BONUS: "All Good Things Must Come to an End..."
Dear listeners of Coffee with Comrades, with special regard to the wonderful folks who support this program on Patreon, Hello! I hope that the autumnal season has brought crisp, cool air and abundant joy to you and yours. I write to you today with a bittersweet sense of pride and melancholy to announce Coffee with Comrades is officially coming to an end. Although I know I don’t “owe” anyone an explanation, I thought it wise—for both my own peace-of-mind and for the wonderful community that has sprung up around this show—to offer a bit of insight into my thought process on the matter and why I eventually came to this decision. Coffee with Comrades got its start in June of 2018. I had recently moved back to Orlando, FL and was hanging out with my friend, Bree. She said, “Pearson, y’know what? We should start a podcast and name it Coffee with Comrades!” and (for better or worse) that’s exactly what we did. Over the 5+ years this show has been online, a lot has changed. History has happened, carrying each of us with it inexorably. A global pandemic shuttered windows, closed doors, and swept us all into quarantine. A massive, anti-racist uprising rocked the U.S. Strikes were won. Wars ravaged. Here at Coffee with Comrades, we have gone through multiple co-hosts. I met authors, musicians, artists, and the hosts of other podcasts and radio shows who I had long respected and finally got to befriend. I’ve broken bread with these folks, slept over at their homes, and turned to them for advice in times of need. I linked up with listeners all across the U.S. and became dear friends with many of them. We cultivated a joyful, wholesome, queer community on Discord where many have half-jokingly said, “I was cis when I got here!” In the end, if it weren’t for this silly little program, I would never have met my partner, Megan, and fallen in love. For a long, long time now, Coffee with Comrades has been an integral facet of my life. I’m in a different place in 2023 than I was in 2018. I am a partner and a parent now. I am teaching full-time. Over the past year, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how Coffee with Comrades factors into my life. As many of you know, I graduated in May ‘23 with a PhD in Literature, Media, and Culture. Bree and I started this show about the same time I got accepted to teach at Florida State University. With each passing year, that degree took more and more of a toll on my mental health. In the end, it got to a point where I loathed the very idea of reading—a pastime that once brought me inexpressible pleasure and euphoria. Although I am slowly starting to get that sense of enjoyment back when it comes to reading, I cannot help but notice that I am starting to feel a similar sense of frustration and, if I am honest, even contempt whenever I think about creating another episode of the podcast. Cycles of burnout and frustration are, on the whole, pretty normal in community-organizing. For a time, I thought that was just what I was going through: the normal pattern of excitement, burnout, then new excitement once again. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time I went through that cycle working on Coffee with Comrades. On several occasions, I have taken breaks from the show to get back into the right mindset. This happened again fairly recently when Megan and I found out one of our dear friends had died. I put the show on hold so I could take care of my partner, our friends, and (importantly) take care of myself. But during that time of contemplation and distance from the show, I felt a disconnect greater than any I had experienced before. I realized I didn’t want to go back to putting out episodes. I did eventually put out another episode (and I am happy with it!) But I was actually low-key dreading getting back into the swing again. As I have said before, putting together a podcast is an enormous amount of work. Booking guests, scheduling recording times, d
