Greetings and Welcome!
Every story begins with a prologue. Here is the beginning of ours.
Dear reader,
Welcome to Minus One! I’m so glad you have decided to come with me on this journey of exploring a bit of uncharted territory and learning to support the ones who have gone through it. Death is something that rarely comes into a conversation. It isn’t as exciting as the newest movie but still gives us a thrill. It’s something all of us have thought about in our worst nightmares or the weird conversations you have at two in the morning.
But for most of us, death is a far away chapter that is almost fictional. It’s hard to imagine someone you love dying; it’s just as hard as imagining a pug fly. However, for some, it becomes a very stark reality.
That’s how it used to be at least. Things have changed. We came into this decade with a list of resolutions and are currently watching everything we know slowly fall apart. We have witnessed not only the COVID pandemic but a pandemic of inequality that has long infected our world.
It has been a crazy year but I think it has made us all take a step back and realize that death is real. It is real enough to keep us in our homes. It is real enough to make hand sanitizer the new gold of our century. It is real enough to demand justice.
It also makes us realize how valuable and beautiful life is. Suddenly the most ordinary moments become so much more meaningful. I for one did not know how much I would miss sitting on the bleachers in the morning or rocking out to Lizzo in the school bathroom but I do.
As someone who has lost several members of my family throughout my childhood, I have realized how important life is. In this newsletter, I’ll share my story of how I have coped and learned to live in the grey that is grief. There will also be more stories from others as well as artwork, poems, and goofy updates.
This newsletter isn’t meant to bring sadness but to provide a safe space for those coping and an educational resource to those curious about how death affects us. It will be a little uncomfortable in the beginning- the subject being quite morbid- but is ever so important in the world we live in now.
So many of us have gone through it, we no longer have to be alone. No one is alone. This year has made history but I think the best part that will come out of it is the community we create through the struggles. And this is the one I want to start! So welcome! It's going to a memorable adventure and I can’t wait to begin.
See you next time.
Lots of love,
Lola-Rose Jacklyn Cortez