“Fine Personally, but Armageddon Pressing In”
Dear Friends,
I remember in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, reading a facebook post from the writer Rebecca Solnit, where she said she’d been searching for a simple phrase that could sum up a complicated feeling: “I’m fine personally but armageddon is pressing in and I feel it … I’ve been continuously empathically distressed, morally troubled, and full of foreboding and worry. Clearly a lot of us need some kind of compact reference to this common situation.” I think Rebecca Solnit had it right–we need another word in the English language to explain a feeling that many of us have been holding, and was certainly my predominant feeling this past year at the Center for the Working Poor.
In this year’s Center for the Working Poor Newsletter, the Center Update, titled “Surrender and Become Attentive,” describes Paul Engler’s journey in learning to navigate rapidly changing circumstances, resulting in a new project called Community Counseling. You can read about it here.
During the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic, Paul wrote an article titled “Coronavirus is a Historic Trigger Event,” which reached tens of thousands of people, and was republished on dozens of news outlets. Following this publication, Paul was interviewed by a variety of different organizations and publications. This issue of the Newsletter features an excerpt from Paul’s interview with Vice Magazine.
The Newsletter also includes the House Journal, describing our community’s activities this past year. Read about it here.
For all those who have been part of our community this year, we want to express our deep gratitude for your support and friendship.
–Paul Engler