We are the wealth
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Hello friends, Are you struggling? Are you happy? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Courageous? Frantic? Disengaged? Do you have enough food to eat? A safe place to sleep? Friends? Connections? Work? Books? Music? Hobbies? Do you have enough to share? It’s that last one I return to, whenever times feel hard. Do I have enough to share? The answer, thankfully, is always yes. Now, I don’t have everything to share. I don’t always have the time and energy random people may want from me. And I only have so much intimacy to go around. But I do have creativity to share. I do have some money and other resources to share. Years ago, my friend Elena Rose wrote: “It’s still a world with plums in it, my loves, & chamomile & lipstick & cellos. It’s still a world with us in it. Find a hand & hold on.” That statement holds true as a reminder of something that forms the bedrock of my politics: The earth is abundant, and we are each other’s wealth. We are each other’s wealth. No one is coming to save us. The ultra wealthy are unlikely to wake up tomorrow and divest themselves of their exploitative billions. But we? We have each other. We have plums and chamomile. We have music, art, and laughter. We have strong backs and shoulders. We have riches to share. We always have riches to share. We just need to remember where our wealth resides. Best wishes — Thorn
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, While vending at Punk Rock Pride last month, something on the pebble dash sidewalk caught my attention. It was a safety pin. I smiled, because safety pins are a hallmark of old school punk. They were a way to keep clothing together even if you didn’t know how to sew. Safety pins were handy for attaching patches and badges to jackets. Best of all? They lacked the respectability of neatly mended clothes. Safety pins could also be seen to represent the fierce way community holds...
Hello friends, There are a wide variety of humans, but today I’m thinking about two basic types. There are the people who take themselves out of the picture. Write themselves out of the story. Slink to the edges of the frame. Others take center stage at all times. They fill the image, crowding out or overshadowing those around them. These people are the stars of the show, and the only Main Characters. But here’s the thing: no matter what our tendencies or training, we would all do well to...
Hello friends, I wrote this week’s newsletter in advance, because I’m camping with no cell service. It’s so good for my psyche to disconnect from electronics, stare at mountains, and walk along streams for a week. I’m a mind-racer, and this disconnection—like meditation or prayer—helps slow me down inside. The meditation on nature is always a gift to me, even in the small city where I live. For example, on the summer solstice, it was cool enough for me to take a long afternoon walk. I headed...