To Consume Less

In recent years, more has been written about consumer culture and its impact on the planet. It's hard, but I think one way to show our disdain for the incoming administration might just be to not spend. Everyone goes on about "we don't make things in America anymore" or "this is China's fault" and while both things are a concern, neither is the whole picture. The article I linked there makes a strong point about post-WWII spending as a means of showing national economic strength. But I think we have to change that. Not only does it send the message that we are not buying the status quo anymore, it also reduces (over time) the amount of garbage we put into the world. Not to mention the exploitive practices most large companies use to save money. U.S. manufacturing has dropped because we fought for better pay decades ago in the form of unions. Other countries haven't done that, for one reason or another, but U.S. companies have been exploiting that.

So, there are so many things that will be accomplished if we consume less, but way smarter people than me have talked exhaustively about that. But here's two reasons: First, it removes the incentive for sketchy AF companies to make garbage that will break in a week. Second, since consumer culture is so bad for the environment you'll be sending a message to manufacturers that they need to stop producing as much.

I have friends who shop for fun, and shop often. My mother's closet is almost unusable for all the clothing she's put in it. Our houses are completely packed with STUFF, and it's a burden to clean, move, and pass on to children. I'm sure there's a whole psychological component to it, but I can't help but tense up every time someone says "I bought this cute thing." Like, where did you buy it? Who was exploited in its making? I'm starting a ramble here, but the takeaway from my reading and watching about consumerism is that I do not really want to participate in the holiday buying spree today. Or really at all during the holiday season.

If you must gift, do it thoughtfully. Thrift where you can. Make it yourself if you want. Start a fight with your family about not buying 12 new toys for your kid when one well-made one will do. Heck, disappoint your own children by getting them fewer things. Anyway, I'm staying home this weekend, and not shopping online at all. Might be time you do the same.

Eating Well

Speaking of mutual aid (we were, weren't we?) there is one institution that most cities already have that fills a mutual aid gap, and that is Food Banks. I did a little digging this morning and found that the county I live in has 57 food banks/meal programs. State wide, over 300. First of all, it's criminal that we have to have that many places to serve the undernourished. Nationwide, the USDA data showed that in 2023, 13.5% of all households were food insecure, up from 2022. Yet federal spending on food assistance fell.

So it falls to nonprofits, as with most things, to fill in what the government won't provide.

That's why it's so important to donate to or volunteer with your local food bank now. For one thing, you may need it later. Food insecurity is only going to go up since groceries are fast becoming a monopolistic industry. A lot of local branches do work with food banks, at least, but there are always gaps. I know my neighborhood food bank is always seeking pet food and hygiene products, but every food bank is different.

I used to volunteer there to help sort the deliveries and donations, but I fell out of the practice during the pandemic. Maybe it's time to start that up again, or at the very least add a new donation spot to my list.

Tomorrow is a holiday here, so I will likely not post. But be kind to your neighbors even still.

Assisting Strangers

As I pit the complexities of "normal life" against the swirling doubt of what's coming, I keep returning to the idea that, at the end of the day, people who have privilege need to sacrifice some comforts and privileges in order that those who do not can do better. I think the problem with this, for me, is that it promotes a "saviorism" mentality. It's like when Christian missionaries go into struggling ares to "help" by building a parochial school or something. It's a very small sacrifice to do without home comforts in exchange for the admiration of the church/pastor. When the missionaries are gone, the locals are left with a random building and no long term support. What the missionaries do is not mutual aid, because it is rarely requested. It is saviorism which benefits mainly the missionaries.

Mutual aid taps into the same fundamental need to help our neighbors, but without the trappings of institution. By its nature it defies systems, and that is why it's important right now.  Here's an example. During the height of COVID, a couple of random local folks spun up a website where you could go and request grocery delivery. That's it. You could ask for or offer up delivery of groceries. People who used it were often lower income, but I know a couple of well-enough-off folks who live alone in an area where the stores weren't offering delivery. There was no vetting or application process for this. You simply made the request and it was fulfilled by a stranger. 

And that's what'll get folks through. So, when you have the bandwidth, hook up with a local mutual aid group (there's a website for that) and get started. It's messier than a traditional nonprofit org, but it's also less bureaucracy. 

I dunno. It's what I've been thinking about today. Sorry to miss yesterday's post. I have no excuse other than being tired.

