Finding Focus and Balance in Turbulent Times
Hello all!
My goodness, the world seems to change so much every day. The night of the June 27th Presidential debate, I was with Heather Cox Richardson and Steve Bullock at a Bozeman fundraising for Senator Jon Tester, whose reelection campaign is one of the most important senate races in the country. I missed the debate debacle, but there are lots of reports and opinions out there on the performance of both of these candidates. My takeaway is to double down on our focus towards communities and state politics. Right now, national politics is too dizzying to even try to understand what is happening day to day. The whiplash is exhausting and can be incredibly stressful. So I suggest we hone in on what we can do: Campaign for local and state races; work on measures like Coeur d’Alene’s recent hate crime ordinance; support good journalism and writers; build broad relationships and networks to fight the pounding efforts to isolate and polarize us. We can’t give up at this moment—the constant barrage on our sense of peace is intentional. It’s how authoritarians wear down their citizens.
So try to remember to give yourself a break. It’s easy to be anxious over what’s happening. The recent SCOTUS ruling giving the president immunity feels like king-making. That seems especially ironic to me, today of all days—I’m writing this on the 4th of July, the day we declared independence in 1776 from the British monarchy. I can be inclined towards anxiety myself, and I’m terrible at self-care and mindfulness, though I try. So note to self and to you, kind readers: Please find time for breaks from news and social media and remember to grant yourself refuge from the storm.
Here are some ideas for a little fun:
Read A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko—buy a copy at an independent bookstore
Listen to Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living by Karen Auvinen on Libro
Watch Sergei Parajanov’s, The Color of Pomegranates
Walk to a nearby park or go on a hike (wear sunscreen!)
Birdwatch, identify species, and start a life list. Also listen to a bird-themed (kind of) episode of This American Life
Finally, on the cheerful side of my own ledger: True West has had a pretty big month. It won the Reading the West award in nonfiction! Thanks to all of you who voted—I’m really grateful. The book was also the inspiration for the Summer issue of Mountain Outlaw magazine and is on the summer reading list of the great Mountain and Prairie podcaster, Ed Roberson. Woohoo!
True West recently came out on audio, though I have not promoted this due to a problematic cover design—a harmful image that was attached to the book without my or Torrey House Press’s input. The image perpetuates the very toxic myths that I write about in the book, and we are all working to get it taken down asap. More on this as the story evolves, but AI (which I believe is responsible, though I’m not sure yet) can be racist as it was created mainly by white men with cultural bias. For more on that, check out “Your Computer Might be Racist,” by Kimberly Homes- Iverson.
Well, that’s about it for now. Have a lovely summer, all, and please try to keep some of your anxiety at bay. We are going to have a lot to deal with in the coming months and years, and we won’t be of any use in this ongoing conflict if we don’t pace ourselves.
Very warmly,
Betsy