This hit like scripture carved into a bathroom stall during the apocalypse.
Jessica, you’ve named the thing most people are too tired or too gaslit to say out loud. Normal was a trance, and the trance has broken. What we’re left with isn’t clarity. It’s raw nerve and weird hope.
And honestly, weird is holy now.
Thank you for baptizing the disoriented, the over-caffeinated, the rage-scrollers and reluctant smile students in this fierce mercy. You’re not just chronicling collapse. You’re handing out lanterns.
Yes. We can’t go back. There is never going back. I have hope that if, enough of us hold out for better, we will get there, but we can’t reclaim what is lost. Instead, we must claim our future.
"You’re the one who needs therapy." ...said my parents to my wife and me a year ago. Because there are a lot of people like us, they said, who are having trouble with this. The "this" being moving on. Back to normal.
Similar conversations with my family. They tried to suggest we have "anxiety." This coming from someone who used to worry daily about displeasing Jesus.
So weird. How can you have such an empty head that you literally cannot fill up fifteen minutes with your own thoughts? And those people are running the world. Really not a shock it's being run into the ground.
When I was in seminary; yes, I'm an Episcopalian priest, I had an Ethics instructor who oreferred using the term, "normative" instead of "normal" to describe "generally-accepted behavior" So, I would say that the individuals "shocking" themselves to "break up" the monotony were displaying "normative" behavior, not "normal" behavior.
"Normative" becomes the "patterns and habits" of our lives, and humans are extremely adaptive creatures, even when the adaptation begins as uncomfortable for us.
To adapt to new patterns of behavior, we have to be motivated to do so. Fear can be a great motivator. Sadly, "fear" can, and often does, become our new "normal", our new pattern for living.
The fact that so many would choose a shock over sitting in stillness is telling. Stillness asks us to feel, to face what’s beneath the noise. But most would rather flinch than feel. Normal was never holy, just the name we gave to quiet desperation in familiar clothes.
A world where people shocked themselves to avoid their thoughts, then called it balance. Maybe we weren’t meant to feel normal. Maybe we were meant to feel real. To ache, to rage, to witness, to love. So let them chase smiles and algorithms.
What I find weird is how Americans continue to put up with the enshitification of their lives. That's the new normal. It used to be that you dreamt of a better future and you had the active hope to make it happen. That hope has all but disappeared for the vast majority. You no longer live in the best country in the world. The USA is nice place to visit, but it is a dreadful place to live if you aren't rich. That's why there are so many ex-pat Americans living elsewhere. From what I can tell they have left behind the daily angst that so many of you live with on a daily basis.
First off, I'm a new to S-Stack / BulWark / Jessica and this great platform. Thank you all for your work. It's needed now more than ever. Preaching to the choir for a moment; 77-million Americans voted for the individual who is currently occupying the White House. This unto itself is horrifying. Europe and our allies aren't going to wait for their futures to be decided every four years by the people who live in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, can you blame them? Only 36% of Americans have a college degree; not that a college degree automatically anoints one with pedigree and the tools to lead a nation or run a company. An argument can be made that a degree at least provides one with the analytical skills to develop and enhance one's intellectual curiosity and abilities to question what one is being fed by the present structures that run the world. Reality check; millions of people want to be lead and fed. Independent thought is not for them, that is disgustingly pathetic to me, what a horrible state for so much of humanity to be in.
I have two friends that ran so fast back to this so-called new normal after the pandemic, that I can barely tolerate their presence sometimes. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here tonight. I'm obviously venting.
I have a real problem with Steven Miller, but I'll save him for another day. I guess I'm just pleased that I found Jessica and the rest of you on Substack. Difficult days lay ahead. It's somewhat comforting to remember that this election was not a landslide. We must remain vigilant and work creatively to repel the darkness before us. All is not lost.
And in a few years we will be dealing with job losses upending our society because of AGI. It's all too much. End of empire. Total systems collapse. Love is all there is left for us to practice or to have.
See my arguments to great success in 2+ key articles, as God Wills..
Using Constitutional and Natural Law I argue that The State must make major changes or make illegal Abortions or Loose the monopoly on violence, and father or any adult willing may replace the father and have same legal status of father with moral, legal, natural rights and obligations to protect his child from extrajudicial murder.
"Multiverse Journal - Index Number 2221:, 11th July 2025, Court Motion: State is Obligated to Assist Father/Public Duty to Protect a Child from Abortion."
This is in the form of a letter to a Bishop but contains two main arguments. 1st extends Saint Thomas Aquinas' damage from sin, 2nd uses modern psychological method to same ends, the Key-Log that is at fault.
Ever wonder Why is this world insane and most women are so Sick?
This hit like scripture carved into a bathroom stall during the apocalypse.
Jessica, you’ve named the thing most people are too tired or too gaslit to say out loud. Normal was a trance, and the trance has broken. What we’re left with isn’t clarity. It’s raw nerve and weird hope.
And honestly, weird is holy now.
Thank you for baptizing the disoriented, the over-caffeinated, the rage-scrollers and reluctant smile students in this fierce mercy. You’re not just chronicling collapse. You’re handing out lanterns.
May we all be weird enough to stay human.
Same here. We've got to stay weird.
AMEN
I was called “quirky” the other day. Makes me smile - for real. Thank you, Jessica! Love this piece!
Beautifully expressed.
So thoughtful.
