Breathe!
With so much happening, just making it through another week feels like a cause for celebration. There seems to be a new crisis, or some unprecedented event every five minutes. It’s easy to be sucked into a doom spiral of worry and despair.
One thing we should all remember is that would-be authoritarians aim to “flood the zone,” bombarding us with a firehose of information. They throw so many distractions at us that we feel overwhelmed. It’s important to remember that we don’t need to follow every cellphone notification. We’re not responsible for monitoring every piece of nonsense. Remember, we’re in a marathon, not a sprint.
This clip from Brittany Packnett Cunningham’s “Undistracted” podcast provided a helpful bit of insight. After giving her unvarnished view on “merit,” Dr. Brittney Cooper of Rutgers outlines how we should approach the next four years.
Some housekeeping 🧹
In case you missed it, through the end of Black History Month you can upgrade to a paid subscription at a 20% discount that lasts for as long as you’re a paid subscriber. So, until the end of the month, an annual subscription is reduced from $50 to $40, and a monthly subscription is reduced from $5 to $4.
Paid subscriptions make it possible to keep this newsletter open to all, so if you’d like to support my work and are able, please consider an upgrade.
For folks who would like to offer one-time support, I’m adding “Buy me a coffee” links, which function like a tip jar. Whatever you choose, your support is much appreciated.
Mark your calendar 📆
Looking ahead to next week, I have some interesting stuff coming down the pike so be sure to mark your calendars.
Tuesday, February 11, at 7:30 PM EST, I’ll be a guest on Will Fullwood’s “Contraband Wagon” for a conversation on race.
I’ll talk with Will regarding my evolution in terms of how I think about race, the experience of being one of the few Black traders on Wall Street, and the current racial climate in America. Here are some links related to the livestream event:
Thursday, February 13, at 7:00 PM EST I’m hosting a livestream with Ahmed Baba. In addition to his Substack newsletter, Ahmed is a columnist for The Independent and a co-founder of Rantt.
Some of you may recognize Ahmed from his frequent appearances on MSNBC. Before I started this newsletter, he published one of my first articles as an independent writer in Rantt, so I’m excited about this conversation.
This week Substack announced that, in addition to mobile, streaming live events is now available on desktop. For those who prefer a bigger screen, now you have options.
Well, only 1,443 days to go.