Kali’s Health Journey Update Sunday, September 20, 2026 First, I want to thank everyone who supported me during the acute time of crisis I was facing earlier this year. As a result I was able to enjoy my 54th birthday which isn’t a small feat in my family. My maternal grandfather died at the age of 47 from a heart attack, and my paternal grandfather died at the age 52 from lung cancer. Sadly, this is the story of too many Black men in this empire. But, together, we beat the average conditioned by oppression and the stress tolls it extracts. Unfortunately, evading the ticking time bomb that was in my chest was only the first step in this journey. It’s been more than 4 months now living with the stint, but me and my medical team are still trying to figure out how best to work around my genetic predisposition to LP(a) and my apparent inability to produce good HDL or the so-called “good cholesterol”. The Rapatha medication I’m now taking seems to be reducing my LDL significantly, but we are having to monitor some of the apparent side effects that it and some other meds are having in decreasing aspects of my kidney function. So, more work is yet to be done, and more of your support unfortunately will be needed. Then there are the lifestyle changes that have to be made. Thanks to your help, I now have sufficient exercise and stress reducing aids to lower my stress. But, it’s clear I’m going to have to make some deeper lifestyle changes to reduce it significantly. And it's becoming clear that I can’t keep playing the same organizing and movement building role that I have been playing (or trying to play) the last decade or so. Even on its best days, it has been far too cortisol stimulating in the conditions in Jackson. So, I’m going to have to figure out how to play a new role, and how to earn sufficient income in that new role and in an occupation to make ends meet and cover the outrageous medical expenses I’m likely to incur the rest of my life if we can’t attain universal health care in this country. Before folks leap to the suggestion of education, without a regime change, it’s not likely that I will be able to secure a gainful teaching job when they are actively dismantling higher education and all the educational fields that don’t directly serve the military and the tech lords. That said, I am serving notice to all of you that I’m in the process of figuring this out, applying the discipline to make the adjustment, and that I’m open to your ideas and suggestions regarding new career options I could pursue or what opportunities might be open. So, please keep me in consideration. Sadly, I have to end this update on a note of sadness and heartbreak. On Monday, September 7th, 2026, I lost a close friend and comrade David K. Cobb to tragedy. I have been learning over the last decade to take our mental health seriously, but the tragedy of losing David on account of a mental health crisis has brought the life or death focus of the issue into sharp painful focus for me. And he is not alone. Sadly, there are too many of our people suffering in silence, feeling isolated and alone without the tools, the words, and the relationships to break through the walls. David’s loss has demonstrated to me that I have to make deeper lifestyle changes to avoid a tragedy of my own. His loss and the suffering of too many around me, either from physical issues like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, or mental health issues, like depression, bipolarity, schizophrenia, also draws home more the need for system change. And while these things seem to be opposites, indeed they are not. The sooner we can dismantle capitalism and its perverse logic, the sooner we can live into cultures of care, regeneration and solidarity based on associated production and collective stewardship. So, let’s get to it! chuffed.org/project/177124-s…