Ryan Rike

On February 22, 1837, President Jackson had a 1,400-pound block of cheese hauled into the main foyer of the White House for an open house with thousands of citizens and his staff, where they discussed the issues of the day while carving off slabs of cheddar.

If you need a good read today, here are some inspiring words from Jason Isaacs. He’s one of my favorite guest actors on the show and this made me tear up a little 🥲 “27 years ago today the sun rose on the first 24 hours I’d had clean of drugs or alcohol in my entire adult life. I didn’t wake up that way because I didn’t wake up. I hadn’t been to bed. To keep away from temptation and to avoid tearing up my floorboards (again), or searching every item of clothing (again) - both surprisingly fruitful over the previous days - I’d spent the entire night naked in a high street sauna with a procession of bemused cab drivers. I had no idea how long it would last but that morning, as I emerged blinking, pink and massively over-cooked, I felt something I hadn’t felt for decades. Hope. I’D got through one night. Who knew what was possible? Why am I telling you? Because whilst I’d given up using social media platforms to try to fight the worst excesses of human and political behaviour, though most of what I see magnified on here is hatred posing as purpose, prejudice disguised as virtue and, most importantly, the total absence of nuance that comes from mob-think, it’s just possible that you might be reading this and be unable to imagine, as I was, a different life for yourself. So I’m writing to say that it’s possible. If you ask for help. You don’t have to do it the way I did, but however far gone you think you are, however irreversible you think your situation is, there’s always a way back. A way forward. A way back to the surface. Always. Just take the first baby step and surrender. Thank you to everyone who helped and continues to help me try and stay sane in an insane world. Often just by laughing at me. It’s not false modesty or humility to say that I couldn’t have done it without you - I tried doing it by myself for years and failed every single time. I’m so grateful to be present in life, even for the awful things, the painful things, the scary things. I ran from them before and now, sometimes, not always, I run at them. I show up. Good luck. You can do it. x” @jasonsfolly