It's been a year when I've all but let go of the idea of myself as a music journalist, yet I started the year with two personal favorites from that work. Thank you Chris Lester and Michelle Bacon for giving me the chance to write about two albums and bands that changed my life:
The Clash, who played as big a role as anyone in giving me a sense of my own time and place in the world, and that band's great album London Calling--
And the Pedaljets, who, in 1987, were the first KC band who sent me sprawling for pencil and paper and whose 33 year long friendship has served to keep me asking all of the essential questions over and over again in reference to their work--
Quarantine brought on a lot of reflection, captured in two different interviews, a long video-taped talk with the great poet Matt Sedillo, whose compelling book Mowing Leaves of Grass I'm still processing--
And then an enormously in-depth dialogue with the wonderful Chinese reporter Rong Zhou. No one's ever gotten me to talk so freely about so much--
Finally, in October, I got the chance to reflect with my college on the book that first told me I had to write--
I did some good work in an effort to support the most on-time/exciting local organization I've ever seen, KC Tenants, particularly through the outlet of the movement paper The People's Tribune, which allowed me to profile my hero Tiana Caldwell--
As well as celebrate the life of one of the first hard losses (for me personally) to COVID-19--
I spent most of my time collectivizing the thought and experience of members of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, putting out half a dozen copies of our paper Rally Comrades and 26 weekly articles highlighting a "Ray of Light Inside the Pandemic"--
Meanwhile, I made a series of pandemic playlists, that started off as an assessment of things past that I needed to hear right now and evolved into the 2020 singles that most speak to the moment for me. I've written about only four of those here, but I will return over the holidays.
I worry a great deal about my mother, who has been alone and quarantined for most of her 84th year; my brother, who looks after her and, despite his own high-risk status, works in public schools helping the kids who most need that one-on-one help at a time like this. I worry about all my dear friends in the schools and hospitals facing this threat head-on every day.
And I also juggle worry and pride thinking about my eldest daughter, who not only fought on the front lines in an assisted living facility throughout the year but also managed to become a Licensed Practical Nurse during this time.
Both of my daughters inspire me every day, as do my friends. (Everyone says this, but I do have the best friends in the world.) So, though I'm not done with this year, I go into 2021 with a renewed sense of priorities, and though they certainly involve writing, they rest upon my love and appreciation for all of the wonderful people in my life and all of the wonderful work going on around me. In this unluckiest of times, I know I have boundless gifts to be thankful for, starting with anyone who would bother reading this post, and culminating in the opportunity to do more and better work in the year ahead.
