Itās a bittersweet challenge these days to figure out, much less practice, what it means to ālive like the world is dying.ā After nearly three pandemic years, given how much has died, āliving lifeā can feel more elusive than ever.
Iāve been thinking a lotāon obsessive #FuckCOVID19 walks againāabout an observation that @mbsycamore made in a tweet-story recently: we squandered the āwe take care of each otherā opening at the pandemicās start and now the widespread loss of ācommunal careā feels āall the more brutal.ā Especially when the abandonment of collective care for all (emphasis on āallā) occurs too often now in our own circles, as if the pandemic were over. That āsquanderingā has been cutting me to the core.
So it was not merely an honor to be asked to join @margaret and @house.of.hands for an episode of Live Like the World Is Dying; it felt reinvigorating to hear their words on the joy of living anarchism for life.
https://www.liveliketheworldisdying.com/s1e55-cindy-barukh-milstein-on-trying-anarchism-for-life/
Since we recorded that podcast, many days havenāt feel reinvigorating. And even when recording it over a month ago, I was speaking/dreaming of the world I yearn for and wish I lived in, not the one I inhabit, as if voicing my aspirations can conjure them into existence.
Iāve been reflecting on that a lot ever since, but keenly once the podcast came out. I was struck by the unusual number of folks who messaged me to say that listening to this episode gave them ācare,ā ākindness,ā and āloveāāand reasons to go on with āliving lifeā for themselves and others.
Around that same time, some friends who I hadnāt heard from in a while randomly reached out to me for a catch-up phone call, text exchange, or walkājust when I desperately needed extra support. Their words gave me ācare,ā ākindness,ā and āloveāāand reasons to go on with āliving lifeā for myself and others.
I write. And talk. So even if Iāve forgotten of late, I know that words countāas political practice, as lifeline and love letter, and as the stories that we swap to tangibly reshape this miserable world for the better.
Letās reinvigorate #CommunalCare with words that remind us to engage in life-giving deeds.
#WeAreAllWeHave
#NoOneLeftBehind
#PathsTowardUtopia
#TryAnarchismForLife
(photos: Live Like the World Is Dying logo, which is a drawing of a camo-green gas mask with yellow and white flowers growing out of it, promoting the episode I did on āTrying Anarchism for Lifeā; āyou are lovedā street heart, black words written on a pink heart, attached to a tree, as seen in Tioātia:ke/Montreal, summer 2022)