Crafty

The term "craftivism" has been around for 20 years, so it's not exactly new. I follow craftivists on IG and have long enjoyed calmly viewing their work from the sidelines. But I knit, crochet, and can cross stitch, and probably could learn to embroider if I had to. As the world seems intent on going mad right now, it's worth thinking about quiet ways to contribute to a resistance of sorts.

This is not without precedence. Historically, and in WWII specifically, knitters were used quite frequently as spies, passing messages in inconspicuous ways. As much as this sounds like a cool thing to do, it might be well-known enough to no longer be useful. So we'll have to find new ways. Today, my one thing is going to be to let myself go down a rabbithole to see how hard it would be to learn a secret language, or, more broadly explore ways to use my hobbies for good.

Historical Significance

One of the things my spouse and I discussed is slowly, over the next few months, gathering some shelf-stable items and household staples that may generally have been purchased from abroad. Not in an irrational "pandemic lockdown" way, but in a "we'd probably buy these anyway, let's just buy a bit more" kind of way.

Higher prices are coming, and we have precedence to look at. Italy and Germany adopted initiatives to reduce national reliance on external food sources to further their fascist aims. There was a lot to those, and there's not currently a big reason to assume we'll go the same way, but it could turn quickly.

Another thing we can look to history for is red flags about the people taking power. Where to even start with that? The recrudescence keeps putting the most incompetent people on his team, but just because someone is incompetent it doesn't make them less dangerous. During the last cheeto administration, we saw disgruntled government employees at various institutions take to social media to continue their actual work when their institutions were taken over by proto-fascists. Assuming the actual experts are still around, and buy good burner phones, we should be seeing more of that.

But for today's action, I'm going to make my list of supplies, including housewares that I was thinking of replacing later, and find a friend with a Costco card.

Awake in Despair

I woke up already deep in thought today, and that's never a good sign for an optimistic day. I struggle with despair and depression even when there's nothing to worry about, and every time I do, I re-watch two videos. One from 2019:

And this one from last year, which is possibly more relevant right now:

I woke up today with that feeling of "nothing matters, so why am I doing this?" The feeling is compounded by the type of reading I tend to do. Something about my brain just wants to know things, no matter how bleak. A friend, for instance, introduced me to Spooky Lake Month on TikTok/Youtube which is a woman doing short stories about creepy hydrological-related things every day for the month of October. Do I NEED to know that there are lakes that can explode with enough carbon dioxide to kill everyone within a 100 mile radius? I do not, but I do take comfort sometimes in the fact that we CAN know those things.

Another thing that helps me is the understanding that humanity has survived because we can cooperate with each other (and do, every single day in myriad ways). 

The takeaway from those videos, for me, is that despair is valid, but it is not a complete picture. If I stay here and wallow, then I have failed to take into account all of the things we have already done, and continue to do, to try and wrest a better future from a messy present. Even more reason to be kind to your neighbors.

Hear, Feel, Think

I've been going pretty hard for a couple weeks (even the days I don't write), but some days you just cannot. It is sometimes just troublesome to exist, full stop, and you feel drained. Rest is good, and can itself be a form of resistance. Rest can mean a coordinated effort with coworkers to send a message, if you are striking, or it can just mean taking some of that PTO you've been accruing for 2 years and are about to lose. 

For me, rest is doing things to recharge, like going on a slow, long walk to a further-away coffee shop, or going to a pub with my Switch and playing games with a beer on a Tuesday afternoon (or a book, or my sketchpad). It also looks like eating a carb-fueled lunch and forcing a nap sometimes. It's different for everyone. If you still feel like you can't slow down and take a day for yourself, take a look at the book Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. I will admit to not having read it myself, but I have followed her Nap Ministry for a few years and agree with her assertions, especially for marginalized groups. Everyone deserves rest, and NOT just so you can be productive later.

So, maybe today I'll start by setting myself calendar reminders to take breaks and rest. It's not something I'm good at, but it might be just the thing to help me better focus on what comes next.

Corporate Choice

One of the things I've been thinking about lately is how consumer culture harms political movements and perpetuates the problems of the world. Part of the struggle, of course, is that the products we buy have planned obsolescence built in as a rule. Part of it, too, is that we can't always tell whether the company we're buying from is ethical or not.

