2026

About nine and a half years ago, amid all the jokes about how awful 2016 was, in the middle of a Within the Wires meeting, Jeffrey said Meg says this will be the best year for ages.

I've seen a lot of people talking about their terrible 2025. I feel like most people I know had a brutal year – I know I had a brutal year – and we're all glad to see the back of it.

But maybe it's worth taking a moment that this has been a really difficult decade. We are in the middle of difficult times. It's been ten years of learning that the rough stuff doesn't happen in a montage. We keep feeling like surely something has to change soon and then it just continues to get worse.

I don't have a lot of optimism for the year ahead. Recession looms, the fascist ascendence continues. History goes in seasons and this season will end – I just have grown tired of looking for the end only to be disappointed.