Debi Lewis
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growthesunshine

Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy (but not the way Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy (but not the way I used to mean it)

What if I didn’t have to believe that the things I learned as a child were true? What if I could see places and people I was told were not worth seeing and find more worth than I’d had in decades? What if I got the goofy multicolored bagel with strawberry cream cheese and it was, in fact, utterly delicious?

What if systems we assumed were meant to protect us were meant to control us? This is not a new thought, but it is a new thought for me.

Questioning deeply-held beliefs has always been at the center of my writing, but it has not always been at the center of my own inner work. Turns out I’ve been overlooking the goofy bagel for way too long.

(That said, I’m still fighting for reproductive rights, of course - just musing on expanding the fight.)
This is a hard season. Doing good things for other This is a hard season. Doing good things for other people (or creatures) really, really helps. If you need an easy way in, I recommend a bird feeder. Today I fed two kinds of sparrows, some dark eyed juncos, some cardinals, and two kinds of woodpeckers.

I’m here on IG a lot less these days. I’m sure someday I’ll be here more again.
I’ve been overwhelmed by the pain being inflicted I’ve been overwhelmed by the pain being inflicted by my country. Everywhere I look, every value I hold close is being violated by someone in the name of greatness, which is just a cover for dominance.

So what is a writer with an overactive imagination to do to avoid spending her days in the fetal position? 

She can write about it. The link to my Substack, THIS COULD HAPPEN, is in my bio. Every week, in under 800 words of speculative fiction, I explore the worst case scenarios. 

At least, I hope so.

#SpeculativeFiction #FlashFiction
No filters needed at @wildacresretreat, where the No filters needed at @wildacresretreat, where the quiet was profound, the views were astounding, and the gift of a week to write, supported in solitude, was unforgettable. Thank you, thank you, thank you. #writingresidency
I haven’t forgotten about breakfast or bodily auto I haven’t forgotten about breakfast or bodily autonomy. I’ve just been overwhelmed at the hugeness of the issue lately. In the meantime, my Rose of Sharon trees are here to offer a balm. So many new volunteers this year, each with a color combo that can make me forget the overwhelm for a few minutes at a time.
Resistance. Resistance. Resistance. #resistance Resistance. Resistance. Resistance.

#resistance
This year I grew pennyroyal from seed. It’s sharin This year I grew pennyroyal from seed. It’s sharing a pot with some very regal red sunflowers (which haven’t flowered yet, but I have faith). This makes sense to me: queens tending a patch of herbs perfectly made for the matrilineal line to govern itself.
It’s John Lewis’ birthday, and since I’m traveling It’s John Lewis’ birthday, and since I’m traveling today, my small, good trouble is wearing this shirt (from journalist @jessicavalenti) all day. #AbortionIsHealthCare
It’s time for Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy (a It’s time for Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy (and existential fear about health care thanks to SCOTUS). 

For you, get involved at the state level and pay attention to which providers are getting Medicaid funds and which are not — because “why” is an active question now.

#AbortionIsHealthCare
The thing is… So, here’s the deal… The actual tr The thing is…

So, here’s the deal…

The actual truth is…

Sometimes you just have to drink the strawberry juice and sit on the porch and skip the news for a few days. And you have to love your friends and blow your nose a lot and absolutely drink from the small crystal goblet so you have enough of you left over for what’s next.

And even with all of that, you still have to call your senators and congresspeople. (202) 224-3121. Just saying.
Cottonwood season. It’s warm and somehow snowing, Cottonwood season.

It’s warm and somehow snowing, and the snow is warm, soft, gauzy, and unstoppable. We live on a planet. We live on a planet which doesn’t care about politicians having tantrums, people who think they can own and control land, collective or individual grief, or my asthma. 

Every Sound Below
By Tim Eriksen 

One old new moon
As sister cast a beam
This newest moon, this rock
Casts only shadow

What speed westward
Can stop her being swallowed
By the hills?

Which of all the fairest sounds
Between this rock and ours
Casts anything but memory?

Haunted?
Haunted is an easy word 
For all these moons
And every sound below.
My beloved home, Evanston IL. ❤️ #NoKings My beloved home, Evanston IL. ❤️ #NoKings
This Saturday, June 14, I’m attending a #NoKings r This Saturday, June 14, I’m attending a #NoKings rally to protest our collective loss of autonomy and to make it clear that I oppose the losses planned by those in power. Visit NoKings.org to find a rally near you.
#AbortionIsHealthCare
I was grateful last night to lead a discussion at I was grateful last night to lead a discussion at my synagogue about the current state of abortion rights in the US. Many don’t know that Judaism takes a firm stance in favor of abortion rights, prioritizing the health and life of the woman over everything else. In fact, banning abortion is antithetical to being a practicing Jew. 

The books above were all incredibly helpful to me in my research for my novel about abortion in the 1950s and 60s. Missing from the picture is the book ABORTION by @jessicavalenti which is also a great resource. Following her keeps me up to date on what’s happening in the movement - I highly recommend her paid Substack “Abortion, Every Day.”

I also highly recommend the Mexican hot chocolate cookies in the picture above, but you have to be friends with me to get those.

#AbortionIsHealthCare #AbortionIsAJewishValue
Please donate via the link in my bio to help Adria Please donate via the link in my bio to help Adriana Smith’s family cover the costs of having her body kept alive AGAINST THEIR WISHES to serve as an incubator for what was, when she was declared brain dead, a tiny clump of tissue. The cost is staggering, not even considering the trauma they’re experiencing because of anti-bodily-autonomy laws in Georgia. If a baby is delivered at the end of this process, what do you think is next? What new ways will governments find to violate us? #AbortionIsHealthcare
Student Snacks with Our Bodily Autonomy with my co Student Snacks with Our Bodily Autonomy with my co-host @spreadthesunshine_! Go to my linktree and look for the link to submit a witness slip for Illinois bill HB 3709/SB 2444 to require public universities to offer reproductive health care! 

#abortionishealthcare #contraceptionishealthcare
Wednesday, I’ll be here telling the story of fakin Wednesday, I’ll be here telling the story of faking and then, maybe, achieving radical acceptance. It’s been a long time goal to share a story on this stage - looking forward to being real with the always deeply-feeling crowd at LTAM. ❤️
I read Margaret Renkl’s “The Comfort of Crows: A B I read Margaret Renkl’s “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year” this winter as the horrors of this government began to mount. Desperate for some hope, I started planting seedlings indoors. What an absolute miracle they are! And what a constant, continuous source of awe it is to come outside each morning, water the garden, and meditate on what we still have. 

There are three plants here that are a specific kind of hope and resistance. Can you spot them?
Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy, this is bull*#! Breakfast with My Bodily Autonomy, this is bull*#!? edition. 

I do not feel safer.
It sometimes comes down to this: why not do the ki It sometimes comes down to this: why not do the kind thing? Why not find a way, silly or possibly mildly inconvenient, to be generous? There are real answers to those questions, but I couldn’t hear them over the wind under my bike helmet.
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© Debi Lewis 2026. All rights reserved. | debi@debilewis.com