Upcoming event: Self-Care Saturday at Jax Arboretum

Take a break and clear your mind with Jax DSA. Join us for a gentle hike and self-care discussion in the great outdoors. Group will match your pace. Pets and family welcome!
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WHERE: Jacksonville Arboretum, 1445 Millcoe Rd. [map]
WHEN: Saturday, May 20, 9:30 a.m. meet at parking lot, 10 a.m. start walk
Bring water, closed shoes and a hat.

• Parking is $3 and must be paid at the front gate via cash, Paypal (QR), or Venmo (QR). Please reach out to jacksonvilledsa@gmail.com for financial assistance. Facilities at the trailhead parking lot include bathrooms, water bottle refill station, picnic tables, and benches.

• No ticks yet this season at the Arboretum, but biting bugs are out. If you’re prone to getting bitten/stung, we will have standard hiking insect repellant on site. If you’d prefer a natural alternative, please BYOBugspray.

• Our path is shady, but it is already VERY humid this season. Hydrate and wear breathable layers, or bring a change of clothes for anything you’d like to do post-meetup.

• Our path starts with Lake Loop (0.3 mi), a paved trail that curves around Lake Ray. There are lots of flowers, benches, informative signs, and sights to explore.

Saturday’s Itinerary
Our path starts with Lake Loop (0.3 mi), a paved trail that curves around Lake Ray. There are lots of flowers, benches, informative signs, and sights to explore.
We’ll take a quick diversion along the Live Oak Trail (0.5 mi) to see the Arboretum’s National Champion Loblolly Bay tree. There, we’ll chat in the shade for a few minutes about overcoming the barriers in place to accessing nature. Benches available at this stop.
We finish with two options:
1 - Join us for a more challenging loop, Sand Ridge Trail, exploring a surprising number of Florida’s ecosystems in just one mile. This path is narrower, shaded, and has benches, but is not wheelchair-accessible. 
2- Explore the Arboretum’s main center at your own pace (wheelchair accessible). Enjoy the gardens, flowering raised beds, and more sights along Lake Ray.

Suggested reading
The Revolution Must Be Trauma Informed by Josh Lown, Socialist Forum, Fall 2018
In our talk of revolution, political or otherwise, much of the discussion tends to center around the economic effects on individuals and communities. Spending the past six years working in the nonprofit social services sector, however, has shown me another prominent and important, though less discussed factor: the loss of sense of self and safety as a result of a capitalist economy. This is trauma, but it’s not well understood.

If our ultimate goal as activists is to build a democratic and socialist society, the avenue we must take to get there cannot be solely relegated to the political arena. Putting a narrow focus on gaining power through politics runs the risk of ignoring our communities and those we claim to fight for. The revolution will only truly be won through community engagement, community building, and community consciousness; in short, a political revolution is meaningless without direct and active community building in the process. In order to do this, however, we must understand the realities of our communities, and the impact of capitalism’s ruthless grip on them. Read the full article at Socialist Forum.