New Year, New MTPC

The close of 2020 feels a bit like hopping out of the dentist’s chair, yet here we are. If one ever needed proof that this year has been difficult to sum up, just try putting it in a blog post. Alternate titles for this entry included things like “Panic at the Pandemic” and “Fear: It’s What’s for Dinner.” I imagine a similar feeling exists amongst combat veterans, in the sense that one can watch all the movies and read all about it, but if you weren’t actually in the battle, there are limitations to how deeply you can relate.

For many of us at MTPC, the loss of in-person community hit particularly hard. We take great pride in knowing that we not only love the people we serve, we are the people we serve. Seeing the bright, creative, sparkling expressions of our siblings in 3-D is part of what makes this work so rewarding, and relegating those experiences to a screen in Zoom conferences grew disheartening after a while. Nonetheless, ours is a population that possesses an intimate relationship to survival in the face of uncertain times. It is astounding to see the ways in which our people have navigated this past year, still finding ways to resist and rejoice despite multiple efforts at every level of power trying to keep us rooted in fear.

So as we prepare to usher in 2021, what does all of this mean for MTPC? As a community who has often had to divide the scraps that society has thrown at us, we declare that the theme for the coming year is more. We demand more inclusivity, more equity, more allies who support us, more accomplices in the trenches with us. We demand louder voices, raised in resistance and in laughter. And we demand all of these things of ourselves as well as the incredible people that we serve. We will not be slowed by this pandemic. We will not be silenced by those who govern. Our commitment to uplift the names and experiences of our TGNC siblings remains as strong as ever. That is our promise to you.

Here’s to a greater year ahead, from all of us at MTPC.

~Jahaira M. DeAlto