Mercy, I'm Tender

Holding Space For Healing + Health

After the last 48 hours, I need a little break. A small reset.

Nothing major. Just stepping back from heavy thoughts and big feelings.

For the next few days, I will focus on being lighter, steadier, and gentler with my mind and body. No wellness retreats or complicated routines. Just some quiet time while I follow through on work I had already planned for this week.

I’m learning that caring for my mental and physical health often looks less like addition and more like subtraction. It is about making room for rest, gentleness, and simple tasks that bring me back to center.

“Holding Space” often gets talked about in woo-woo ways that sound too lofty or aspirational. For me, right now, it looks like closing the laptop earlier, giving myself permission to meditate (and nap) more, moving my body in ways that feel good, and letting silence be silence instead of trying to drown it out with noise.

My goal is to re-enter my life with more energy, more patience, and more clarity.

So I’ll still be around, just quieter. Slower. Focused on healing and health.

The world will keep spinning while I tend to my head and my heart. And when I step back into the daily routine, I hope to be more present and more myself.

Thank you for being a friend!
Clint 🌈

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SUBSTACKS = FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Coach Ricky Vaughan // Ford Knows Books // Gay Buffet // Okay McKay // PalCinema, Television, & Music // Qstack // Sitting Queerly // Social Media Escape Club // That Trans Friend You Didn't Know You Needed // The Caftan Chronicles // The Queer Love Project // Undividing with Karl Dunn

ON THIS DAY = AUGUST 21

BIRTHDAYS

• 1872 = Aubrey Beardsley = English illustrator and author 🌈

• 1904 = Count Basie = American pianist, composer, and bandleader

• 1906 = Friz Freleng = American animator, director, and producer

• 1928 = James Gruber = American teacher and activist 🌈

• 1932 = Melvin Van Peebles = American actor and filmmaker

• 1936 = Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo = Spanish aristocrat 🌈

• 1936 = Wilt Chamberlain = American basketball player and coach

• 1938 = Kenny Rogers = American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor

• 1939 = Clarence Williams III = American actor

• 1943 = Hugh Wilson = American actor and filmmaker

• 1943 = Patrick Demarchelier = French photographer

• 1944 = Peter Weir = Australian filmmaker

• 1945 = Patty McCormack = American actor

• 1949 = Loretta Devine = American actor and singer

• 1956 = Kim Cattrall = English-Canadian actor

• 1958 = Steve Case = American businessman and America Online co-founder

• 1960 = Miguel Vale de Almeida = Portuguese anthropologist, and activist 🌈

• 1962 = Cleo King = American actor 🌈

• 1975 = Alicia Witt = American actor and musician

• 1979 = Kelis = American singer-songwriter, producer, chef and author

• 1989 = Hayden Panettiere = American actor

• 1990 = Bo Burnham = American comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker and poet

• 1992 = RJ Mitte = American actor

EVENTS

• 1770 = James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

• 1869 = Walt Whitman wrote to Peter Doyle on this date: “My love for you is indestructible, and since that night and morning has returned more than before.”

ART PRINT = WALT WHITMAN & HIS REBEL SOLDIER FRIEND PETE DOYLE BY MOSES P. RICE (WASHINGTON, D.C. - 1865)

• 1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.

• 1983 = La Cage Aux Folles opens on Broadway—at the Palace Theatre—to rave reviews and $4 million in advance ticket sales.

• 1987 = Dirty Dancing is released in theaters.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• National Hazy IPA Day

• World Senior Citizens Day

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PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY

PATRICK DEMARCHELIER

“Beauty is in the character of a person. It's about having an interesting face and about what's inside. Anyone can take a good picture.”
Patrick Demarchelier