I didn’t want to write this post – 2016 has been such a good and awful year I don’t know how to begin.

The awful – 2016 stole so many great people from us – Prince, Gene Wilder, John Glenn, Alan Rickman, George Michael, David Bowie, Mohamed Ali, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Carrie Fisher and others. And if 2016 wasn’t bad enough about stealing all these amazing and talented people from us, it also gave us Donald Trump who is one of the worst people in this country. And because he’s also President Elect I don’t have high hopes for our country’s next four years.

But there was a lot of good for me in 2016 also. I traveled to three new countries: Australia, Tunisia, and the Philippines. I completed a $15M work project. I published a chapbook of poetry for the poetry/art show my sister and I collaborated on together and my chapbook, All in the Family, was published by Bottlecap Press. (Both are still available for purchase, $10 plus shipping. Leave me a comment and I’ll send you details on purchasing.) I published a bunch of poems and I got accepted into an MFA program. I got a new tattoo. I read an absurd amount of books. I traveled and hiked and partook of good food and wine.

Overall, despite the heavy, wretched parts of 2016 — and there were a lot of them — it was a good year for me personally. I’m looking forward to what 2017 brings and I hope 2017 starts wonderfully for you too. Happy new year friends.

Happy New Year!