Having been in a pretty dark place mentally lately with the "O" in my OCD in overdrive trying to process the shit show in our country, I forced myself to "turn off" yesterday and spent my entire day listening to my music collection on shuffle while working on my property 1/

In the afternoon "La Vie Boheme" came on. It was my "Ah ha!" moment and I put the RENT sdtk on until I finished up my work for the day. I hungered for more, the DVD went in the player and I took the evening to "escape" back to my mid/late 80s, boots on the grnd, protest days. 2/

What "And The Band Played On" did to document our fight against the gvmt and ignorance, RENT provides a glimpse into the deep loving and supportive community we became. The music, dancing and laughter that gave us a break from our fight also gave us the courage to carry on. 3/

This is what I realized I am missing in today's protest movement; that physical proximity to the protest community.
Back then I lost a lot of friends who thought Gay Rights were "special" rights, who refused to see it was ALWAYS about HUMAN RIGHTS! 4/

30+ years later, I find myself losing friends left and right all over again because they can't (don't want to) see that BLM is all about HUMAN RIGHTS!
Yet they all LOVE the fun and frivolity of today's annual Gay Pride Parades/Fests.
(Racist hypocrites the lot of them!) 5/

I fell asleep watching RENT on repeat, realizing that though I may not have the presence of a physical tribe to lean on when it gets "dark", I'm firm in my belief in the BLM mvmnt and must carry on and find new ways to provide the self-care needed in this new era of protesting 6/

I awoke this morning with the jarring reality that I have 10x more followers (30) on Twitter than friends who will still speak to me after expressing my support for BLM. (I'll never understand why thinking all humans should be treated equally is such a radical fuckin concept!) 7/

Then the Twitter resister-verse gave me the mental health boost I needed!
1st in finding that almost all the actors from RENT (movie) are on Twitter using their voices today to speak out against injustice and 2nd
The confiscation of #ProudBoys by Gay men all over the world! 9/

The point of this thread?
Mental Health!
We all have different ways going about conducting self-care. Protesting our gvmt, injustice and ignorance takes a heavy toll Knowing and performing actions that keep you mentally healthy and renew your spirit are crucial to survival! 9/

Resisters, take care of YOU!! At a time when laughter and joy seem in short supply, seek it out. Find your tribe. Lean on one another. Make time for positive rejuvenating breaks. Oh, and...hydrate
10/