The Calyx Hope Network

Dearest reader,

Welcome to the Calyx Hope Network. Somehow you have found this space today; ideally well, brimming with light, and surrounded by magic. If these are not the circumstances in which you’ve found this place, then I ask you to stay awhile, and hope that those may be the circumstances in which you leave. I’ll brew a pot of literary tea, pull out a few good books, and stoke the fire of your imagination. I’ll ask you to dream of a better world and to share that dream so we may forge that world together. I’ll ask you to hope.

I have always been led by stories, which perhaps is why I feel the need to create a space with them at its heart. Throughout my life, books have been a saving grace, a best friend, a balancing agent in an uneven world. I have written, and still do, to better know my own heart, and my hunger for tales will never be satiated. I am something of a literary vacuum. 

For me, beauty is the reason and the lifeline of persistence. It takes the small things to keep me going, and it is the small things that put me on my feet again when I have fallen. I am awed by the natural world, by its many facets and faces, by the unceasing cycles of life, and it is because of this awe that I am moved to stand for the world I live in. It is because of this awe, this beauty, that I dare to dream of a time in which it is a marker of our world. When one comes here, they will say, “Ah, I see it is green, luscious, and peaceful. I must have found the planet Earth!” 

The fact is that we are far from this time, and it will take all of us to get there. It will take intersectional solutions that lift the webs of oppression we are so tangled in, and it will take investing heavily in those solutions. It will take recognizing that we are all complicit within our systems, especially those of us who benefit from them, and it will take tearing them down with methodical care. It will ultimately be a community effort, and though it may not be easy, it can be beautiful.

This space is meant to center those much needed solutions, along with their creators. It is meant to be a place that recognizes the systems it exists within, and works to overhaul them piece by piece. It is my dearest wish that whatever this journal is to you, it brings joy and a little magic to your day. I dream that you may leave refreshed, ready to persist, and with the knowledge that you always have a home to come back to. May it bring you comfort, and above all, hope.

Sincerely,

Luna

P.S. If you’d like to converse with me, feel free to email me at luna@thecalyxhopenetwork.com. I look forward to hearing your insight, critiques, and wonderful words.