It's June!
"And meanwhile the world goes on"
I had to double-check to make sure that the news about Roe happened in May. After Buffalo and Uvalde, it’s hard to believe one month could contain so much grief. But it did, and I find myself holding my breath, waiting for the next catastrophe. I know this is no way to live. I refuse to live in denial. But I know that I cannot live in a constant state of anxiety and sadness.
I know one solution is to regulate my media consumption. Unfortunately, I’ve come to understand that news organizations and social media companies are financially invested in heightening my fear. I haven’t yet figured out the right way to stay informed while keeping a healthy distance, but I’m working on it.
The next step I’m taking is to direct my energy toward my immediate community. Through Jews for Racial and Economic Justice I will join the fight for a city budget that funds community-based hate violence prevention programs. But I have to admit I’m even somewhat pessimistic about the impact of this effort. That’s why besides this campaign, I’m trying to focus my attention primarily on my immediate community in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. So I plan to get more involved with Bed-Stuy Strong, a mutual aid organization founded at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. My hope is through Bed-Stuy Strong I can focus on what I can control and what is right in front of me. Trying to think about gun control policy, for example, by contrast, is too demoralizing.
After years of bouncing between two poles – attending lots of actions and making lots of phone calls on one end, doing practically nothing on the other – I’m excited to try this approach.
Artwork by Tim Devin
In 2021 I found myself unable to finish, let alone share, any of my writing. So when 2022 began, I launched this substack as a way to force myself to write. And it’s working! I’m proud that when those feelings of self-doubt and paralysis arose over the course of these past six months, I reminded myself of this intention and pushed through.
That said, I’m not sure what my hopes for this substack are. It has been a valuable place for me to reflect and process. It means a lot to me that people I care about are reading my words and sharing generous feedback. That may be more than enough for me, but I’m not sure.
As I think about the future of my writing here, I would love your help in one or more of the following ways:
Tell me why you’re reading this. Honest answers only!
Share my substack with others you think would appreciate it.
Let me know what you’d like more or less of. What do you think I, Ruben Abrahams Brosbe, have to offer that others might not?
Thanks for reading whether or not you do these things (but I hope you do).
Other Recent Writing:
History Daily - Jimmy Carter Visits Cuba
History Daily - Explorer Ernest Shackleton Escapes the Antarctic
History Daily - Andrew Jackson Conquers Spanish Florida
A Muslim high school class studied the Holocaust. Here’s what they learned.
Recommendations for Listening/Reading/Watching:
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry (Poem)
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver (Poem)
What a Socialist Approach to Gun Violence Should Look Like by Danny Katch (Essay)