I hope you are well! It has been a while since I’ve shared an update, and as we near my 38th birthday (on August 2nd!) — along with the two-year anniversary of the completion of my treatment for cancer and the beginning of a long recovery journey — I wanted to reach out with a few kind words and good tidings of what’s to come.
NEW! You can now view this post as a fun video with extra images and bonus content that includes breaking news!
I hope your springtimes are progressing in vivid color, and that your summer is shaping up to be a great one. I just wanted to share with my loved ones out there a couple of pieces of good news.
First: My MRI scan a couple of weeks ago yielded another negative result, showing no evidence of disease and further documenting my complete remission! I welcome and celebrate the clean bill of health!
2022 has been an amazing, humbling, sweet year — one of physical rehabilitation, family connection, spiritual expansion, celebration of life, and working to create a rich, new definition of “normal” after last year’s remarkable struggles and powerful lessons. It was also a year replete with its own challenges and surprises — but are these not essential aspects of the privilege of being alive?
What can we do but smile and give thanks for it all?
After a couple of really challenging years — a dance with cancer that included major surgery, brutal chemotherapy, and months of uncertainty with irregular scans ever-trending in the right direction but stopping just short of the longed-for resolution of “complete remission” — it finally happened.
I went in this November for another CT scan… and at long last...
It was NEGATIVE!
…If you caught my last post, you saw that I just celebrated my 37th birthday (while on an overnight train in northern Finland, no less)! Over the next few weeks, as I settle back into life at home, I’ll be integrating my experience and sharing stories and media from the road (to augment the brief photo chronicles I’ve already shared on Instagram and Facebook).
For now, though — as I pivot somewhat abruptly to Back-to-School Mode — I wanted to take the opportunity to share a video of a very special occasion that took place earlier this summer.
Can Bernie backer Nils Palsson unseat incumbent Mike Thompson?
Nils Palsson is running against Blue Dog Democrat Mike Thompson in California's 5th congressional district, decrying the incumbent's long list of big-money contributions from the corporate world as he's launched a Sanders-friendly campaign—and accepting individual contributions of $27.
I'm writing with big news: after successfully filing as a candidate for the 2018 election, I learned that there is no Republican in the race this year! The most conservative man on the ballot is probably the ten-term 'Democratic' incumbent I'm challenging. There is also a Green who is not a serious contender, and one other No Party candidate who has no website, and whose Facebook profile says he lives in New Mexico. What I'm trying to say is: WE GOT THIS.
Article on Nils Palsson featured in the Benicia Herald: "Two years after placing third in the congressional primary for California’s 5th District, Sonoma County teacher and nonprofit communications director Nils Palsson is giving it another go."
"Getting Money Out of Politics" includes publicly funding elections, ending the influence of big money on our political system, and affirming that corporations are not people. Reclaiming our democracy is the first step to getting our needs met. From health care and education to energy and the economy, we, the people, will only have our say when we've elected leaders who are responsive to the people, not to the lobbyists of mega-corporations and the wealthiest 1%. Winning this election is the first step.
“Nils is a talented and effective community organizer who knows what it takes to create change. He will take his skills to Washington, and teach Congress a lesson,” wrote Carol Cole-Lewis of Lake County.
“I am just like the rest of the people in my district,” Palsson wrote in a statement. “I’m dealing directly with challenges like student debt and the housing crisis. I know how it feels to be a working-class parent — and I am ready to represent the working-class people of this district in Congress.”
@NIPalsson: Honored to have signed the #NoFossilFuelMoney Pledge: I pledge to not take contributions from the oil, gas, and coal industry and instead prioritize the health of our families, climate, and democracy over fossil fuel industry profits! #PlanetEarth #SystemChangeNotClimateChange
I'm honored to have signed Move to Amend's candidate "Pledge to Amend," a statement of my solidarity with the people and my active willingness to stand up in Congress to support a much-needed constitutional amendment to make it clear that corporations are not people, money is not speech, and campaign contributions must be regulated to ensure fair elections.