This weekend I stumbled on the BDS movement, which is specifically targeting companies that do business with Israel. It stands for boycott, divest, sanction and it's a good thing to follow, in general, if you're against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. But it's also been a gateway for me in trying to purchase more mindfully. I live in a region rich with choice when it comes to small businesses. Small-er anyway. My local grocery chain is still local, and not owned by Kroger or Albertsons (which might still merge, no decision has been made yet). I've been shopping there for years because it's close to me. Wikipedia has a list of grocery chains in the U.S. Literally anything not owned by Kroger, Albertsons, or Amazon is probably fine? You will have to do a little digging into your regional chains.

Either way, it's going to be a little bit of work to find things that aren't supermegacorps. Maybe you subscribe to a local farm CSA, or even find a hyperlocal thrift store instead of going to the Salvation Army (historically anti-LGBTQ organization) or Goodwill (wildly shady business practices and massive amounts of waste). For me, this week I'm going to be looking for a local kitchen store that sells locally-made items. It would be very easy to just go on Amazon to buy a new pan, but Amazon is problematic for too many reasons to list, but primarily, they're just another megacorp whose political donations put the recrudescence back in office.

Sorry it's a longer one today. But, consumer culture is an important part of why we're in this mess. The go-go-go-buy-now-new-things-all-the-time mentality is dooming us all, and has been for decades. Whether you join the boycotts for overseas justice or stop buying from right wing donor companies, just find one alternative today. 

Be kind to your neighbors, too, always.

Unionize

I watched a video from Rebecca Watson (Skepchick) that talks about civil resistance and nonviolent action, and I think it's a good message. I have linked to where it starts talking about becoming ungovernable, because while that is a fun meme, it is also a valid form of resistance.

https://youtu.be/9q7Bd-C_4-o?si=hdj-zdGoDuFQz3kt&t=665

I particularly liked the part about tying flags to cats (though I do hope they took them off the cats later). The video also talks about strong unions, and how joining a union now may be an extremely good form of resistance and protection against what comes.

If you follow the history of unions, you might notice that, since the 1980s, union membership has been on the decline. This correlates with an uptick in political spending by corporations and rich folks, and a stagnation of worker wages But that's starting to change a bit. According to unionstats.com there has been an uptick in union membership since 2020. That will change over the next four years, but until it does we can try and make a good number go up for once.

So today I'm going to find out if I can join a general workers' union. I might also start stocking up on items like masks and water bottles that I can hand out at protests and sit ins. Just, you know, so I have em...

Be kind to your neighbor, always.

Help Where You Can Part 1

There are a lot of cultural minority groups in serious threat from the upcoming administration. Just... so many. I do not have a very wide circle, but I found some advice LGBTQ+ that I'm going to post. Erin in the Morning has an excellent list of ways for Trans folk (but this could be extended to any threatened group) to "prepare" for what may come. There's a link within it to a map of "safe" places, or at least places with legislative protection in place.

With the cheeto's plan to erode the federal government in general, we have an advantage over the historical parallel we're all thinking about (*cough*1930sgermany*cough*), and that's the power of state legislation.

I am trying my absolute best not to fearmonger, and not to go overboard with my "prepare for the worst" mentality, but the best way I can think of to stave off fear is to keep busy. So today my plan is to go through that list above and see if there's anything on it I can help my friends with, and if not, donate to a few orgs that are trying to help out, including some national ones, and some local ones I also found on the local Reddit for my area (another great resource if you're lookin).

All of this aside, my mental state is in the garbage right now, and trying to maintain my thin veneer of sociability for work and other duties is difficult at best.

Love to whoever finds this. Be kind to your neighbors, always.

Rest, But Be Emotional

There's a lot of emphasis of self care and making sure your emotional well-being is as strong as it can be. But my hot take here is that sometimes it's important to sit with the negative emotions in order to understand what you have to solve. Related: I learned the other day about the "sleep industry" that pushes apps and tech to help humans sleep better. But the takeaway from all of it was that what we actually need in order to have better sleep is just... time. The pace of business and what the culture is pushing us to do is antithetical to our health and adding more capitalism to it won't solve our collective exhaustion in the same way that we can't buy our way out of mental distress. 

