#sarah jaffe

. . . figure out what parts of your media consumption are necessary and what parts are simply turning a fire hose on your own face. I listen to a lot of advice podcasts – and now host one – and I have heard so many varieties of the question: my partner is on Twitter 24-7, and when I ask them to take a break, they say no, they are doing activism. And look, most of the time, when we are on social media, we are not doing activism at all. It can be a tool, but most of the time, we are just making ourselves bleed while Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg profit. Ellen Bravo, one of my movement aunties, who comes out of 9to5 (the women’s office workers union that the Dolly Parton movie was based on), once told me that one of her mottos was “We’re all special and none of us are indispensable.” That meant, to her, building a movement where people’s needs were valued: their responsibilities and their own needs to be cared for. Where they could step back when they needed to, and there would be space for them to return once again when they could. Take breaks! Please! Eat real food and rest! Spend time with the people who love you! Make new friends! We have to be in this for the long haul, and we need to be able to have livable lives while we are in the struggle.  -- Sarah Jaffe, in an interview with Kelly Hayes, here.

For a second I forgot that I could have my way.

"The crises are not going anywhere, and we need to be able to live and yes sometimes sing and dance and kiss and love and find joy where we can, because this is our life. The grief will live side by side with some of the best moments we will ever have." Sarah Jaffe - So much grief