Yes. We can’t go back. There is never going back. I have hope that if, enough of us hold out for better, we will get there, but we can’t reclaim what is lost. Instead, we must claim our future.
Agreed, we have to own the present and the future, whatever it looks like.
Brilliant.
"You’re the one who needs therapy." ...said my parents to my wife and me a year ago. Because there are a lot of people like us, they said, who are having trouble with this. The "this" being moving on. Back to normal.
Thank you for writing this.
Similar conversations with my family. They tried to suggest we have "anxiety." This coming from someone who used to worry daily about displeasing Jesus.
Well shit 🥲 this hit...nicely done...weary and hopeful, halleluja anyway because what else...
ALL OF THIS. Thank you ❤️
So weird. How can you have such an empty head that you literally cannot fill up fifteen minutes with your own thoughts? And those people are running the world. Really not a shock it's being run into the ground.
Indeed, it's yet another sign that the people running things are... not right.
Thank you for naming this.
When I was in seminary; yes, I'm an Episcopalian priest, I had an Ethics instructor who oreferred using the term, "normative" instead of "normal" to describe "generally-accepted behavior" So, I would say that the individuals "shocking" themselves to "break up" the monotony were displaying "normative" behavior, not "normal" behavior.
"Normative" becomes the "patterns and habits" of our lives, and humans are extremely adaptive creatures, even when the adaptation begins as uncomfortable for us.
To adapt to new patterns of behavior, we have to be motivated to do so. Fear can be a great motivator. Sadly, "fear" can, and often does, become our new "normal", our new pattern for living.
Love this distinction
Very nice .... Thank you for words that fit the new "shapes" in my life now.
The fact that so many would choose a shock over sitting in stillness is telling. Stillness asks us to feel, to face what’s beneath the noise. But most would rather flinch than feel. Normal was never holy, just the name we gave to quiet desperation in familiar clothes.
A world where people shocked themselves to avoid their thoughts, then called it balance. Maybe we weren’t meant to feel normal. Maybe we were meant to feel real. To ache, to rage, to witness, to love. So let them chase smiles and algorithms.
I’ll take weird.
I’ll take awake.
We were meant to feel real--good words.
Human beings are programed to adapt and survive. It's just a little scary to actually think (even for 15 minutes) what that might mean for us.
What I find weird is how Americans continue to put up with the enshitification of their lives. That's the new normal. It used to be that you dreamt of a better future and you had the active hope to make it happen. That hope has all but disappeared for the vast majority. You no longer live in the best country in the world. The USA is nice place to visit, but it is a dreadful place to live if you aren't rich. That's why there are so many ex-pat Americans living elsewhere. From what I can tell they have left behind the daily angst that so many of you live with on a daily basis.
First off, I'm a new to S-Stack / BulWark / Jessica and this great platform. Thank you all for your work. It's needed now more than ever. Preaching to the choir for a moment; 77-million Americans voted for the individual who is currently occupying the White House. This unto itself is horrifying. Europe and our allies aren't going to wait for their futures to be decided every four years by the people who live in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, can you blame them? Only 36% of Americans have a college degree; not that a college degree automatically anoints one with pedigree and the tools to lead a nation or run a company. An argument can be made that a degree at least provides one with the analytical skills to develop and enhance one's intellectual curiosity and abilities to question what one is being fed by the present structures that run the world. Reality check; millions of people want to be lead and fed. Independent thought is not for them, that is disgustingly pathetic to me, what a horrible state for so much of humanity to be in.
I have two friends that ran so fast back to this so-called new normal after the pandemic, that I can barely tolerate their presence sometimes. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here tonight. I'm obviously venting.
I have a real problem with Steven Miller, but I'll save him for another day. I guess I'm just pleased that I found Jessica and the rest of you on Substack. Difficult days lay ahead. It's somewhat comforting to remember that this election was not a landslide. We must remain vigilant and work creatively to repel the darkness before us. All is not lost.
And in a few years we will be dealing with job losses upending our society because of AGI. It's all too much. End of empire. Total systems collapse. Love is all there is left for us to practice or to have.
What, exactly, is normal? Besides a town in Illinois?
See my arguments to great success in 2+ key articles, as God Wills..
Using Constitutional and Natural Law I argue that The State must make major changes or make illegal Abortions or Loose the monopoly on violence, and father or any adult willing may replace the father and have same legal status of father with moral, legal, natural rights and obligations to protect his child from extrajudicial murder.
AI generated audio overview of article;
https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/05bdb7f7-536c-4e50-90f4-e3dbfa6024b3/audio
"Multiverse Journal - Index Number 2221:, 11th July 2025, Court Motion: State is Obligated to Assist Father/Public Duty to Protect a Child from Abortion."
https://stevenwork.substack.com/p/multiverse-journal-index-number-2221
-----
This is in the form of a letter to a Bishop but contains two main arguments. 1st extends Saint Thomas Aquinas' damage from sin, 2nd uses modern psychological method to same ends, the Key-Log that is at fault.
Ever wonder Why is this world insane and most women are so Sick?
AI generated audio overview of article;
https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/dcc1110c-6fdc-4966-a0a6-10948155a59c/audio
"Multiverse Journal - Index Number 2220:, 9th July 2025, A Letter to Traditional Catholic Bishops, Calling for Champions."
https://stevenwork.substack.com/p/multiverse-journal-index-number-2220
--
These also provide a antiAbortion argument that does not depend on an unborn existing.
God Bless., Steve