We Shall (Rest and) Overcome

Reporting on real life, normal things that save us from wanting to throttle Elon Musk and lose our minds

How are you feeling dear reader? Is it hard to calm down after you get yet another news alert?

A couple of weeks back I told you not to let Donald Trump and Elon Musk flood your zone.

Well, Ezra Klein did. This was hard to do but we started, flawed and faltering, to de-flood first out of spite and love.

The spite part was watching those Trump-y lips when he would hold up another executive order. Then it was when I heard the anti-segregation protections were being dismantled. I realized we were being trolled. This man wants us to feel owned. Elon Musk wants us to flip out. Some flipping out of course is needed and just. Flipping out is part of the American Tradition. But you need energy to pull off a flip of significant impact. And they can’t own you if you take back your time.

The love part was stopping long enough to think about what we like about our lives and what we want to lean into. We buried three uncles recently. I no longer believe I will live to be 200. I think 35 would be a gift, at this rate. If I only had five years left I’d wish I had sipped everything much slower.

So. I was not going to give these men more than they had already taken so I started a personal Black Mediocrity Project. I do not think rest is mediocre, but it can be silly and unserious and I like silliness now.

No matter who you are, I want you to join me. Yes, we are citizens with a duty we shall not abandon. But do not let them burn you out. That agitated, seething anger they seem to stalk the White House with? Get behind me, Satan. I am concerned with paying attention to Sudan and my incoming Meghan Markle flower sprinkles and don’t need that energy.

During the week, I pay attention. I research. It helps that my literal job is to help advance the Civil Rights mandate through the SPLC. I am not Melinda French Gates, but I got Bluey cereal for the food bank. I harassed my friends to donate to Sudanese relief funds. I share Ms. Rachel’s Gaza resources. I have often failed at this, but I was taught to take some agency and create some little action after despair. You will feel less helpless when you help how you can. This is part of the Black Mediocrity Poject. Do not underestimate the power of $6 for two Bluey cereals. Or being a little watchdog on a human crisis that needs attention and some dollars.

Take your appropriate actions and then get about staying human.

Other Stupidly Simple Black Mediocrity Projects That Have Been Helpful: (I don’t have children so many tablespoons of salt)

1: Getting Everyone to Laugh At Nathan Bedford Forrest: We have continued to “waste” a few minutes of production meetings with the team over an unfolding joke revolving around the WORST, most grotesquely made Confederate Monument to a FOOL named Nathan Bedford Forrest. We have managed to keep this going for three meetings and I have made the most serious and sophisticated among us break. My boyfriend gets credit for introducing me to this ATROCITY of a sculpture. The Confederacy’s hate is serious, but their cause is stupid and the face of Nathan Bedford Forrest is priceless. Please find something and laugh at it, it’s good for you.

2: Not working through meals. Are we eating? Well, then we are not working. Not reading. Not maximizing anything. Brain is already at max. If I watch a show it cannot be one I am reviewing for work. ONLY IF YOU CAN OF COURSE. This has created a kind of mental space that revives a brain addled by executive orders of mass stupidity.

3: Cutting work OFF at some reasonable hour even if you are working from home. You cannot come up with new ideas or solutions if you do not step away. This made me want to tear my hair out but it works. Basic, but no one does it so worth repeating.

4: Bringing back field trips. I am enjoying the occasional weekend outing to walk slowly and look at things. I have no grand purpose in this. I look at Seed packets. Some cows with soft noses. The Warhammer store. Sometimes it is a bust, but my brain gets tricked into thinking we are not in imminent danger. I have no objective other than calm and connection with whoever else is there. I am a person in a real community I care about and am curious about, not just an internet commenter going to war with a bot over tariffs. I remember that I love this country, dang it.

5: Being “inconvenienced” to be in the community. There is no supportive village without villagers. I used to zip out of church after service. I have been tempted to cancel plans to rot. I have laid down in my rut and complained about being lonely. The Black Mediocrity Project involves an initial push to imperfectly connect and show up without having to be the life of the party or create the perfect hangout. Are there some decent people? Go. I brought a Costco cake for a weeknight pizza dinner instead of canceling till I could bake. I was embarrassed for five seconds but I got over it.

In conclusion, Elon Musk and Trump have stayed the same but I have changed. I have a reserve of bouncy hope and joy, while Elon looks stressed. I have Bible verses in the morning that tell me kings like this don’t win in the end. I have people that make me want to shimmy. And when Monday rolls around and it’s time to plunge back into the work of living here and protecting here, the energy to flip and plot and defend bubbles away happily.

There is so much goodness around. Tap in and tap out readers! Make sure your heart and body are part of your preservation projects.

Much love,

Alex

Please look up the whole image. It gets worse.