OFA Gets a Local Voice

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A member of my retirement community held a meeting today to organize a local group for Organizing for Action. I’ve been on an OFA email list for years, but this is the first time I’ve been to a meeting to talk about Doing Something.

After the meeting, I went to the OFA website (http://www.ofa.us, not .org – the .org will take you to an animal welfare group). There I found elements of an action network, so I will check it more often. I learned that someone nearby is organizing for an event on April 1 to support Obamacare. That’s definitely a march that I would attend, pussyhat and all.

If you want to browse their website, I’ve put ilnks to it above and in the right hand column. Consider signing up and choosing issues that you care most about. Ideally we’ll get email notices to prompt us to write letters or attend a march in support of that issue.

I’d love to know how you connect to the Resistance. Twitter? Facebook? Blogs? Email? Good old-fashioned phone tree?

Quick! Vote for One…

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Oh, Canada! Oh, Sigh!

Take a few minutes and compare Trump and Trudeau.

While I know that Canadians actually criticize Trudeau over a variety of policies, I can’t believe there’s a single voter north of our border who’d swap leaders. They’re both building pipelines, so no advantage there. Maybe there’s some other issue where there’s no advantage. And it was encouraging to see Trump reading from a paper – maybe he can read after all. But really, truly, there’s just no comparison.

Meanwhile, I’ve added a few links to the resistance. Check them out.

Go it Alone? or Join Up?

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By sharing information via email, we’ve learned that online petitions are nearly useless, but phone calls (and faxes when phone lines are shut down) to Congress can have an impact. We can do those calls from home with relatively little inconvenience, but is that enough? Do we need to meet up with others to have a greater impact?

Over the course of my 70+ years, I’ve linked up with like-minded individuals at different times, and I do think that groups with a strong focus and some minimal organization can have a real impact. Still, I’m often frustrated with groups and find the process of sifting through options and agreeing on a course of action tedious. I’m hesitant to join anything. I’ve occasionally been active in the Democratic Party, but never for long. Instead, I’ve worked with groups with a more narrow focus for a few years at a time in order to work on an issue that’s important to me.

This year is such a challenge. I don’t have the energy to really do a lot of work. Yet, I feel like we’re in the midst of an earthquake that won’t quit. The good news is that there are many younger people who are revved up and more able to respond to today’s challenges.

For those of you who have some time and energy and are not moving, yet again, please click through the links here to see which ones offer options that you can use to #RESIST. I’d love some feedback on what you find.

If you have a Twitter account, you can follow me at @anncantweet

Vox = Fair, Balanced?

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Where do you go for “fair and balanced” news? Or do you even look for fair and balanced news?

Recently I found myself clicking around at Federalist.com, an interesting collection of opinions that I mostly don’t agree with. However, most of the articles I read were written in a somewhat civil tone with some sort of reasoning behind the opinions. I will come back to the Federalist because I need to read and think more first, but today I want to share an article from Vox about the court battle over the immigration ban Executive Order.

I turn to Vox for background on issues like this. It’s not a breaking news site, but I like their ability to pull together good background information quickly, and it’s liberal but not unwilling to challenge liberal thinking. They earn a star for “fair and balanced” in my list of sources. Bottom line: winning this battle is possible, but not guaranteed.

Legal Battle over Immigration Ban Explained

Hey there, it’s Me!

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Folks, we are not alone. I feel more encouraged than I have for a long time. Honestly, I wasn’t sure that Americans were up to the task of resisting Trump and the Rs, but I’m seeing cause for optimism.

This blog is one that I’ve played with off and on over the years, but I’m reworking it to see if it can be a resource for us in 2017. I write, more in some years than others. Some of what I write I post online. No one notices, but it’s out there, and I’ve found that the blog format enables me to keep track of some of my musings.

Lately, I’ve wanted to write down opinions and reactions to news and events in hopes of stirring up a bit of conversation. I’ve also found some online resources that we can use such as calendars of protest events and guidance on how to resist effectively.

I don’t expect friends to read everything I write, but if you click the “follow” icon, you can enter your email address and receive a note when I post something new. Read it or not, but if you do, please offer comments from time to time. Also, if you bookmark this blog, you can return to it for links to the resources.

I’m happy to add links that you consider valuable, so please send a note when you find something. If you enjoy writing, it’s easy enough to create your own blog, and I’d be glad to link to it. I know that blogs are old-fashioned and have been overtaken by Facebook and snapchat and other media. But for me, this format allows me to focus on a thought, fret about it for a while, edit and re-edit, then put it out there and hope for some feedback.

The URL for the blog is: saukcityblog.wordpress.com
Sauk City was the Skagit neighborhood we inhabited for ten years. It’s not on a map, but being there was a good experience. We learned so much that we could never have learned by just driving through on our way to the mountains.

If you have a Twitter account, you can find me @anncantweet
You’ll notice that I’m a bit bashful and don’t use the name you know me by. Here, I’m Lighten Up! and on Twitter I’m Ann Green, names from my childhood. It’s starting to seem like a good time to get out there with my real/current name, though. Thinking on it.

Grace