Five New Steps for the New Year
By Wayne Alan Brenner, Fri., Jan. 7, 2022
Because culture is, ultimately, based in community – and community is all of us, interacting: creators, participants, audiences, people. Because, sometimes, we need to be reminded of even basic truths, and there's nothing like a viscerally direct ritual to drive that truth home. May these five new steps begin your journey through 2022 with a bold and joyful choreography.
1) Stand in your kitchen and rub an ice cube against your scalp until that ice cube is gone.
2) Let the resultant water trickle down your neck and into your shirt.
3) Shout, "I am baptized anew by my own cold hand! I am baptized anew by my own cold hand! I am baptized anew by my own cold hand!"
4) Forgive yourself for any mistakes you've made in the past 12 months.
5) Forgive yourself completely for those mistakes, no matter how big or small they might have been, and remember that you are worthy, that you have always been worthy, that you will always be worthy, of love.
