🎃 October Recap
We served 167 cups of free tea in October!
Our October Recap includes:
📰 Bushwick Daily profile
🌬️ Cooling Down
But first, an upcoming event in November:
🗣️ The Ramble (link)
Introducing a new event: The Ramble! We'll be exploring the topic of exchanges via a tea ceremony, an interactive audio collage, and an item swap! Co-hosted with Nick and Zack. Get your tickets here!
🗓️ November 13 // 7pm // Greenpoint // $0-15
All upcoming events can be found on the Calendar.
📰 The Tea Stand featured in Bushwick Daily
On September 8th, I hosted a Popup in Maria Hernandez Park, as I do every Second Sunday of the month. About halfway thru the day, I met someone named Greta. We chatted about her recent move to Bushwick, shared some tea, and then she was on her way.
A month later, I checked my email and read a subject line I'd long wished for: Bushwick Daily Profile Request. And who was the email from? Greta!
Thus, in early October, we found ourselves once again sharing a cup of tea in Maria Hernandez Park, though this time Greta was the one asking the questions. We chatted for over an hour about The Tea Stand's origin story, how it's evolved, and why we serve free tea.
You can read the full profile here :) let me know what you think!
Greta Solsaa
When I first moved to Bushwick almost three years ago, Bushwick Daily was my unofficial guide to the neighborhood – it was how I learned of local events, the best food spots, and community issues and organizations. In those early days, I relied on Bushwick Daily (and long winter walks) to get a sense for what was happening here.
So, I was incredibly excited when Greta reached out to profile The Tea Stand.
Alongside this excitement, however, was doubt. I doubted my ability to effectively communicate The Tea Stand's varied programming, why we started our Membership program, and the values behind all we do. The Tea Stand is constantly changing and it's an unorthodox project, both of which make it hard to explain. Plus, being in front of a camera or microphone is intimidating!
I also doubted whether the profile would be worthwhile. Previous articles have fallen short of my expectations, portraying The Tea Stand in a more-superficial, less-radical light. (I'm sure I deserve much of the blame!) It's absurd and hilarious that to date, the best profile of The Tea Stand is in Japanese.
God bless the Japanese morning news program series that spotlights niche NYC subcommunities like The Tea Stand.
Inspired by my doubt, I took some steps that I'd been too apprehensive to take with previous reporters – inquiring about the interview questions in advance, asking to see the article before it goes live, even suggesting edits. Each of these felt like an overstep, but Greta was super understanding and helpful; the whole process felt mutual.
And I'm glad I advocated for myself! I went into the interview feeling more prepared and most of my suggestions on the article were accepted, resulting in a more accurate representation of The Tea Stand.
All this to say: I'm happy with how it came out. Do I wish a few sentences were reworked? Absolutely. (The language of "selling" memberships makes me cringe.) Does it bother me that the article refers to The Tea Stand and "his tea stands"? You bet. Am I always going to have critical feedback about an article written about something so near and dear to me? Yes!
Beyond all of this, it's an honor to be profiled by the very publication that first welcomed me into my new neighborhood, a neighborhood which has become my home. Plus, my mom loved the article, and what matters more than that?
I'm also grateful for the very existence of hyperlocal news and independent publications. Support local media!
🌬️ Burning Out -> Cooling Down
October was a relatively slow month for me and The Tea Stand. I started the month by hosting 6 events in 9 days, but after that, I spent more time working on my laptop and less time biking around serving tea, a significant change of pace following my hyperactive September.
September had been an intense month: I worked "weekends" (Fridays and Saturdays, for me) to serve chai at Flood Sensor Aunty, poured 20+ hours of energy into the first batch of The Tea Boxes, and managed to still put on all of our typical monthly programming (e.g. Popups, Distros, Steeped in Sound). Despite the weather cooling down, I was heating up and approaching that dreaded state: burnout.
My early symptoms of burnout were a blend of fatigue and obsession. I was constantly exhausted and wanted to rest, but I couldn't slow down and actually recover, even when rare opportunities to relax appeared. If I wasn't serving tea, I was on my bike about to be. And if I wasn't on my bike, I was thinking about when I needed to get back on it.
In other words: I found my limit. I knew I'd find it eventually, and I'm grateful to be in a position where I can respond accordingly: cool down for a while and re-align myself with the seasons.
Does this mean I'll never have a month like September again? Probably not. But it does mean I can be more mindful and intentional about similar situations in the future. Sometimes pushing yourself past your limit is part of the journey (shoutout all the NYC marathon runners!). But as my therapist reminds me, it's important to feel agency in that decision.
So what has "cooling down" actually looked like? Lots of writing and reading. Here are some things I focused on in October:
- A Brooklyn Arts Council grant application.
Like most grants I've come across, this grant is project-based, meaning I need to propose a well-defined project and can only use the grant's funds to cover project costs. I'm gonna keep the project a secret for now, but I will say that April 2025 will likely be the biggest month in The Tea Stand's history...
Generally, I see most grant applications as a poor use of my energy, given the likelihood of rejection, but a few friends in our community suggested I apply to this one in particular, so I'm giving it a go.
I've spent about 20 hours on the app and will be submitting it by the end of the week, wish me luck!
- Issue #2 of bōcha, our biannual zine.
It's been about four months since we published and distributed our very first issue of bōcha, our biannual zine that we author and design.
While I was happy with how the first issue came out (read: relieved I hadn't bungled the print file in Figma), there's now enough distance for me to look at it with a more critical eye. The biggest issue from my perspective: it's too brief. It's 8 pages long and each page is standalone, which makes it digestible but shallow.
This second issue will be about triple the length of the first and will feature a widely-demanded "Popup Recap" – a creative retelling of a day of serving tea in a public park. In the early days of The Tea Stand, I wrote Popup Recaps all the time, but it required too much effort to keep up with. This'll be my first since January!
In addition to the Popup Recap, issue #2 of bōcha will (hopefully) showcase some broader improvements: nicer paper, a more structured layout, and cleaner design. Excited to share more soon!
Steepers will receive a copy of bōcha issue #2 on the winter solstice, everyone else can get a copy at our January events.
- Reading!
I read four books in October, two of which are incredibly inspirational and relevant to The Tea Stand: The Sum of Us (Heather McGhee) and Humankind (Rutger Bregman).
The Sum of Us explains how racism is the fundamental cause of all the US' anti-public-good antics. From swimming pools to health care to housing, white Americans have deliberately destroyed these public programs with a "zero-sum" mentality: if Black people benefit, white people will suffer. The good news: this isn't true (yay abundance mindset!). The bad news: white people think it is. The solution: solidarity and interracial organizing.
Humankind is somewhat similar in that it explores why humans treat each other poorly, but from a more fundamental perspective, investigating the classic question: are humans naturally good or bad? Bregman debunks countless myths we've have told ourselves about our natural tendency to be evil and makes a strong case for a society built on trust instead of fear. I have a looooooot to say about this book, but I'm gonna save it for a write-up which I'll include in issue #2 of bōcha.
🍵
Ahhhhh. It feels good to have space in my brain again.
Thank you for reading!
November at a glance: getting ready for The Ramble, hosting our next volume of Steeped in Sound (announcement soon!), and putting the finishing touches on the grant app and issue #2 of bōcha.
Thanks to all those who donated tea in October: Mushroom Tea Party, Naqiya, and Sonia.
Keep Steeping,
Miles
Member discussion