Hey y’all,

This Friday email was begun originally as an offshoot of my blog project to provide an easy way for people to not miss what I wrote that week. But just like my blog gave me a place to talk about things that didn’t fit into the format of the Monday newsletter, there are things I want to talk about that don’t fit into the sort of evergreen writing I do on the blog.

Those things have increasingly been fitting in here, as this email has become more personal. But, if you are keeping track at home, this means I now have three ongoing writing projects:

1. Life Is So Beautiful – the Monday morning newsletter
2. Humidity & Hope – the daily blog
3. And whatever we call this thing you are reading now.

If I say “the newsletter”, that begs the question of which one. It needs its own name, if for no other reason than logistics.

Since it’s going to be my most personal project, and since it highlights my own writing, I intend to think of it as my “personal” newsletter going forth. Back in the early days of Life is So Beautiful, I called it The Hughsletter. But as it became increasingly more popular and public, that felt less and less appropriate for what I was doing there.

But this? This is totally The Hughsletter, and that’s what I’m calling it going forward. But otherwise, it will mostly be unchanged: Blog posts, random thoughts, links to cool things. 

(If you don’t want any “extra” Hugh, and are just here for the blog posts, you can unsubscribe from this list via the link in the footer of this email and then go to this page to sign up to just get the posts when they go live. No hard feelings, and I won’t even know you did it.)

Thanks for reading. I’m glad you’re here.

On the blog this week

To keep this sustainable for me, I’m now only publishing Monday thru Friday.

• The Levis: The story about the first time I was called the “F” word.
• Stimulus Pause Response: We aren’t dogs – we have choices.
• I Have No Idea What I’m Doing: Critics and readers tell us what our art is.
• In Praise of Cabbage: The title says it all.
• Two Years.: It’s been two years since things were “normal”. I’m fine. But I’m not OK.

Other things I want to share:

Many of us feel powerless with regard to the invasion of Ukraine and want to do something. Here are some links to organizations and causes I was referred to by people I trust.

The best overall site I’ve found so far is Help Save Ukraine. If history tells us anything, it is that marginalized populations always bear the brunt of war. With that in mind, here are two (1, 2) reputable crowdfunding efforts that help BIPOC folks specifically. And these two (1, 2) organizations are working to help LGBTQ Ukrainians.

The world’s a mess right now, but as a friend told me once - when you’re going through hell, keep going.

Thank you for reading. This newsletter is a reader-supported publication. The best way to support my work is to become a patron, buy me a cup of coffee, or forward this letter to someone else. And if someone did forward this to you, you can get your own subscription here.

Take care, 


Disclosure: Some links may be affiliate links that provide a small commission to me and help run the site and newsletter. I never link to anything I do not recommend and use, however.