A therapist once told me that I don't have to answer every question someone asks me. It threw me off. But I don't have anything to hide, I said, my face scrunching up like when I try to do math.

The motto of 2025 is, “in this economy?!” Granted, when said jokingly, it never gets old (“I'm falling in love” “in this economy?”), but it keeps coming up non-ironically in more and more rooms, with a growing tone of desperation.

This past Monday was Blue Monday, the most depressing-est day of the year. The mid-winter blah-day, the point in winter when even those without seasonal affective disorder start to feel the weight of the long winter.

When we're young, we fantasize about our futures. The younger we are, the fewer constraints we place on the potential of the Universe, and ourselves.

Concepts come before the words for them are invented. Whether it's a new idea or a naturally occurring pattern freshly noticed, at first we find ourselves in the midst of klutzy explanations, wordy choruses of “it's kind of like…you know?”, with varying levels of hand gestures.

“We're leaving hesitation in 2024,” Andrew told me by phone the other night. He was hyped, pumping me up to face the new year with my shoulders back, and my boots laced tight.

It's Christmas day, y’all! It's weird that as a society we only celebrate Christian holidays on a grand scale, so if you feel left out, I wish you whatever joys and feasts you prefer.

Today is my birthday (hold your applause). While I do love me another trip around the sun (and I thank Everything for it), birthdays this time of year are weird. It's hard to throw any kind of party a week before Jesus throws his.

Now that the city looks like a Hallmark movie, Christmas feels imminent. Sure, it was running on time and would've arrived regardless, but now it really feels like we have 13 shopping days until Christmas.

Sleazy Christmas is back! Dawn McSweeney takes you behind the scenes of this unique holiday fundraiser for Forget The Box, revealing the inspiration, the lineup, and Andrew Jamieson's surprising love for all things Christmas. Support local art and have a laugh this holiday season!