PDX Alliance for Self-Care

This evening I met with the board of Portland's  Alliance for Self-Care in order to make portraits of them for their website. They are a vibrant group of energetic, caring, wise young beings dedicated to making “communities of color, refugees, activists, and other vulnerable and marginalized groups” stronger, healthier, and more resilient. They connect people with resources that enable them to recuperate from burnout or whatever robs them of their energy. They ease the suffering of those who have given more than they had to give, and they offer wise counsel and support so that all can blossom into their own fullness.

I respect the work they do for many reasons, including my own tendency to push too hard, play too little, and dry myself out with overwork, even though I'm retired and all I do is by my own choice. As I watched them work together, I felt great optimism that their generation is going to be kinder to themselves than my generation was. If they can manage that, they will do more than we did, with more joy. I wish that for them.

I had no photographic lights, just a lamp from the place where they were meeting and a painting that happened to be on the wall in the room where they met: but I think it turned out pretty well. This young person gave me permission to post this photograph. I sit with the photographs and tears of joy well up in my eyes. This is the world to come.