Stripping us of joy and hope is the point of it, said the brilliant and amazing Stacey Abrams at an event I attended last night. She urged every one of us to do something for those who have even less that we do: volunteer at a food pantry, run errands for those in hiding from ICE, etc. because helping others empowers us and forges new connections. You're already 'doing something' by writing from the heart, but it's a lonely pursuit and meeting like-minded people might give you fresh hope. You're not alone. We are in the majority.
Yeah, I get you. I never thought I'd live to see my own country set up concentration camps, but here we are.
I go to a fair number of protests because my band does. (https://www.extraordinaryrenditionband.com/) I'm the guy all the way to the right with the sun glasses. Too bad we don't have that bass drummer any more. She was a real slave driver.
Thank you for this, Paul. Looks like a fun group. Take all the fun you can get, as it's in short supply these days. Yeah. "On a roll." I'd like to see him rolled out of the White House on a gurney.
Hey Sherry Berry - Thanks for another "pick my brain and say what's on MY mind" session, because that's exactly what I feel like just happened while I was reading this. "What's the point?" indeed. That's why I keep spinning my wheels, since the whole Medium debacle, because honestly, for my own decent into mental hell, I fault them, almost as much as the Trump administration and all the chaos they're causing. My activities and plans for Quora have already been abandoned, due to basically no response to all my efforts. Now I'm hopping like a fool, trying not to get too amped up about offering graphic templates, because all I can think about is how I could end up building a huge portfolio of designs to sell, and get screwed over by the platform in some way. I'm too pooped to go through any more head trips online. I know I'm down, but nothing I try seems to get me UP. But still I keep trying,......... :-(
Oh, my dear, Char, I’m so sorry. You work so hard. We both do. I haven’t been spending much time on Medium as literally, it’s a waste of space. Forget Quora, another wasteland. I’ll email you. Maybe we can get on the phone.
Your bones could kick his weird passive aggressive ass any day Sherri. People suck sometimes. I see how my mom gets treated since losing weight with cancer and often resist a strong urge to punch people. It's like she's not there or they act like she's a toddler. It has made her a bit meek and this lady has always been fierce. It hurts, people are cruel and evil trickles down. I try to look for the good and cling to it like a life raft. I tune it/him out as much as I can. Without some hope or faith this corruption can be overcome we are lost. But it's hard. My heart cries for the America I thought I knew. Please go outside, please prioritize you, it's vital for your spirit to replenish itself.
Oh, Steff, I’m sorry your mom has to experience that. People are clueless and more so every day. And the idiots “beget” more idiots, I’m sorry to say. Thank you for your comment. It means a lot.
I read your terrific and very accurate article at 5:30 this morning, after awakening (again!) at 3:30 a.m. It's not a guilty conscience or the scourge of Trump, just a lack of progesterone and inability to go get the drugs I need (great Austin Lounge Lizards song, by the way). I wish you all the best Sherry, as your writing tells it like it is and you deserve perfect mornings and afternoons to sit on that new deck...well, Fall is almost here.
Oh Sherry, I feel this so much. I'm going through so much of the very same things and it is difficult for me to find a reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other these days. But then, I too, come to the realization just the same as you have... What's the alternative?
The observation from Helia's Substack points to the vital truth: this "chipping away" is not a personal failure, but a systemic strategy. Citing Stacey Abrams's point that stripping us of joy is the goal names the mechanism perfectly. Your question, "What the fuck's the point?" is the logical, human response to that assault.
The point, I believe, is found precisely in the defiant act you're all describing: the act of continuing to care in a system that rewards apathy.
But it goes deeper. We cannot act solely on the basis of results we may never see. The work—writing, protesting, creating, connecting—is not a transaction for a guaranteed outcome. It is about choosing to be the vehicle for what is right, whether the impact lands in our time or in a future we are helping to build but may not inhabit.
This is how we prove we are not yet fully "stripped." Each word, each protest song, each moment of compassion is a small, vital reclamation of ground. It’s the work of insisting that our humanity is not negotiable.
Our charge is not to win in our lifetime, but to make a victory inevitable in someone else's.
It was absolutely meant for you, Sherry, and for the powerful conversation your piece ignited.
My reply was adding a layer to the excellent point from Helia's Substack about joy being stripped away as a systemic strategy. But that crucial observation only existed because your writing created the space for it.
Your article named the "chipping away" with such raw clarity that it let all of us touch that feeling together. Thank you for that, and my apologies for any confusion my wording caused.
That is the humbling truth, Sherry. There is no universal antidote, only the shared, honest work of tending to each other's gashes. Not to cure them, but to ensure no one has to bleed alone. That, perhaps, is the only real medicine we have.
Stripping us of joy and hope is the point of it, said the brilliant and amazing Stacey Abrams at an event I attended last night. She urged every one of us to do something for those who have even less that we do: volunteer at a food pantry, run errands for those in hiding from ICE, etc. because helping others empowers us and forges new connections. You're already 'doing something' by writing from the heart, but it's a lonely pursuit and meeting like-minded people might give you fresh hope. You're not alone. We are in the majority.
Ahh, you’re a Crone With a Bottle AND a Big Heart. Yes, Stacey is correct. As are you. I must kick myself in the ass. Thank you.
