How to stay sane

Dear friends,

Earlier this week, I received a text from someone who works with a population that’s been targeted hard by President Trump. It was a screenshot of a new edict from the federal government. “Every day, we are handed some fresh new hell,” she wrote.

We are living in stressful days. The firehose of news has life-and-death consequences for communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, federal workers—not to mention anyone who cares about climate change and global health. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, even without the Los Angeles fires and this week’s plane crash.

I’m trying not to. I’m writing about a community in the president’s crosshairs, and I am by nature an empath. It has taken a deliberate effort to preserve my emotional well-being. One key has been continuing to live my life: sharing meals with friends, going to concerts, taking my dog on play dates.

Dan Savage, the love-and-sex columnist, recently advised readers not to let the news cycle suck joy from their lives. “Anyone who tells you that making time for joy — however you define it — is a distraction or a betrayal has no idea what they’re talking about,” he wrote. “During the darkest days of the AIDS Crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced at night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did.”

Some advice of my own:

1. Get your national news from a handful of credible sources. Trust real journalists. I read The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic regularly. But some days that’s too much, and so I listen to just one story: whatever Michael Barbaro or Sabrina Tavernise has chosen for The Daily podcast. Twenty minutes a day is manageable.

2. Chose a state and/or local news source. Read it regularly. Support it financially. I am fortunate to live in North Carolina, where The Assembly publishes thoughtful, deeply researched reporting (including stories by me). If I lived elsewhere, I might be a devoted reader of The Lens or Verite News in New Orleans, The Texas Tribune, The Colorado Sun, MLK50 in Memphis, Belt Magazine in the Midwest, or Mississippi Today. Good journalism takes time and costs money, so please subscribe or donate.

3. Find a journalism non-profit that focuses on your area of interest. Care about climate change? Read Inside Climate News or Grist. Criminal justice? The Marshall Project is for you. Food systems and the environment? There’s amazing reporting coming out of the Food & Environment Reporting Network, for which I occasionally write. If you want to read deep investigative reporting on a variety of topics, consider ProPublica. Again, these organizations can use your support.

Don’t know which journalism to support? Former Washington Post columnist Radley Balko offers some great advice here.

4. Don’t read every meme and random social media post. They’re make your blood pressure spike and might not even be true.

5. Find a reliable self-care reminder. I’m on Bluesky, and one of the journalists I follow is Karen K. Ho. Her feed includes a regular warning against doomscrolling.

Plus, articles I’ve been reading (national edition):

• This interactive feature on The Green Book, a guide for Black travelers during segregation, first published in 1936. It uses interactive maps to tell stories about the safe harbors in New England. By Emily Sweeney, Tiana Woodard, and their colleagues at The Boston Globe.

• Writer Melissa Sanchez and photographer Benjamin Rasmussen on the possessions that Nicaraguan farm workers, factory workers, cooks, and dishwashers are boxing up and sending home in anticipation of deportation.

• Photographer Ayman Oghanna on the many journalists hiding from the stigma of mental illness and addiction.

• Joshua Kaplan’s story about a young gay man who infiltrated several militia organizations, moved up the leadership ranks, and then leaked a trove of secret documents.

• Derek Thompson on the growing isolation that many Americans experience.

What I’ve been reading (North Carolina edition):

• Carli Brosseau on the sheriff who has promoted some of President Trump’s most controversial ideas around immigration.

• Doug Bock Clark’s ongoing reporting on the efforts by a Republican judicial candidate in North Carolina to toss out 60,000 votes.

• John Drescher remembering the two moms who took on Senator Jesse Helms after their sons died of AIDS.

And what I’ve been listening to:

•  I almost didn't listen to "The Good Whale," the new Serial podcast series, because I was afraid my heart would crack irreparably. But Daniel Alarcón is a tender and trustworthy storyteller, not to mention a fine journalist. And the series, about the real-life effort to re-wild the orca who starred in "Free Willy," is beautifully produced and scored.

•  Andrea Gibson’s spoken-word poem “MAGA Hat in the Chemo Room,” from 2023, hits me hard every time. 

As for me? I’m continuing to do slow journalism about pressing issues, so you’ll see my next article this spring. I’m off X, but Bluesky feels more civil. Find me at https://barryyeoman.bsky.social/.

All best,
Barry Yeoman