I wrote "Dotty Mae" after spending a whole summer working seven days a week as a new psychotherapist and an inclusion specialist at a summer camp in Toronto. To conclude this busy summer, I celebrated with my beloved co-workers at a cottage near Presqu'ile beach in Prince Edward County. It was there that I met Dotty Mae and had my tarot read for the first time, sitting cross-legged at the edge of a forest.

 

The reading brought up questions and thoughts I'd been having about psychologist Pete Walker's fight, flight, freeze, and fawn defenses, in relation to processing my recent and past relational disappointments and traumas. Lyrics like How do I know, to run? How do I see the way out? are centered around hypervigilance and genuinely not being sure how to tell if situations are actually safe or dangerous, whether to stay or leave a romantic partner or even a friend.