patterns vol. 5
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1. Twelve Trees – Jessica Kiessel
2. Metaphors – Dana Kaminstein
3. Behavioral Issues – Laura Lehman
4. Imprinting – Jessica Conrad
5. Blue Balloons – Allena Staples
6. Intergenerational Nourishment – Nadya Shmavonian
7. What I Can Hold – Aisha Rios
8. Textures of Change – Willerie Razote
9. Piano - Kecia Bertermann
10. Leadership Material – Katie Fox
11. Throbbing Heart – Katie Fox
12. Just Show Up – Jessica Kiessel
13. I’m Okay – Jessica Kiessel
14. On Rushing – Annie Norbeck
15. run out – Kelci Price
16. Shape Shifting – Amanda Spector
16. ‘Poetics’ – Josiane Smith
17. There Were So Many Bugs – Jessica Kiessel
Editor’s Note
July 2026
“Take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.”
It's not uncommon for my son to be frustrated when I laugh out loud when life feels hard. He’s young enough that it's difficult for him to discern the difference between laughing at the situation and being laughed at. And I'm still learning to be more tender, to remember that there are things, like being late for school, that for him are no laughing matter.
Yet, these moments also reassure me; I’ve still got it. I’m still carrying what living in Samoa taught me, which is that when things get hard you can choose to laugh. Not in denial of what is hard, but with it. With the incredulousness of this obviously fragile and precious life we are living together.
I’ve learned that what we feel is distinct from our emotion. Emotioning literally puts our response to what we feel in-motion. Something may feel hard, but how we respond is not a given. And what we emote over the long-haul impacts our body, it shapes who we become.
And I’ve been sitting with how much of our emotioning is cultural. Not just in how we name and define emotions, but how our actual responses are shaped by the people around us. And how these responses together make up a culture’s affect. When we laugh at our problems individually, they may be more palatable; and when we laugh together, it can change our landscape.
It feels to me that culturally talking about the state of our world has become a bit like being late to school — it's no laughing matter. And yet if all of our terrible predictions pan out, we are going to need laughter to be resilient, to keep turning up with love, to savor what we have.
This has me thinking about my rule-bound twenty-year-old-self moving to Samoa, rigid with insecurity. Learning to laugh when life felt impossible took a softening. It took my host-sister throwing her arms around me and lifting me up, calling me in time and time again; training me to find beauty in the precarity of our lives.
The people we surround ourselves with matter. Which has me grateful for how often I wipe tears from my eyes and laugh so hard that my cheeks hurt during pattern making community meetings. And relieved that there was no anxious striving or fixing when we met to discuss what we wanted to nourish as a community this year. As one of us said, “We don’t talk about needing to practice, we just do it. Let’s conserve that” Yes. I thought, let’s not squeeze out our joy.
In this volume, we welcome you into what is working us, which spans our full emotional range as we manage loss and life transitions, savor fleeting moments, fall down and get up again and again, find wisdom and inspiration in unexpected places, and make sense of lenses and identities we wear.
We hope that you find something that resonates and sparks. And as you read, we hope you feel like we are throwing our arms around you, calling you into beauty, love, and light.
In community,
Jessica
— along with the intrepid Dee Thomas-Butler, Kayla Christopherson, Kecia Bertermann, Jessica Conrad, Jen Fei, Gabi Fitz, Anne Gienapp, Katie Fox, Efraín Gutiérrez, Denise Ho, Paula Hodges, Kevin Hong, Laura Lehman, Skye Lucking, Dana Kaminstein, Annie Norbeck, Kelci Price, Willerie Razote, Aisha Rios, Nadya K. Shmavonian, Josiane Smith, Signe Sorensen, Amanda Spector, Allena Staples and Sandra Wegmann
01.
Twelve Trees
WRITING. Jessica Kiessel
Beginnings matter. What will come of all this reaching?
02.
Metaphors
WRITING. Dana Kaminstein
Metaphors hide and they reveal. What lenses do you wear?
03.
Behavioral Issues
WRITING. Laura Lehman
Sometime love sneaks up on us in the wiliest of ways. Isn’t love accepting another’s wholeness, even and especially when it isn’t pretty?
04.
Imprinting
POETRY. Jessica Conrad
Does our mother gaze live in us still?
05.
Blue Balloons
POETRY. Allena Staples
Is grief our last act of love?
06.
Intergenerational Nourishment
WRITING. Nadya Shmavonian
Might intergenerational relationships help us see ourselves? What trimester are you in?
07.
What I Can Hold
POETRY. Aisha Rios
We know families change as we age, but can we ever really be ready?
08.
Textures of Change
WRITING. Willerie Razote
Rather than try to stop time, what if we moved with the change it brings?
09.
Piano
WRITING. Kecia Bertermann
What instruments do you need to channel a feeling of home?
10.
Leadership Material
POETRY. Katie Fox
Have you felt underestimated but not done yet?
11.
Throbbing Heart
POETRY. Katie Fox
Isn’t it time you unfenced your wild heart?
12.
Just Show Up
WRITING. Jessica Kiessel
Might a little discipline be needed to keep your spark alive?
13.
I’m Okay.
CERAMICS. Jessica Kiessel
Sure enough to bend.
14.
On Rushing
PAINTING & WRITING. Annie Norbeck
What would come into focus if we weren’t speeding through our days?
15.
run out
ART & WRITING. Kelci Price
You’re midway and have lost momentum, what do you do?
16.
Shape Shifting
WRITING. Amanda Spector
Are you familiar with the ebb and flow between possibility and letting go?
17.
‘Poetics’
AUDIO & WRITING. Josiane Smith
What legacy of artists past and present are living in you?
Tune into Love Will Save the Day to experience Josiane’s response to this question through her first radio show, dedicated to artists and activists who unite social movements with the power of poetry and jazz, dub, electronic and soul music.
There Were So Many Bugs
18.
WRITING. Jessica Kiessel
And finally, a reminder to savor glimpses of the past, present, and future this summer.
Thank you for joining us. Three ways to stay with us.
ONE
Make a plan to come back to read more.
This volume is meant to be savored. Perhaps, while sitting on the porch with a cold drink, waiting in the airport lounge, or perhaps sitting in the car while you pick your kids up for camp — wherever you find a moment of pause, come back to reconnect with work that has moved you.
TWO
Subscribe to this magazine.
If you have not already, subscribing is the best way to stay connected. We post regularly, but will send you only a few emails a year!
THREE
Nurture pattern making in your life.
Share the magazine with beloveds!
Talk about what moved you in this volume with a friend, colleague, or family member.
Jot down your own tiny noticings, what’s working you?
