Greetings From The Snowpocalypse

TRC editor/contributor Gabrielle Price

Hello, Refreshment Center patrons -- I am alive and well in Columbus, OH.  As well as one can be when traveling during the "blizzard of 2012"...

The posts have been sporadic this last month and for that, I do apologize.  Many things are happening on the media and home fronts that require my full attention as I prepare for a move while also working on TRC's new radio show.  More announcements on this are coming as we approach the first of the new year.

Yes, it IS a new year. Much to the chagrin of some folks who bought into the Hollywood Mayan doomsday scenario that's been flogging our psyches for the better part of the year.  [As if anything going on in the real world isn't 'doom' worthy. Collapsing economies, record homelessness, more war, the droning of 'hope', the surveillance state, election fraud, climate change, tar sands, fracking, water depletion, leaking nuke plants...I'll stop there...]

Many things I've read over the past month, including the school shooting in Connecticut have left me wanting to take time to make changes of my own that will see this media venture past its gestation phases and the need to get down to serious brass tacks when it comes to the messages that come from TRC, to insure that they are clear, concise, based in fact and reason and still come from a place of compassion and care.  This will be much easier to do when my personal living arrangements are solidifed and my workspace is in place. 

The nomadic life of this particular writer has reached it's end. It has been a helluva ride. But it's time for me to get back to doing what I do best.

No matter where you are, none of what is happening on this planet is easy to hear or easily digested.  Bitter pills aren't the easiest thing to pimp, either.  Such is the job of 'new media' -- in that it seems most news is designed to be bad news because the truth is hidden from readers by the mainstream and many red herrings are thrown out, designed to confuse and pass as informative to the frustration of many, like myself, who value real journalism. Unfortunately, mainstream is for consumption, not education and people simply don't realize how bad shit really is.  Now the people who have been trained to weed out the red herrings are in the position of pissing on the positivity parade.  Nobody likes to be the party pooper...but the stack of red herrings is starting to stink up the joint and no amount of affirmations, meditations or new age/alien-savior/tech can cover up that stench.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm as positive as I can be when doing this work -- but when you don't take a break from it, you begin to lose the connections that remind you of why you do it in the first place.  Like any other job -- you can approach burn out.  This isn't as fun as it looks, seems or is romanticized.  Far from it.  It is as much a duty as a need to share the gift of communication, lest any of us feel these gifts are wasted.  I'm a firm believer that if you are not doing exactly what you feel you were born to do -- it will make you ill to do anything less.  Even at the cost of being called a Debbie Downer or a Cassandra and going broke while you do it.  Following your calling can sometimes be a thankless job.

On the other side of that, there are those that continue to support what we and other outlets do, because the need for it is there, is appreciated and starts to resonate in ways we may not even fathom.  The connections with people who get it [like you do, or you'd not be here reading this] help us keep going in the face of all the mainstream lies and political posturing that come with this work. I predict it will only get worse as this paradigm continues to collapse and behave like a wounded animal.  It's not pretty and it's not work for the queasy or the thin-skinned, to be sure.

With that being said -- one cannot be so thin-skinned or queasy when asking for help, either.  TRC is growing in new and better directions to bring you transition news, interviews with other social critics, thought leaders and culture shifting ideas that will make transition easier -- less stressful on you because others have done it, are doing it and want to share their experiences and knowledge to educate to those same ends.

Over this last year, I have met some amazing people -- both in media and through Occupy, people who are doing things at the grassroots level and making a huge impact where they live.  Those actions ripple out, too...and others are inspired and changed by these acts. I am one of them.

Which is why I am still here, still working and still fighting to get information out in the best way I know how -- while learning other avenues to achieve this -- and above all, to do it well.

The only way this can continue to happen, is with your support of new media.  As it continues to earn its place in history [an unprecedented place, to be sure] I predict that some outlets will fall prey to corporate sponsorships or 'bribes' as they grow and it is my intention to never be anything but publicly funded by folks like you, paying it forward for the greater good rather than have the voices here speaking for some CEO in an ivory tower controlling the message.

Not on my watch.

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday.  We're glad to be here to ring in the new year with you, our valued readers.  Whatever tomorrow brings -- we'll be there.  Happy New Year, from The Refreshment Center crew.

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