That said, my response to stress has been escaping into videogames or TV, and I know I am not alone in this. So, today's post is simple. Today I'm going to make a cup of tea and sit by a window for 30 minutes before work without any media. I can spend 30 minutes with uncomfortable thoughts. I will allow myself something for my restless hands like knitting or doodling. But no voices or words or devices to distract me from my thoughts. I need to hear my own voice sometimes, even if it's sad or tired. 

Don't swim in your sorrow or sadness right now, of course, but do let yourself feel it. For me, I'm hoping it will help me sift up something worth learning or researching. Short and sweet today. 

Be kind to yourself and your neighbors, always.

Local Connections

I cannot speak for local connections outside of my area, obviously, but one thing that seems to be a common thread amongst the commentators is that we're more divided than ever. I've seen lots of explanations as to WHY, but the common theme is that we are. So, what can we do to return to a commonality? We need to tell each other stories, and make our neighbors human to us.

I'm going to start simple. In my area, I discovered a "silent reading party" where people go to just sit and read together. It looks like they do 3 or 4 per month so you can come and go as you like. But, if you're not a big reader, maybe you can look on Meetup.com (though it is apparently not what it once was) or even Facebook for local groups. I am loathe to suggest it, but FB is honestly still pretty great for organizing groups, especially with niche interests.There's also always the local coffee shop physical message board, too.

When I moved away from where I grew up, I did not know anyone, and had no connection with local culture. I was heavily into online games at the time, and didn't leave the house much at first, but my spouse was gone for work most of the days and I only worked part time so it was making me somewhat miserable. So, I got a chance spam email from Meetup and decided to check it out. Found a local knitting group, and through that met some board gamers and beer drinkers and just generally wonderful locals, some who'd been locals their whole life and some who were fairly new.

So when I moved across the country again, the very first thing I did was start a knitting group in my neighborhood. I also lived in an apartment complex that had social events, so I forced my introverted self to do those things as well, and eventually I did meet some very good folks. I'm still friends with several, and consider several to be solid acquaintances that I could reconnect with if desired. I attribute my fierce loyalty to my chosen region of the country not just to the beauty of the place, but also to the people I've met along the way.

Once you find a group doing a thing you like, you can build trust with them. You can talk offline and do all your activities. For knitters, go to local shops together. Put together a little yarn crawl and visit shops that might be a little further outside your comfort zone. If you're not a big planner, someone in your group will be.

Glom on to the conversations that interest you. Be uncomfortable for a bit until you rebuild the social muscles that the internet has atrophied. I need to do that too, because the Pandemic ruined me for in-person interactions. I haven't been to a group activity in years.

So that's my action item today. Find a group thing to sign up for on either FB or meetup.

Where to Start

In the spirit of continuing the absorption of information, it's important to have a wide variety of ideas to absorb in order to build a larger picture. Some of the takes I've seen include a lamentation about a large portion of the country not looking at a bigger picture, and I struggle to disagree with that. "The Economy" is good actually, they say, but prices for consumers have not gone down and people blame the current leadership for that rather than the first cheeto administration, which did a lot of damage to the good economy it inherited from Obama. We won't see the true damage from the new administration until after it is over, in other words. I digress, and risk treading on territory in which I am not an expert.

So, here's some stuff to check out/follow/remember/subscribe to today. I'm also making an "activism" folder or filter for my inbox, so I do not go absolutely mad with newsletter-style content. This is a small and not comprehensive list just for online voices. This is not necessarily going to help with local community building, but it might help me find some more like-minded online folks, or at least give you talking points whenever I do find in-person groups. I'll talk a little about that tomorrow.

I am already subscribed to the following:

John/Hank Green and Nerdfighteria: https://nerdfighteria.com/ or https://werehere.beehiiv.com/ or https://www.youtube.com/@vlogbrothers/

W. Kamau Bell: Comedian and activist. https://wkamaubell.substack.com/

Popular Info/Judd Legum: investigative journalist. https://popular.info/

ProPublica: Investigative journalism, not purchased by billionaires. https://www.propublica.org/ 

Robert Reich: Former Labor Secretary. Very, very smart. Sam Reich's dad. https://robertreich.org/

I will be investigating the following (will update this as I find more):

F.D. Signifire: Learned about him through W. Kamau Bell: https://www.youtube.com/@FDSignifire

Endevorance: Followed him on IG for awhile, but will subscribe to the newsletter. https://www.skh.news

Everytown.org: Anti-gun-violence organization

ACLU's podcast At Liberty: https://www.aclu.org/podcast

Heather Cox Richardson: Professor and historian. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ 

Angry Gay Grandpa: LGBTQ+ advocate. https://www.youtube.com/@AngryGayGrandpa 

Still to find: 

More trans rights advocates

Reproductive rights advocates

Immigrant rights advocates

Procrastinated Re-posts

Global Digital Citizen Foundation

Yesterday, I said I was going to find some people that are doing real valuable work...and I did start that post, but in the process of searching, I realized I needed to slow down and evaluate what I was looking at, because I was going too fast and risked following folks who were peddling misinformation that fed into my existing beliefs and biases. 

