it’s because it’s on is a weekly newsletter about enthusiasm. in 2025 it comes out on Mondays. i share what’s rejuvenating…softening…endearing me to this life. a friend introduced this question: who/what are you feeling loved by? and i’m answering weekly. it is a devotional practice.
enthusiasms beckon me to be available for my time on planet earth, remind me how precious it actually is. they bring awe. they remind me to rise to the occasion of living.
the title of this project comes from the foreword of June Jordan’s essay collection, Civil Wars,
“And then if you're lucky, and I have been lucky, everything comes back to you. And then you know why one of the freedom fighters in the sixties, a young Black woman interviewed shortly after she was beaten up for riding near the front of an interstate bus—you know why she said, "We are all so very happy." It's because it's on. All of us and me by myself: we're on.”
it’s on. we’re on. all of us. these lines have been ringing in my head since i read them in the fall of 2021, and caused an ‘enthusiasm’ or “a kind of inner earthquake produced by allowing oneself to be possessed by something larger and more powerful.”
This understanding of enthusiasm, which caused an enthusiasm in itself, comes from Lost Children Archives by Valeria Luiselli:
“…our mother spoke to us about the strength and power of the Pythonesses…who in ancient times served as the vehicles of the oracle by allowing themselves to be filled with ενθουσιασμός, or enthusiasm…the definition my mother gave of the term…said: “En, theos, seismos,” which means something like “in, god, earthquake.” she explained that enthusiasm was a kind of inner earthquake produced by allowing oneself to be possessed by something larger and more powerful, like a god or goddess.”
thank you for your attention. i’m glad you’re here.
