head with the legal theft of my own intellectual property. I took about six months off of life to stare at the ceiling and stop noticing that the world was going down in flames. But that restoration led to a revitalized new energy full of ideas and excitement for 2019.

Other bad things included my kids having 10 cavities combined, every local ice cream place in my neighborhood inexplicably shutting down (less cavities?), and dealing with the constant struggle of chronic illness and fighting with insurance companies.

The Good:

I came into 2018 just sure that things were going to turn up. And in so many ways they did.

We came into the year with a remarkable EAGLES victory that sent the whole city into a surge of glee, rode all the way through the year with the launch of Gritty to keep Philly distinctly Philly.

I came out of my funk just in time to pour my heart and soul into text-banking, door-knocking, and personally harassing every person I encountered about the 2018 midterms. And the Democrats did really, really well. We took the House back by flipping 40 seats. Against the most implausible Senate race odds in a century, we only lost two seats. And, were it not for voter suppression, we would have actually seated some of the most remarkable candidates this country has ever seen (Abrahms, O’Rourke, Gillum). Nancy Pelosi takes back the gavel next week and we are ready to FIGHT BACK.

I also came out of my summer funk with new ideas, revelations, and plans for the future. At almost 40, I discovered a personal journey of love and truth that I don’t have the space to get into here – but stay tuned. I also came alive with new business ideas (www.phillytweens.com), a new Web site to keep all my “things” under one umbrella, and plenty of potential new project prospects to pursue in the new year.

The Ugly:

Brett Kavanaugh
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The Women’s March Debacle has been just one striking example of how awful liberal infighting can be. In fact, I’ve seen this unfold from hyperlocal organizations all the way to the debate over whether Nancy Pelosi should be speaker of the house (she should and she is). If being petty as f%^& was a fuel, we’d have enough energy to easily decimate all the horrors in this world. (p.s. I still like to curse freely, but profanity was f%^ing with my ad revenue and I can’t let that f#%^ with my money.)

Let’s revisit that voter suppression across the country now for how UGLY it really is.

Everything Trump and his GOP sycophants have done, said, or even thought about this year. Really, too much to even list here, but you follow the news – you know.

From my perspective 2018 was the year of reevaluating, putting pieces back together, and beginning to build something new. I can’t speak to what this will look like for America and beyond in 2019, but I hope to do my part through advocacy, activism, and sharing every thought in my head on social media.

I hope you will stay with me for the ride!


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