Happy Year of the Dragon!!

🐲Happy Year of Dragon, y’all! 🐉 新年快乐! 恭喜发财!!

I had a very strange and tumultuous January which is why you haven't heard from me. First it started with my latest column in Teen Vogue about the current surge and the failures of the Biden administration that elicited harassment and abuse online. It shocked me and made me a bit skittish of social media for the first time. In my piece I wrote, "Like millions of other high-risk people who are service workers, older, chronically ill, disabled, or immunocompromised, I have done everything I can to remain as safe as possible. Due to neuromuscular disability and respiratory failure, my chances of surviving an infection are slim to none. With the latest JN.1 variant likely even more contagious – or better practiced at evading immune system defenses – than previous ones, I wonder if this is the surge when I will become infected, which is terrifying." Little did I know those words would become prescient because two weeks later I experienced one of the most horrific and traumatic experiences in the hospital.

I am still processing what happened and it brought me to a new low. Like any artist, I write because I am compelled to--it is my way of making sense of the world, expressing myself, and working through my trauma and pain.

So I wrote a call to action regarding masking in healthcare settings and a letter of complaint to my hospital with a series of systemic and policy recommendations that you can read here. If you are inclined, I welcome you to send a letter to my hospital in support of my campaign to reinstate a mask mandate. And advocate for healthcare settings in your area too!

This is my very long way of saying I haven't posted book giveaways because I have been fighting for my life and just trying to rest and heal.

But I do have some giveaways coming up shortly now that I had some time to take care of business.

Wishing all of you a prosperous, fiery, and powerful new year.

Alice