One thing that I'm guilty of, and that I know others are too, is seeing an inflammatory or scary or interesting post on X-itter (formerly Twitter, pronounced "shitter," by the way), Bluesky, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, etc., and re-posting it without thinking. I'm going to start doing a simple checklist. I've had a printed copy of this graphic tucked in one of my backpacks for so long that it's started to fall apart along the fold lines, but I've gotten out of the habit of using it on the regular. 

Media literacy is maybe the most important thing that we need to be teaching in schools, but it won't amount to much if we let public education erode any more than it already has. A lot of that can be controlled in local elections with school boards. So, local matters and that's important to cling to when most of our news is about big national drama. 

Anyway, Crash Course has a pair of YouTube series about navigating digital information and media literacy that are worth watching in their entirety. The videos are about 15 minutes long so it's pretty easy to get through. I'm going to watch them both again, because there's going to be a lot of misinformation coming at us in the next few years and we need to be prepared to evaluate everything, including things we agree with or think are probably true. 

All of this said, I'm going to be quiet over the weekend, and absorb some books and continue to gather people to follow. I'll do my best to follow my own guidelines about it. 

Take care of your family, found or otherwise, and be kind to your neighbor, always.

Shock Doctrine and Other Books

Today I'm going re-learn something, which is the one thing I'm good at. Shock Doctrine is a book written by Naomi Klein about what she calls "disaster capitalism." It plays up our fears and uncertainty after big news items drop to allow dangerous policy to go through. She wrote this in 2007, and a documentary of the same premise was released in 2009. I read the book a decade ago, but it is still highly relevant and I have forgotten most of it. The media plays into it fully with its always on, 24/7 requirements. We are now forced to stay in a heightened state of shock for longer periods, because every single day there's a new travesty that needs our immediate attention. We're entrenched in it. Absolutely everything is a disaster now, from homelessness to trans rights to immigration to inflation. There is no nuance or subtlety. This book addresses that, and I'm hoping to find further action items at the end of it.

Image credit: https://naomiklein.org/

Intersectionality is vastly important to get things done, but we've placed ourselves in echo chambers of outrage. So, step one is to slow down. I gotta breathe, and the best way I know is to immerse myself in a depressing but important book. Get these at your library where possible.

Book link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-shock-doctrine-the-rise-of-disaster-capitalism-naomi-klein/12304745

Film links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3B5qt6gsxY or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL3XGZ5rreE  

If you don't have a ton of time to spend on a book or documentary that's ok. There's a Wikipedia page that does a pretty good job explaining it.

Another book on my re-read list is The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett. I listened to this one back in February but I need to grab a copy of the actual book. Seems important.

Other options I already have on my shelf include Poverty, By America (https://bookshop.org/p/books/poverty-by-america-matthew-desmond/21003293) by Matthew Desmond, and another, newer Naomi Klein book called No is Not Enough about the cheeto's first presidency (https://bookshop.org/p/books/no-is-not-enough-resisting-trump-s-shock-politics-and-winning-the-world-we-need-naomi-klein/7213773).

Either way, we have a few months to stock up on knowledge. So today I'm gonna read, and watch, and learn again.

Be kind. Tomorrow we find others doing the work and we reach out to them.

Darker Days

It has been a long time since I updated this blog publicly. We lived (are living) through a global pandemic, and there are 3 simultaneous genocides happening in other places to other human beings. The United States has just re-elected the person whose original presidency spurred the creation of this blog. This post is a record of my thoughts and will hopefully be read by someone else who needs it. It has not been edited.

