Good morning friends, family, chosen family, colleagues, comrades
Tough news to wake to, eh?
I'm attempting to get sorted - enough so to simply "take the first step" forward. I sent some texts to friends, my first inclination was to make light of the situation. That didn't feel right. So, I wanted to reach out by sending this note. It's really just meant to say: I'm thinking of you, thinking of our community and feeling lucky to have you all in my life.
We've got work to do. I thought that 2016 was the bottom. But we've reached a new "bottom" I suppose. Okay. So, there's that:
Take away #1: New lows will be established. The bar for bottoms will be lowered. 2016 marked what I thought was a new low. Welp, we beat that, didn't we? Okay. Fine. We won't let new lows surprise us any longer. Let that knowledge be a strength to help us reach the high bars, too.
Number 2: Get those feet moving forward. It doesn't mean that you need to come up with a solution to change the world. Just move the feet forward. Baby steps first. Small things. For me, that meant turning off the news. Dropping a record on the turn table - "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane" and making a cup of coffee. That was my first step. It helped.
Number 3: Oh yeah, the news. Hey! At least we don't have to be constantly immersed in a ridiculous cycle of drama and circus antics for a while, or maybe we can even avoid this soul-suck entirely in the future. We've learned our lesson, right? Okay, at least for now we can give that noise a break. Stay focused, stay present, stay face to face and avoid constant screen to face. Along with keeping your feet moving forward, keep 'em on the ground. Treat yourself by cutting back on the screen-media intake.
Number 4: Make a list of your American heroes. Totally random list: James Baldwin, Robert Johnson, Charlie Poole, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Eugene V. Debs, Toni Morrison, Henry David Thoreau, Ian Mackaye, Jack Kerouac, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King, Mother Jones, Charles Mingus.... these names keep on rolling off of the top of the head. I'm sure that you have plenty, too. It's nice to think of the brilliant and talented souls who have positively contributed to our American reality.
Number 5:
I'll leave you with this to help get your feet moving forward. This is extracted from a social media post from fellow printer and friend Graham Moss who lives in Oldham, UK:
"No matter who is elected, our job remains the same, to act with courage and imagination, resist evil, and stand and work for virtue and justice. Nothing prevents us from doing that; our duty always remains unchanged.
How is today different? What we should be doing hasn't changed, so there is no reason to feel despondent or let down - the idiots, the weak-willed, the uncaring, those who would take advantage of the gullible, have always been with us. In the face of that, we don't change."
Thank you Graham for this timely post and for these words.
Take care, friends. I'm thinking of you and feeling grateful for you and for what you all do.