“Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine act of insurrection.”
“I cannot do all the good that the world needs // but the world needs all the good I can do.”
Reading the news now triggers a physical stress reaction in my body. I’m not sure when or if this will go away. But today I came across this quote and it eased the tightness in my chest a bit.
Each of us needs to do every good thing we can right now. Every day. Again and again. Even when it gets boring or feels like we’re going nowhere.
Reach outside of yourself and do something that makes you feel uncomfortable or nervous. Posting on Facebook or wearing a safety pin isn’t nearly enough. Do more.
But it doesn’t have to be all things to all people. Make the biggest dent in the best way you can with what you have to offer. Each of us has something to offer and we owe it to ourselves and the rest of the country (and the world, really).
There is no “wait and see” – it’s happening now! Let’s go.
I wrote Hillary a thank you note. Very therapeutic, I highly recommend it.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Post Office Box 5256
New York, NY 10185-5256
Today is Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day here in Canada. In addition to the gratitude and pride I feel for my family who have served and continue to serve in the military, I would like to amplify the voice of a sorority sister of mine.
Melissa’s brother, Jimmy, was killed in action on November 4, 2016 in Jordan. I can’t even fathom the pain she and her family are feeling right now, particularly as they seek answers and justice for his death in the midst of America’s political turmoil.
Please take a moment to read her words. Enough is enough.
Staff Sergeant James “Jimmy” Francis Moriarty via Melissa Moriarty
Here is a collection of lovely things that have been helping me through the past few days. Some of them make me cry (the Gloria quote set me off right away) but all make me a bit more hopeful for the future.
This piece by Lindy West:
“The fact that we lost doesn’t make us wrong; the fact that they don’t believe in us doesn’t make us disappear.”
Gloria Steinem’s real talk:
“The truth has been revealed. The next few years are going to be hell. However, we know from family violence – the paradigm of all violence that isn’t in self-defense – that the most dangerous time is the moment just before or just after escape. This is when a person is most likely to be beaten or killed because she or he is escaping control.”
These words of encouragement from H, much braver than her 20-years on this earth might suggest:
This letter from fictional Parks & Recreation character Leslie Knope:
“The point of the lesson is: people are unpredictable, and democracy is insane.”
And this gem of a feel-good story.
Take care of yourselves and look out for others. We don’t all have the privilege to distract ourselves with Netflix or walk down the street undisturbed right now. I won’t link to some of the truly awful reports of physical and verbal abuse that women and men in this country have been subjected to by Trump supporters (we know they are Trump supporters because they have loudly declared themselves) over the past few days, but it’s happening. And my heart breaks for them. For us.
So take a long nap. Or march in the streets. Or watch cat videos on YouTube. Whatever you need to do right now.
But!
We have to keep moving, even as our hearts are heavy.
Maybe we are about to be free.
Today was awful.
I slept a few fitful hours last night and this morning I woke up only to remember that it wasn’t a nightmare. America really did elect Donald Trump to be president.
I’m still in a bit of shock and a bit of a haze.
I have many concerns and questions. As we all do.
But today. Today I received such loving messages of support and encouragement from non-American friends.
Thank you. Truly, thank you.
Thank you to D, the Brit, who endured the bewilderment of Brexit and said just the right things today.
Thank you to my dear, sweet, ass-kicking lady-friends back at home who raged and cried and lifted each other up today on group texts.
Thank you to my mom, the very best, who I called after listening to Hillary’s concession speech knowing that she would be crying too.
There is much to parse out about what happened yesterday, but that is for another day.
Today, cry and love each other and rest and go for a long walk.
Tomorrow, onwards.
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
This isn’t quite the end but I’m going to bed because this is too painful to watch. I’ve been an increasingly nervous wreck for weeks and everyone assured me “it will be fine.” But I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I just didn’t know it would be this much of a disaster.
There’s a lot of sadness and anger and disbelief coursing through social media right now. At least my social media. I know very well that I predominantly follow liberal friends, journalists, and news outlets. But I knew that no matter how “blue” my bubble it wasn’t reflective of the majority of America.
I just really hoped that people would show up. And they didn’t.
Thousands of articles and papers will be written about why this happened (misogyny, the FBI, racism, Gary Johnson, misogyny, racism, rinse, repeat) in the days, weeks, and months to come.
Right now I’m crying thinking about the concession speech Hillary may have to give. And about the people who are truly afraid for their safety and security in this country.
That’s all I’ve got for tonight. Get some sleep, friends. Tomorrow we have work to do.
“Fear is always with us but we just don’t have time for it. Not now.”
It has been abundantly clear for many decades that people love Hillary’s work but detest her ambition to hold public office. She is not without flaws. No one is, particularly not our elected officials. But she has a spine like steel and there’s no one I trust more to navigate this country through the long, hard road ahead.
How do we come back from the ugliness that this election has brought to light in America?
It’s going to take each one of us doing our part. And I hope, with every fiber of my being, that it’s with her at the helm.
Vote.
I just start crying immediately now when I watch these.
I’ve had a spasm in my right cheek all day and the only thing that makes me feel better is watching Uncle Joe make a plan for a BLT.
Be like Joe. Make a plan. Vote.
The 5:11 mark is when I started to cry. Worth the full watch.
Also, this.
A conservative writer labeled her a congenital liar when she was first lady, and the label stuck because it was repeated over and over—and it was a convenient label to harness misogyny. If she was a liar, then the hostility she engendered could not possibly be because she was a first lady who refused to be still and silent. “Liar’ has re-emerged during this election even though Politifact, a respected source of information about politicians, has certified that she is more honest than most politicians—and certainly more honest than her opponent.
Because she is already considered guilty in a vague and hazy way, there is a longing for her to be demonstrably guilty of something.
…
Because Hillary Clinton is a woman, she is judged too harshly for doing what most politicians do—hedging sometimes, waffling sometimes, evading sometimes. Politicians are ambitious; they have to be. Yet for Hillary Clinton, ambition is often an accusation. She is held responsible for her husband’s personal failings, in the gendered assumption that a wife is somehow an adult and a husband a child.
There are millions of Americans who do not have the self-indulgent expectation that a politician be perfect. They are frustrated that Hillary Clinton is allowed no complexity. And they love her.
– Chimamanda Adichie
Breaking the Mold 