REPOST: The Bridge #50
on the brink (of a new adventure)
HELLO
The Bridge began four years ago, after listening to a podcast interview with Tricia Hersey about her Nap Ministry. Her message can be summed up as "Rest is Resistance" but if that was all there was to say, then she wouldn't have been interviewed for over an hour, and it wouldn't have taken me a slow listen over several weeks to absorb what she was saying. Afterwards though I was thoroughly convinced that rest IS resistance, and I wrote publicly about burnout as a symptom of a toxic culture that too often encourages us towards endless productivity and punishes us if we're not perfectly efficient. Then I committed myself to rest in the month of August. (It helped that most of the people where I live do the same.) & I started The Bridge.
Living restfully has been a major engine for me continuing The Bridge. That and me realising that so many of you appreciate the things I have to say, even when I'm connecting dots between topics unusually explored.
So every August since 2020 I've continued the tradition of taking time off. I'm not then today sending out a brand new Bridge. This one is a repost of edition #50 which originally came out in August 2022.
For those of you who have been with me for a while, feel free to revisit links you might have missed the first go around. For those of you new to The Bridge, may this be an opportunity to explore how The Bridge has evolved over time.
I'll be taking a break until September. The Bridge though will still be going. Thanks to a guest writer (friend and member of The Bridge community) Camille E Acey. You can look forward to her wise words coming your way in two weeks. And meantime, enjoy a first or second time reading of The Bridge #50 ——————————
Hello
Today we're going to do things a little differently. August is the anniversary of when this newsletter started. So instead of a "Best of" edition that captures the "most popular" from the year, I'm selecting a few to share from the very beginning until more recently that give a sense of the path taken.
Thanks for walking across this Bridge with me!
This is a Newsletter #2
Wed 9 Sept 2020
Not until #4 did I actually figure out the newsletter name. Even still, we can see in #2 that - while the design has changed a little (the colors, e.g.) - the themes & format have remained relatively unchanged.
Reflecting upon the name, I'm seeing that in certain ways The Bridge could have just as easily been called The Web or The Quilt because all three give the idea that memories and ideas (and the suggestions of friends or the cultures of places) are all interwoven.
& when I take time to fit it all together I feel more whole, more connected to the memories and the people and the ideas that surround me. It's a fun process.
The Bridge #19
Wed 5 May 2021
Random fact: Issue #19 was one of the least read (42% vs the usual 50+%) of any Bridge I've written so far. Including it here though because it's worth looking at (again or for the first time).
Especially enjoyed writing about our garden; that was fun.
& Listening to a song about holding ourselves together (self-love) rather than expecting perfection of our parents. That was healing.
🤗
The Bridge #25
Wed 4 Aug 2021
Sent also in the month of August, The Bridge #25 captures some of the most important themes inspiring me : anchoring myself in relationships with you -- friends and family and people I want to stay connected to -- and prioritizing REST.
Pausing each August from doing anything productive has helped me come at life with renewed creative energy in September. Also, take a look at that photo of ice cream!
Something Fun
The Bridge as a Playlist
The Bridge is not only about growing ourselves and learning from others, it is also very much about the poetic power of music. If you want to see (and or dance to) the music of The Bridge across 100 editions, click the link above.
The music might shift your energy or transport you (out of your head, up on your feet, toward hope or joy). Maybe it will be enough to simply browse the titles and celebrate the variety of ways humans out there are creating, making, collecting, inventing... That said, I encourage you to participate in listening to at least one song from the collection.
BONUS: Hope you enjoyed reading The Bridge #50 from two years ago. Now instead of traveling back in time we’re traveling forward a bit. I'm brainstorming each edition of The Bridge at least 6-8 weeks in advance, collecting links, tinkering with ideas, mulling over what I want to say. So here I want to share with you some some things I'm thinking about currently that might show up in a future Bridge before the end of 2024 :
(1) An essay by about parenting in summer
(2) The first fiction book written by Chuck Collins, called The Altar to an Erupting Sun
(3) Getting more involved with donor organising and inspired by the leaders of organisations like EmergeNYC and JAIA, I want to be talking more about the transformative joy of youth empowerment.
So stay tuned for more on that later this year.
Take care and rest well,
JPC