"How do you think a story can change a life?" (Laura Flanders to Robert Redford)

"How do you think a story can change a life?" that's what Laura Flanders asked Robert Redford on RadioNation with Laura Flanders Saturday. It led to a wonderful discussion based in facts and philosophy.

We think that's a question we should all ask ourselves.

Don't worry, this isn't a homework assignment.

But in dealing with each and every attempt of the Bully Boy's to destroy the American way of life, there can be a tendancy to lose focus of the long range picture.

That's why one of us loathes a daily paper. (Which one? Guess. Okay, who did you guess? Surprise, it's C.I.) As reporters try to hammer out the most recent development in whatever newly emerging fact or factoid, a larger perspective falls by the wayside.

There comes a time when you need to shut it all off and center.

We hope everyone's actively engaged in the fight to stop the confirmation of Alito to the Court; however, if you're worn out and have nothing to left to give, do the smart thing and take some time for yourself.

Elaine, due to being a "shrink" (she hates that term), gets many of the mental health queries from the community. This week, she heard from a number of members who said, basically, "I'm in this fight against Alito but I'm really burnt out."

Her advice, stay active on this and then take a breather. That might be a few hours, a day or two, or even a week. People need to recharge. Or, as C.I. says, refill the well.

We love Elaine and we'd love to pretend like we were following her advice but there's not a person taking part in this edition that is. There's just too much at stake right now. And that will probably be the case for the forseeable future, barring impeachment of the Bully Boy.

But what we plan to do in the immediate future is the long mentioned best-of edition. That would be where we each pick a favorite feature from the past, write a brief introduction on why we enjoyed it and make that the edition.

Everytime that idea is floated or mentioned, we get e-mails that say, basically, "Great idea, I can't wait to see what you pick, but Ava & C.I. will still do a new TV review, right?"

Wrong. That sort of defeats the purpose to say to Ava and C.I., "Hey, we're going to kick back and get some down time, but you two go to work on a new review or commentary."

For readers who've forgotten, Ava and C.I. have done a TV review every week since this site started. In the beginning, we all worked on them and that lasted about two or three weeks before we realized that Ava and C.I. were better left alone on those. There was one week where they didn't do a TV review but instead took on two print critics. The e-mail reaction was "Great! But where's the TV thing?" Which led to Ava and C.I. doing not one but two TV reviews the following week (on three shows).

Have you noticed a reliance on Thursday and Friday shows? Want to know why? They dread watching TV each week as they think about the expectations readers have of their reviews. Usually around Wednesday, they'll ask each other what they think they can bear watching? It's been over a year and, week in and week out, they've done the reviews. The rest of us can coast or blow something that we all work on together and know it's no big deal, there's always next weekend. But the TV reviews are the most cited feature in the e-mails. They get the most attention, they get the most feedback. They're the calling card for this site.

So when we do get around to doing the best of edition, there will not be a new TV review. We also will ignore the suggestion by Kristen to let Ava and C.I. pick the review. Good suggestion, Kristen, for anyone else. But they loathe their reviews and never read them after they finish writing them. (Ava just said, "Sometimes we don't even read them then. We just toss our thoughts out in what we hope are complete sentences as we try to meet a deadline.") So we'll let someone else pick the review or we'll highlight the one that resulted in the most e-mail.

But Elaine brought up a serious issue and it's burnout. If you're a member who feels you've given everything you have and then some, absolutely, take some time to refocus. You're no good to anyone, including yourself, if you're a walking shell.

Battling the Bully Boy isn't a one day thing or a one week thing. Barring impeachment, we're stuck with him until January 2008. There will be many battles on the horizon. When you need downtime, take it and regroup. It's the smartest and healthiest thing you can do. (None of us claimed to be smart and/or healthy.)

Maybe you just need to let your mind go blank in that time? If so, do so. But if not, think about Laura Flanders' question: "How do you think a story can change a life?"

It's an important one and your answer to it won't only reveal who you are, it will help you figure out where you need to be going.

There are many ways to address issues and problems though we frequently are led to believe that there's only one. But more than the known potential ways are the unknown ones, the ones that haven't been thought up yet. Innovation is to be prized.

So if you need to step away from the table for a moment, and feel guilty about it, remember that you might very well come back to the table with a new way of seeing an issue or a new way of addressing it. You may not. But that's what regrouping and refocusing is all about.

Activism and involvement are important but they go beyond the daily frame. So whether you take time off or not, think about Laura Flanders question and figure out how the stories you tell are important and life changing.