To leftists: The swirl of conflicting emotions feels unhealthy, but these emotions need to be honored. Give yourself a day to stir them, let them settle, and scoop out which of the anger, fear, despair, or others will drive you to action and resistance. Take that emotion and grind it into a fine flour. Bake it into each meal, mix it into your drinks, sprinkle it like glitter or mist it like perfume as you get ready for each day. And each time you do, let it galvanize you.

To others: The election in 2024 has upended what a lot of people thought was a common good that would prevent a doddering, narcissistic, felonious madman from usurping the title of President for a second time. But even there, in the language I used to describe him we cannot find agreement. Where I see cruelty in policy and politics, and economic policy that will bankrupt us for decades, you see decades of decline in your home areas, factories, farms, and infrastructure. You see the result of corporate greed and consolidation as the failure of Democrats. You blame the scapegoat of immigrants for home-grown problems borne of our own complacence. Democrats are not liberal despite what you thought, and continue to think, but neither are they a great evil. They are humans trying to do something helpful in a climate of vitriol and contention from the only other party we’re allowed to vote for.

Democrats are trying to keep afloat a system that has been broken from the start. They want slow change in a positive direction. But slow change does not help and to you who voted in 2024 it seems like empty words after decades of neglect. So you see a demagogue, a strong personality, a charismatic demeanor backed by a cadre of Christian Nationalists who promise you that they will upend things as they are. And they will. But keep a journal, please. Mark down your day to day thoughts and read them back on each year’s end. Take note of how your lives have or have not improved. Write down each emotion you have and ask yourself if they are healthy, and if you are happier now than you were before. This goes for congressional races too, by the way. Congress is supposed to set policy, yet so divided have we become that each session of legislation feels less and less helpful. Changes now have to come from places like the EPA, the FTC, the Fed, and the FDA using what little power they have to get real work done.

The problem is that we’ve never allowed real choice into an election. All of the elections I have participated in for the entirety of my voting life have been a “lesser of two evils” choice. I don’t prefer Democrats OR Republicans on a vast array of policies. Most of the people in my circles feel the same, but none of us have any power to change that.

Telling us to vote our conscience is cruel, too. Yes, vote for the person who you know will lose and pull votes from a marginally better option. What needs to change is not the parties themselves. Let Democrats be war-happy centrists. Let Republicans be whatever they sift out to be. But let’s put proportional representation into play so the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and whatever else pops up have a real seat at the table. Use third parties for what they’re good at: people voting for things they actually care about that will actually impact policy going forward..

While we’re making big changes, let’s do Ranked Choice Voting. In places where it’s been implemented before, the entire tone of elections has changed. Ranked Choice Voting encourages real, lasting coalition-building centered on policy over popularity, and eliminates a lot of the contention in campaigning. Candidates don’t want to risk being negative because it turns off a lot of voters who might otherwise be persuaded to put their name in a higher rank on the ballot.

How it works: Candidate A and B agree on two big talking points that are in the zeitgeist at the moment. Vote for both so that there’s a better chance those two big talking points have a shot to become policy. Don’t like the rest of Candidate A’s policies? Well, put Candidate B in your top slot, and A in the second. Both votes will be counted, and if Candidate B doesn’t make it through to the next round Candidate A just might. And as long as you get your two big talking points changed you know you can live with the rest. You feel more powerful as a voter because you ARE more powerful as a voter. This is especially true for people living in a solid color state. There’s no guarantee the new systems would work, of course, but as it is now we are headed for either physical conflict, or a quiet death of democracy.

Our republic is broken, and has always been broken. It would be easier to change if we were smaller. Abolish the electoral college and winner-take-all elections in favor of Ranked Choice Voting. Implement proportional representation in the legislative branch, and add term limits to all 3 branches. I don’t precisely know how to do this, but I am certain it will not be done without a massive organizational effort. You can reach out to FairVote.org to start or boost efforts in your region, as the process to organize this is already underway by folks much smarter than me.

In the short term, connect in person with your neighbors and local mutual aid groups. Reach out to RAICES and other immigrant service organizations to find out what you can do. Do it offline and don’t use social media to organize. Get a VPN and find a local printer who won’t ask questions about the content of your flyers. Donate time and funds to mutual aid, local Fairvote orgs, and any issue you’re panicking about with any amount you can spare. Consume less from the oligarchs and do the hard, extra work to buy local. If you can’t, ask if you really need the thing before you buy it. Prepare your couch or spare room. Above all else, be kind to your neighbors no matter what.