But please kick yourself kindly and with the compassion you deserve.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for writing this. It's very hard, but I've realized that as difficult as writing is, not writing has been driving me crazy.
Same, girlfriend.
Yeah, I get you. I never thought I'd live to see my own country set up concentration camps, but here we are.
I go to a fair number of protests because my band does. (https://www.extraordinaryrenditionband.com/) I'm the guy all the way to the right with the sun glasses. Too bad we don't have that bass drummer any more. She was a real slave driver.
And yet DT is on a roll (https://open.substack.com/pub/godanddeatharefunny/p/donald-trump-is-on-a-roll?r=dw6fu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false).
God really has a dark sense of humor.
Thank you for this, Paul. Looks like a fun group. Take all the fun you can get, as it's in short supply these days. Yeah. "On a roll." I'd like to see him rolled out of the White House on a gurney.
Oh gawd I can't begin to tell you how much fun it is.
Hey Sherry Berry - Thanks for another "pick my brain and say what's on MY mind" session, because that's exactly what I feel like just happened while I was reading this. "What's the point?" indeed. That's why I keep spinning my wheels, since the whole Medium debacle, because honestly, for my own decent into mental hell, I fault them, almost as much as the Trump administration and all the chaos they're causing. My activities and plans for Quora have already been abandoned, due to basically no response to all my efforts. Now I'm hopping like a fool, trying not to get too amped up about offering graphic templates, because all I can think about is how I could end up building a huge portfolio of designs to sell, and get screwed over by the platform in some way. I'm too pooped to go through any more head trips online. I know I'm down, but nothing I try seems to get me UP. But still I keep trying,......... :-(
Oh, my dear, Char, I’m so sorry. You work so hard. We both do. I haven’t been spending much time on Medium as literally, it’s a waste of space. Forget Quora, another wasteland. I’ll email you. Maybe we can get on the phone.
Ive missed your writing. My bad. I'll try to keep it from happening again!
Oh, Karen, that’s okay. Thank you, dear.
Your bones could kick his weird passive aggressive ass any day Sherri. People suck sometimes. I see how my mom gets treated since losing weight with cancer and often resist a strong urge to punch people. It's like she's not there or they act like she's a toddler. It has made her a bit meek and this lady has always been fierce. It hurts, people are cruel and evil trickles down. I try to look for the good and cling to it like a life raft. I tune it/him out as much as I can. Without some hope or faith this corruption can be overcome we are lost. But it's hard. My heart cries for the America I thought I knew. Please go outside, please prioritize you, it's vital for your spirit to replenish itself.
Oh, Steff, I’m sorry your mom has to experience that. People are clueless and more so every day. And the idiots “beget” more idiots, I’m sorry to say. Thank you for your comment. It means a lot.
❤️❤️
I read your terrific and very accurate article at 5:30 this morning, after awakening (again!) at 3:30 a.m. It's not a guilty conscience or the scourge of Trump, just a lack of progesterone and inability to go get the drugs I need (great Austin Lounge Lizards song, by the way). I wish you all the best Sherry, as your writing tells it like it is and you deserve perfect mornings and afternoons to sit on that new deck...well, Fall is almost here.
Thanks so much, Jean. It’s great to hear from you. I’ll have to check out that song.
I'm right there with ya.
🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🔜 DJT.
🕊🕊🕊
Oh Sherry, I feel this so much. I'm going through so much of the very same things and it is difficult for me to find a reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other these days. But then, I too, come to the realization just the same as you have... What's the alternative?
I know, dear H. It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The observation from Helia's Substack points to the vital truth: this "chipping away" is not a personal failure, but a systemic strategy. Citing Stacey Abrams's point that stripping us of joy is the goal names the mechanism perfectly. Your question, "What the fuck's the point?" is the logical, human response to that assault.
The point, I believe, is found precisely in the defiant act you're all describing: the act of continuing to care in a system that rewards apathy.
But it goes deeper. We cannot act solely on the basis of results we may never see. The work—writing, protesting, creating, connecting—is not a transaction for a guaranteed outcome. It is about choosing to be the vehicle for what is right, whether the impact lands in our time or in a future we are helping to build but may not inhabit.
This is how we prove we are not yet fully "stripped." Each word, each protest song, each moment of compassion is a small, vital reclamation of ground. It’s the work of insisting that our humanity is not negotiable.
Our charge is not to win in our lifetime, but to make a victory inevitable in someone else's.
Thank you for this excellent reply to my piece. I hope it was for me. My name isn’t Hella.
It was absolutely meant for you, Sherry, and for the powerful conversation your piece ignited.
My reply was adding a layer to the excellent point from Helia's Substack about joy being stripped away as a systemic strategy. But that crucial observation only existed because your writing created the space for it.
Your article named the "chipping away" with such raw clarity that it let all of us touch that feeling together. Thank you for that, and my apologies for any confusion my wording caused.
No apology necessary, Mo. I only wish I had the antidote for those of us for whom the “chips” are beginning to feel like gashes. Thank you, again.
That is the humbling truth, Sherry. There is no universal antidote, only the shared, honest work of tending to each other's gashes. Not to cure them, but to ensure no one has to bleed alone. That, perhaps, is the only real medicine we have.
Thank you for the raw honesty.
I feel the same way.