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& #39;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& #39;t (don& #39;t want to) see that BLM is all about HUMAN RIGHTS!
Yet they all LOVE the fun and frivolity of today& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😁" title="Grinsendes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Grinsendes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen"> 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 https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😉" title="Zwinkerndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Zwinkerndes Gesicht">
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✌" title="Siegeshand" aria-label="Emoji: Siegeshand">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Erhobene Faust" aria-label="Emoji: Erhobene Faust"> 10/