Spring Newsletter: Cautious Optimism, Renewed Perspective, And A New Columnist

(Hint: our new columnist is the fantastic Andrew Knott)

Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash

Here at PS I Love You, we entered spring with cautious enthusiasm. Vaccines were rolling out. Warmer weather was (almost) here. For each of the preceding 12 months, we’d been reading and publishing stories that, though excellent, revolved around 2020’s now familiar themes: the disorientation of isolation; virtual schooling; loss; loneliness. We were hopeful that soon, we’d be publishing pieces celebrating the return of togetherness, barbeques, family reunions, the triumphant recapturing of what we’d given up. We put out a call for pitches on these themes. We planned the release of a celebratory newsletter. We signed up a new columnist!

Things don’t ever work out so neatly, though, do they? In the weeks that have passed since, mass shootings, attacks on voting rights, and, here at Medium, reminders of how precarious a business journalism can be — we’ve been crushed and saddened to witness the ongoing exodus of editorial talent from the platform — all this has served to temper our excitement. We wondered if we should publish the aforementioned newsletter at all.

But the past few weeks have also given us some new perspective. Nothing is guaranteed in this life. That’s clear. But that what we have today isn’t guaranteed tomorrow makes being grateful for the blessings of the present all the more crucial. We’re blessed to be able to continue running PS. Recognizing that, we’re resolved to continue serving our communities of readers and writers on and off Medium — to continue operating as a vehicle for gratitude-sharing and for celebrating things like love, springtime, family, and community while we can.

And so we’re publishing this damn newsletter. We’re sharing the amazing stories celebrating this unique (though peculiar) dawning of spring. And we’re announcing our brilliant new PS I Love You columnist, Andrew Knott!

Here’s Andrew, looking very excited.

Andrew is a writer and editor from Orlando, Florida, and a father of three. He has contributed writing to the Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Parents, and Human Parts, among others. He sometimes enjoys spending time with his children (including literally all his time for the last year plus), scrolling Twitter, and avoiding small talk at all costs. He is also the author of the book Fatherhood: Dispatches From the Early Years.

We couldn’t be more excited to bring Andrew on board. He’s the perfect writer for us at this moment. His hilarious musings on parenthood, life in Florida, and all of life’s curious in-betweens have had PS readers laughing for a while. His reflections on the pandemic have been particularly salient. But now, he’ll have an official home at PS. Check out his latest story, and find his column here.

Now on to our favorite stories.

Celebrating Spring

Kelley Jhung, A Voice Told Me to Get Out of Bed

Dawn Bevier, The Day That Winter Died

Lisa Gastaldo, First Light: A Poem

Crystal Jackson, Tell Your Aching Heart that Spring is Coming

Elaine Hamilton, The Moments Before Sunset

Peggy Moss, It’s The First Day of Spring

Christari Jay, La Primavera

Editors’ Picks

Felicia C. Sullivan, Writing My Way Out of the Dark

Michael Thompson, 4 Ways to be More Likable by Saying Very Little

Jessica Wildfire, Please Stop Telling Everyone to Smile — It Doesn’t Help

Carol Anne Shaw, Saying Good-bye to My Mother

Scott Muska, On Our First Date We Talk A Lot About Porn

Andrew Knott, How Emptying Sand Out of My Son’s Shoes Signals a Return to “Normal”

Barry Davret, How to Date Someone Who’s Out of Your League

Erika Anne Sauter, We All Have Someone We Don’t Want to Deal With

Andrew Jazprose Hill, The Lolita Next Door

Debbie Weiss, On Dating at Middle Age: Where Are All the Grown-Up Men?

Carlyn Beccia, 13 Reasons Why Every Woman Should Date a Frenchman

Amy Colleen, No, You Are Not Going to Miss All of This Someday.

Kimberly Carter, Rising from the Ashes

Niklas Göke, The 3 Cardinal Virtues of Emotional Maturity

Yael Wolfe, Do You Have to Know Exactly What You Want Before You Start Dating?

Fiction & Poetry

Tre L. Loadholt, You Say You’ll Say A Prayer for Me

Wanjiku Wanjiru, How To Bury A Sibling

Javon Goard, A Black Woman’s Smile

Erika Burkhalter, The Calla Lily’s Ode to the Bee

David Baumrind, Shrapnel

Jenny Justice, Dionysus

Louise Foerster, Who Wants a Love Story for the Brokenhearted?

Paroma Sen, Mirjam and the Moon on the Suez

Judith Valentijn, And Then Mommy Snapped

M.X. Christopher, Justin Thyme

Abel C., Together Always

That’s all for now. Until next time, one love!

— Dan, Kay, Tre, Scott Muska