RESISTANCE REVIEW AND OFF WE GO...

And so 2017 is winding down.  Seems appropriate, as I look back over the year's blog posts here (and also to some extent in the Circling the Mat blog I write about yoga) that I say a few words in reflection about the political shit-show that dominated my life this year.

I'm not going to recount the horrors; it's hard to even keep track and recall them all. Thankfully, Amy Siskind, nationally known author and speaker on girl/woman empowerment,  has done that for us by keeping a weekly list of "not normal" actions by this president and his administration.  It has garnered so much interest and so many followers, that a book, The List, is being published in April about the first year of this presidency and what has occurred in our march toward authoritarianism.  Anyway, yay for her because it is truly important that we not lose track of what has happened to our Republic this year --the eroding of norms and values, the passaged of laws and enactment of policies that prove to be so detrimental to so many Americans.

So, instead of recounting all of that, I've been reflecting on how MY life shifted this year, in response.

Immediately after the election on November 8, 2016, I was in shock and grief.  So many of us were.  Then came the Inauguration and the reality that what had befallen us was not just a fleeing nightmare but our way of life for possibly the next four or more years.  I recall feeling confused, overwhelmed, disoriented and determined.  Determined.  I love that I can recall feeling determined.  It meant that I wasn't free-falling into depression and hopelessness.

Here's a list that evolved over the past year, of actions I took as part of my personal "Resistance" activities.  Almost NONE of this was part of my life prior to 2017.  Now it is all so much like breathing...it just is:

ONLINE AND IN THE WORLD:

1.  Immediately turned to Facebook as a community of sharing, my own thoughts and feelings, as well as finding support and encouragement in our collective shock and resistance.  I feel at times compulsive about posting and I know many must by now just scroll by my daily shares and posts, but many have also told me they look to me to keep them informed and motivated, which is all the encouragement I need to keep it up.  We MUST not be complacent.  We MUST remember that this is "not normal" and we MUST keep fighting for justice.  I find my online presence to be a source of information and a place of community and encouragement, as well as catharsis.

2.  Online I also found support by joining Pantsuit Nation and Resistance Live -- national groups of folks who feel as I do.  I feel not so alone.

3.  Formed a women's "support group" called CARE (Commit, Act, Resist, Enlist) in late 2016 to process our anger and grief.  We met at my home and I tried to push it beyond tears and rage and into activism, but most were not ready for that, so it faded.  I'm thinking of re-invigorating it in 2018.

4.  Participated in the Women's March on January 21st which shockingly turned out to be a worldwide event of historic proportions.  I'm so thankful to have been part of it.  I wrote all about it in earlier blog posts and won't recount, but I can still "see" and "feel" the day in my head and heart as one of my life's highlights.

5.  I, with Hub, participated in the Tax Day (Show Us Your Tax Returns!) and the Science Marches (waving signs at a street corner on Kauai); the Climate March in our town (with 450 others!), and an Anti-Refugee Ban Rally.

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
1.  Hub joined 350.org, a climate justice group, and while I haven't attended meetings, I've kept abreast of their activities through him.

2.  We both re-joined Physicians for Social Responsibility, a group we belonged to in the '80s when we were fighting nuclear proliferation, but which has now expanded their scope to climate and economic justice issues.

3.  Hub became a Justice Steward for the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, working to put an initiative on the Washington State ballot for a corporate carbon tax.  We did a Lobby Day together in our state capitol and hosted an organizing meeting at our home.

LOCAL POLITICAL ACTION:
1.  We attended an organizational meeting for a group working to ensure fair City Council representation throughout the various geographic neighborhoods in our growing and ever more sprawling city.

2.  We actively campaigned for and hosted an event for a young City Council candidate with fresh ideas and tons of enthusiasm, as well as for an incumbent with years of experience and expertise in climate issues.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:
The money we used to give to the church we once attended has been re-directed with generous donations to these organizations:  (*new to us this year)
*ACLU -- ensuring legal action for justice
*Ploughshares Fund --  ending stockpiles of nuclear weapons
*Physicians for Social Responsibility -- working to educate and advocate for climate and economic justice and nuclear de-escalation, with emphasis on health effects of these issues.
Housing Hope -- local housing, childcare, and job training for homeless families
UUSC -- Unitarian Universalist Service Committee -- responding to needs world wide in times of turmoil and natural disaster
*Seattle Globalist -- online publication that focuses on connections between local and global issues
Project Ethiopia -- providing schools/education, safe water/sanitary development in small Ethiopian villages
ANSWER -- sponsoring the education of two charming, bright, amazing children in Nepal
*Climate Reality -- Al Gore's organization, working to educate on the causes and effects of climate change
*Every Town for Gun Safety -- educating on the need for common sense gun safety laws
*Revolutionary Love Project -- Valarie Kaur's organization to promote love and acceptance as a public ethic in media and politics.
Smaller contributions to various other organizations.

PERSONAL COMMITTMENT:
1.  Continued to volunteer at the foster care program where I'd worked for 10 years, supporting the staff who dedicate themselves to serving children in need of out of home placements due to abuse and neglect.

2.  Volunteered in my granddaughter's 1st grade classroom, not only to support her, but to show the other kids, most of whom come from lower socio-economic areas, and racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, that serving them also serves the community in which we live, embracing the gifts they and their families bring to our city, state, country.

SUPPORT FREE PRESS:
Subscribed to:
New York Times
Washington Post
New Yorker
The Herald (our local paper)
Sent emails of thanks to those media outlets who I felt were upholding the best of the Free Press standards in the face of a constant barrage of vitriol from the current president.

ONLINE AND ON-AIR THOUGHT LEADERS, COMMENTATORS, & JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE KEPT ME INFORMED, MOTIVATED, & SANE.  I TURN TO THEM ALMOST DAILY:
Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin -- Resistance Live on Facebook
Amy Siskand -- Facebook presence who keeps the list of "not normal" things happening nationally
John Pavlovitz -- Facebook presence, book author, and Liberal Christian minister
Dan Rather -- Storied journalist, historical voice of calm and reason, Facebook presence, and author of great new book "What Unites Us"
Charles Blow -- NYT Op-Ed columnist
Valarie Kaur -- Revolutionary Love founder and dynamic speaker/activist
Chris Hayes --MSNBC anchor, young, bright, fair, insightful
Rachel Maddow -- MSNBC anchor, who will totally get to the bottom of the Russian connection!
Prof. David Domke, University of Washington -- Lecture series on political topics that are fabulous -- did one series online, did one on campus; third on campus starts in January.
Many others...

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION:
Calls/texts/letters/FAXes/Tweets -- almost daily contacts to my own Congressional and State representatives, as well as those in leadership positions nationally who have influence over legislation that effects everyone.  So many issues, coming up so fast, so many calls to action, so many deadlines. There were victories and also defeats, but I've never felt more engaged in patriotism through involvement.  And I never expected to be first-name familiar with the members of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, nor recall specifically how some Senator or Representative from Montana or Virginia voted on this or that!

I guess I did this blog post as a "note to self" to remind me, when I feel I've not done enough, that  I've done what I can and so have millions of others.  Together the Resistance WILL Prevail.

Let's go, 2018!  We've got this!

At least, that's the view from here...©