I realize as I write this that I have been doing this work for 17 years. It hasn't felt like it, but that is a long time. And it is time for me to take a breather. Better to light one candle than to curse the three you’re trying to keep lit.
Self-care really, really matters for progressives. Doing the work of making our society better — amid what a fellow black male friend of mine calls the psychic “toxic heavy metals” of post-industrial dissolution — means caring for ourselves in order to better care for one another. Got cleansing? Got physical movement? A diet to keep you and not kill you? Sleep? Good company? Quiet? Joy? Don’t pretend you can do this work well without a steady flow of each.
For some very smart and loving advice about this, go to what Jasmine Banks writes and says on the subject of self-care for people of color. I listened to her. I hope you will.
So it is time for me to breathe. I’ll be around. All that is on AliasBruce will stay here, with everything intact. I’m not on a schedule, and when my projects stop spinning and they settle into their next flow, I’ll write a note here if you’re interested. Thanks so much for reading me and for caring about the world. I’ll be in touch.
Bruce
