#12 Hello! I'm Cara

In which I introduce myself bc there are a bunch of new folks here :)

I am delighted to be here. I hope you are, too.¹

I’m Cara Gormally.

I started this Substack newsletter to invest more energy into what brings me joy: research + comics. When I have a burning question, I love a deep dive into research. I learn everything I can to satisfy that question.

I want to share a bit about myself in hopes of creating a community. I hope you’ll share about yourself and what brings you here in the comments.

I’m a cartoonist and a professional nerd—more about that below. I live in the DC metro area with my family—my partner, Andrea, and our kid. Joy, delight, and wonder are essential ingredients in our everyday life. Here are my favorite mammals:

As I’ve grown deeper into loving myself into being, I’ve found that they/them fits me. The more I know myself and see myself, the more undefinably queer I become. I’m all the boxes and none of the boxes and beyond the constraints of boxes.

I’m a member of the Sequential Artists Workshop. I’m also grateful to be part of a comics critique group that challenges me in the best possible way. My comics have been published in The Lily at the Washington Post, Medium, MUTHA Magazine, and Spiralbound, among other places. I love early mornings tending to my soul, gardening, bike rides, and dancing.

My day job doesn’t involve studying shame. Nor am I a therapist or psychologist. But I’m one of shame’s students. I’m curious about shame after tending to wounds from it. Loving myself beyond shame made me hungry to learn more. It’s like I got new glasses—I see shame everywhere. I wonder if shame has marked your life in some way, too.

By day, I’m a professional nerd. I’m a biology professor. I love teaching. My research involves science literacy—a real dumpster fire. My research also focuses on making science more accessible and welcoming to all students. Here’s me with lots of books:

I love a good stuffie—pictured behind me are a squishy earth, a Pusheen cat that is satisfyingly fluffy, and an I HEART GUTS uterus—because, hey, I grew a human and that experience was a lot.

For me, this is a space for curiosity, tenderness, and growth—and of course, soft things. I am so delighted to be here. Welcome, magical fellow human being. Thanks for joining me. Next week, I’ll be back with comics!

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Tell me about yourself in the comments. I loved how

Kelcey Ervick

and

Adam Ming

introduced themselves in their recent newsletters.

Borrowing Adam’s idea of using nouns to introduce yourself—and if you did not suffer through diagraming sentences in 8th grade, as I did, think “person, place, thing.”

I’ll start: I’m a cartoonist, joy-seeker, and researcher.

And tell me what’s bringing you joy these days?

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1. Note: the voiceover transcript IS the newsletter. It doesn’t include this footnote.