Darlings,
I don’t know about you, but I needed a break from national news and the unsettling feeling that we might not be able to stop our country’s slide into the horrors of whatever Trumpistas have planned for after the election.
To that end, I did several things this week that helped protect my mental ability to continue the struggle and I’d like to share them with you because they’re so goddammed positive I’m radiating joy through my clenched teeth and tear stained face right now:
- I started every day this week with a sob on the way to work (sorry, other commuters on Route 28. I forget that you can also see me ugly cry at 9:30 in the morning because windshield glass is transparent) or in front of the TV. I disconcerted my husband a little with letting him know that I was having this reaction to eleven perfectly lovely people being murdered in their place of worship, but then reminded him that normal human beings cry at stuff that is horrific, tragic and completely preventable. What I’m saying is, I’m not a fucking snowflake for being sad and letting that emotion out. I’m a healthy person and you are too, if you have similar emotions about shootings, bombings and other violence perpetrated on people.
In response to this, I reached out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time. This included a friend who lives in Pittsburgh and works at a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization. Not only was it a relief to realize that she was ok and her beloved city was as safe as it was going to be, (“We’re safe. Don’t worry. There’s Israeli massad-looking guards and FBI everywhere.”), but that there are so many things to do to assist. Specifically, look at the suggestions on the webpage of the fine organization she works for here: www.jfcspgh.org/communitysupport. Or, you can support HIAS, the group specifically called out by a coward radicalized online and by our sad, my-father-didn’t-really-love-me, dumpster-fire-in-chief here: https://www.hias.org/. Also, maybe just go be a human by reaching out to your local synagogue and seeing what they need. I bet they’d appreciate it and you’d get the feels.
- On Thursday, we went to the movies like we did before the world started falling apart around us. The movie? Bohemian Rhapsody. I don’t care how inaccurate it was. I needed it. Freddie Mercury is the rock god by which all other rock gods will be judged. I’m sure there are many people who will analyze it better than I will, but my takeaways were that things that make us different can sometimes make us extraordinary; love is what binds us all together and makes us better; communication is hard for all families, but it’s totally worth having difficult conversations and calling people out on their bullshit when it hurts you; LGBTQ people create so much space for the rest of us to be whatever it is we’re going to be (not to put the burden of being magic rainbow unicorns on every LGBTQ person or indicating that your existence should be a benefit to me, just ham-fistedly trying to express gratitude); and the ‘70’s were the pinnacle of human artistic expression as far as I can tell. Also, maybe that is linked to terrible excesses. I don’t know. It’s the opinion of a partial and ignorant historian.
- I spent the better part of Saturday morning reading our local newspapers. Not the Washington Post—Loudoun Now and the Loudoun Times Mirror. There were no less than a dozen articles in each paper about how the community is working on issues and support each other in difficult times. If all you do is read or listen to the national news, you’d think the country is only voter suppression and violence. The closer you get to the local, the more you are reminded most of us are decent people just trying to make it through. Additionally, work at the local level is sometimes the most potent. The point I’m trying to make is support your local press. It will be there when you need it if you do.
- I ate my vegetables. I’m serious; all of this resisting takes a lot of vitamins and minerals. Eating junk food last week was seriously draining. Eating vegetables this week made everything better.
- I donated to campaigns, walked a packet, solicited for other people’s campaigns and did what I could for the races this year. It matters. It all matters. Ask the Dems in Shelley Simond’s district if they wished they had walked one more packet, spent one more hour on the phones, written another stack of postcards and I bet the answer you will get is, “Yes. A thousand times, yes”. Democracy hinges on every vote. You may feel more in control of the direction this ridiculousness if you participate in whatever way you are able.
I’m now going to go shower, put on a fancy dress, and go to the Freedom Fund Dinner Banquet with Chris. It is hosted by the Loudoun County chapter of the NAACP, where some of the best people in the county will also be in fancy dresses and nice suits to raise money for the protection of everyone’s civil liberties and scholarships. Not a bad Saturday night and cap to a week that has needed positivity.
I adore you,
Amanda