Stop trying to “reach” Tr*mp voters, focus on meeting the needs of the working class
As a parent I have to help my child learn the difference between wants and needs. There are many things the kid wants, but not all of them are a good idea. As a mom I am constantly setting limits. In those moments, I offer space to listen to the upset, but I don’t get...
How to survive a fire
Mama, what is the earth if there is no green left? banana slugs crawl out from inside of a...
The British Empire, the American Empire, and this critical, pivotal election week
Angela Davis, a citizen-heroine, of the United States, who has fought intensely over many...
What the Twitter battle over the National Emergency Library needs is a Green New Deal
Yesterday, author Twitter blew up over the issue of payments to writers. According to Publishing Weekly, “the Internet Archive unilaterally granted itself emergency powers to lend a corpus of over 1.4 million ebooks without any restrictions, contrary to its own stated...
Climate News Friday, March 27th
A Green Stimulus to Rebuild Our Economy 500+ Groups Demand 'People's Bailout' to Counter Push for Wall Street-Friendly Coronavirus Response By Jessica Corbett Dakota access pipeline: court strikes down permits in victory for Standing Rock Sioux Coronavirus Capitalism...
#IBelieveTara, #Sanders2020 & Voting for the Lesser of Two Rapists
Content warning: sexual violence Sometimes--in a pandemic no less--you are faced with impossible choices. This one is about the 2020 election. I cannot stomach Joe Biden. I #BelieveWomen. I know Tr*mp is a disaster that must be stopped at all costs. ALL. COSTS. Does...
Pandemics, Puzzles, and the Path to the Green New Deal
For a while, in my 20s, I lived with housemates, and we did puzzles. Big, thousand piece puzzles on our kitchen table in Dorchester, MA. I can’t recall any of the pictures, just that we’d leave them up for days or weeks. Sometimes we'd hang out and work on the puzzle...
The Access Point [Original Fiction]
In one memory, I’m at a house party in Ann Arbor, talking to a guy who’s telling me about this new band called Blues Traveler. You walk by, and I know right away it’s you, though I have no idea at that point who you are. You turn to me in the hallway, and I can tell...
Taking Action, the Homebound Version: Notes and Insights from Lea Page
I asked Lea Page, a wonderful writer and human being, to fill me in on the details of the work she's been doing--now from home--to get out the vote. Below is what she wrote to me. As her advice makes clear, this is work we can continue doing even from our own living...
Toilet Paper: Out of Stock
Toilet Paper: Out of Stock, 3/22/20 By Vijaya Nagarajan As most of us have been, I, too, was at a store a few days ago getting my essentials for a three week “shelter at home” six county-wide directive in the SF Bay Area, the first in the United States....
A Hopeful Video & Climate News amidst COVID-19
While this week has been disorienting, frightening, and downright heartbreaking, it's been beautiful to see so many people in the world change in such little time. We're understanding the scale of the crisis, changing our behavior, and putting in place new practices...
Re-imagining Earth Day 2020 — While Adjusting to a Global Pandemic
I hope today finds you well, your loved ones safe, and your community caring for every member. As we each hunker down with our “Corona Crew” – the small group of people we’re not distancing ourselves from -- it seems like a good time to give everybody, including...
Urgency
Covid 19 -- it sounds like a pharmaceutical name. Covid 19, ask your doctor if it’s right for you. Unless you can’t afford a doctor. Then, I guess, ask your friend who is also a vet tech? The thing with Covid 19 is that we can kind of all see it right away what...
Bernie Sanders, Black Voters, and the Complications of Anti-Semitism
Our road to the Green New Deal will not be easy. It will require creating deep coalitions between groups of people who have been set up to mistrust each other. Two of these important groups are Blacks and Jews. With Bernie Sanders as our last GND candidate standing,...
The Imagination of A Leader
A deep sorrow filled my spirit when Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the Democratic primary. A feeling of almost beens, near haves, what ifs. A severe lack of imagination. I feel a wretchedness of whether it will ever be. A forbidding sense of improbability, an...
Climate Around the Globe: some curated links
1) What Climate Change can Teach us about Fighting the Coronavirus 2) The Coronavirus is a Wake-Up Call for Climate Change 3) Where Biden and Sanders Diverge on Climate Change 4) Pakistan's Women's March: Shaking patriarchy 'to its core' Young activists and their...
Better Than Now Isn’t Enough
I admit that electability drove me for much of the run up to the primaries. “Anyone but Trump,” was my motto, and everyone but Trump seemed to be in the running. But the climate crisis had caught my attention. Perhaps it was when my family had to evacuate due to the...
View from the Polls: Super Tuesday in Richmond California
(Jan Gilbrecht is a long time friend of my family. She wrote up a wonderful first person account of working at the polls on Super Tuesday, and. I invited her to post it as a guest on the Daily Dose. Yesterday's primary was tough for the Green New Deal, but the process...
By Any Means Necessary: Poetry Promoting Science, an interview with Devi S. Laskar
Devi S. Laskar is a poet and author of the award-winning debut novel The Atlas of Reds and Blues. Devi was asked to participate in Poets for Science, a participatory exhibit exploring the connection between science and poetry, curated by Jane Hirshfield, and the poem...
Joe Biden and My Family’s Legacy of Lynching
My African American great grandfather was a tailor in South Carolina. In the 1930s, he owned a small shop and was able to support his family. One day—as the story goes—a white man came into his shop and became abusive. He yelled at my great grandfather. My great...
Climate in the News, a survey of key links, by Sally Morton
Remember this? October 20, 2019: AFN declares ‘state of emergency’ for climate change FAIRBANKS — An emotional dispute over climate change and resource development divided the Alaska Federation convention floor for an hour on Saturday, but in the end, AFN approved a...
Treesitting in Yggdrasil, flash fiction by Susan DeFreitas
Dear Mom and Dad, It's been awhile since we've talked, so I wanted to drop a line to let you know that I am A-okay, though without phone or WiFi for the foreseeable—hence this good old-fashioned letter, written on good old-fashioned paper, made from good old-fashioned...
The Third Wish––Approaching Collective Death
Today, March 4, 2020 is the day after one of the most important primary elections for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sixteen states voting for delegates. This presidential election seems so critical in ways previously unimaginable. I’m reminded of an ancient...