2019 New Year’s Resolution

2018 New Year’s Resolution

While I have some friends who dislike New Year’s Resolutions, I like them because I spend a lot of time around the end of the year reflecting on my work and my goals.

Here’s my 2019 New Year’s Resolution:

• Stay consistent

As far as this website goes, my biggest regret of 2018 is allowing myself to get knocked off course by movement drama in March and effectively ceasing to write here until July.  It’s a shame because we got off to such a strong start in January and February. Anyway, I am determined not let that happen again.

• Avoid movement drama

I’m not going to get sucked back into that black hole again. I’ve learned my lesson.

• Avoid Antifa

In 2018, I think I spent far too much time on these losers. I don’t have any regrets about doxing them, but I would have been better off writing about the subjects that interest me than feeding trolls.

• Pass on activism

In 2018, I wanted to take a big step back from public activism. I think that was the right move. Over the past five years, I’ve been to dozens of rallies and demonstrations. I’ve grown tired of them. I enjoyed participating in the Hurricane Michael relief effort. I enjoyed the real world meetups. The Yellow Vests movement in France shows how protests and rallies need to emerge organically from the public. We’ve spent years trying to accelerate this process while absorbing the costs. It is time to move on.

• Book reviews

I wrote a couple of these between March and June when I wasn’t updating the site much. I plan to do more of them in 2019 while keeping the site updated with news.

• Punditry

We will continue to follow and analyze Trump’s erratic and disappointing administration although I think most people now agree we won the argument. We’ve been following Trump for four years now. The novelty has long since worn off. Hopefully, we can dial this back and focus more on other topics.

• History

The Black History Month 2018 series was one of things I enjoyed doing most this year. In February, we will pick up where we off and further explore black history in Africa and the Caribbean.

• Social Networks

In 2018, I made good on my promise to rebuild my network on Gab. I took a break from that in November. OD will be returning in some form to Gab, Facebook and Twitter.