More Love + Less Hate

On Celebrating More + Commiserating Less

It’s finally February, y’all. The good news? We survived the clusterfuck dumpster fire that was January 2025. And now, we’ve got not one but two month-long celebrations that are personally giving me hope…and life:

1. Black History Month (Canada + Ireland + UK + US)

2. LGBT+ History Month (UK)

After a rough start to the year, both are good reasons to celebrate the shared pasts, presents, and futures of two vital branches of the human family tree. For me, it’s a chance to honor just a few of the many pioneers who have paved the way, making history in the process.

Let’s be real—January was brutal. A month of bad news, metaphorical (and literal) dumpster fires, and endless reasons to doomscroll. But instead of getting stuck in that cycle, I’m choosing to celebrate the love more than commiserating the hate.

Rather than fixating on differences or fueling division—which, let’s be honest, is such small-dick energy—I’d rather focus on building bridges and finding common ground.

"We are more alike than we are different" applies to everyone under the sun. Fact.

The lovefests and tributes aren’t about ignoring the world’s problems. They’re about pumping up the volume on the joys and turning down the noise. They’re about finding things we do agree on, rather than endlessly cussing and discussing things we don’t.

Valentine’s Day may land squarely in the middle of the month, but I think we all need more reminders that love—whether familial, platonic, or romantic—was, is, and always will be stronger than hate. Daily counterprogramming at the very least.

So however you choose to celebrate, consider setting a new intention and tone this February, the Month For Love.

Do the right thing: We’ve got to fight the powers that be…

With peace, love, and light!
Clint 🌈✌️

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

• Why Podcast Hosts Feel Like Friends… (PsyPost)

• Civil Rights Leader's Extraordinary Life In Pictures (BBC)

• Strange, Surreal And Sexy: 31 Images That Changed The Way We See Our Bodies (The Guardian)

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ON THIS DAY = FEBRUARY 1

BIRTHDAYS

• 1894 = James P. Johnson = American pianist and composer

• 1894 = John Ford = American director and producer

• 1901 = Clark Gable = American actor 🌈

• 1902 = Langston Hughes = American writer and activist 🌈

• 1926 = Vivian Maier = American street photographer

• 1937 = Don Everly = American singer-songwriter

• 1937 = Garrett Morris = American actor and comedian

• 1938 = Sherman Hemsley = American actor and singer 🌈

• 1939 = Joe Sample = American pianist and composer

• 1942 = Terry Jones = Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter

• 1948 = Rick James = American singer-songwriter and producer

• 1962 = Takashi Murakami = Japanese painter and sculptor

• 1965 = Brandon Lee = American actor and martial artist

• 1965 = Sherilyn Fenn = American actor

• 1968 = Lisa Marie Presley = American singer-songwriter and actor

• 1968 = Pauly Shore = American actor and comedian

• 1969 = Brian Krause = American actor

• 1969 = Joshua Redman = American musician and composer

• 1969 = Patrick Wilson = American musician and songwriter

• 1971 = Michael C. Hall = American actor and producer

• 1981 = Gina Ortiz Jones = American intelligence officer and politician 🌈

• 1987 = Heather Morris = American actor, singer, and dancer

• 1994 = Harry Styles = English singer-songwriter and actor

EVENTS

• 1884 = The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

• 1893 = Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, NJ.

• 1896 = Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème premieres at the Teatro Regio.

• 1942 = Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting.

• 1949 = The Paris Police Prefecture issues a decree forbidding men from dancing together in public.

• 1960 = Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.^[19]

• 1964 = The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

• 1978 = Tom of Finland has his first US exhibit at Robert Opel’s Fey Way Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

• 1982 = Late Night premieres on NBC, hosted by David Letterman.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Black History Month

• LGBT History Month (UK)

• National Freedom Day (US)

PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
Langston Hughes

NEW + FEATURED

• Happy February Birthdays! = Born This Way On This Day

• Substack = NSFW + Pioneers + Pride + SFW

• YouTube = Playlists + Streams + Videos

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