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Activist Witch

What Can We Do?

Dang but things SUCK right now. I know. And I keep seeing this question: what can we do?

Take Good Care of Yourself!

First, take a deep breath. Drink water. Moisturize. Eat a good snack. Keep doing the things that bring you joy. For instance, I love the art of dressing. Putting together a cute outfit is one of my favorite hobbies. But ever since 2017, when I really stepped up my political advocacy, organizing and volunteering, I didn’t dedicate as much time to that. No more! Me and my ridiculous amount of dresses are going to look AMAZING as we combat all this bullshit.

After that foundational “self-love,” here’s what I have been gathering from other resources and my own thinking of what to do to make things better:

Start local, start small, and don’t do what they tell you

Today at work, I changed the font size to enlarge the part of my email signature that denotes my pronouns. I made the colors in light blue, grey, and pink to represent trans pride flag. I discussed with my library staff co-worker how we are going to double or triple down on our thematic displays and decorations that honor diversity, equity and inclusion. Even more Black History Month decorations, posters, displays. That kind of thing.

Once I was alone in the office, I also blasted “Killing in the Name of” and danced like mad to it. Cartharsis!

Stay local for politics, too

Whoever is an elected official or high level government official in your local or state government that is doing good things and fighting the good fight, do all that you can to support and promote them. Donate, volunteer, share their initiatives. The Massachusetts Secretary of Education made inspiring comments to the presidents of the state collges and our college president shared them with us. These are the fortifying things we need to keep in our minds, hearts, and spirits.

Courage to change things

I keep thinking of the serenity prayer, even though I am not a Christian. So you can make it secular: “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” Or you can speak to the spirit that you do believe in for the start of the prayer. “Dear Brigid, Triple Goddess of the beginning, the middle, the end, and renewal, grant me… etc etc.” The point is, you can’t affect these stupid executive orders and terrible appointed federal officials. So don’t dwell on that news. Keep your intake to one half hour of one trusted news source a day, max. Keep focusing on local news, too, since that’s where we all have the most impact. Discern what you CAN do. Then act on what you can.

Take action now: you don’t have to wait for anyone else

I am also thinking about the final episode of Rachel Maddow’s podcast “Ultra” where she discusses how it was that the extremism of the 1930s and 40s, that was on the rise globally and in the United States, was ultimately defeated. It was not one thing, or one person, or one movement, or one approach. It was people using all the tools in their tool belts to do what they could to defeat extremism. They didn’t wait to see what other people were doing. They just took action, and worked hard, and made cracks in the facade of extremism and fascism and Nazism and eventually the foundation gave way. That’s what we have to do.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are AMERICAN VALUES

Say what we mean, and call them out when they don’t say what they mean. We keep letting them say “DEI” instead of “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The person in presidential office is CONDEMNING , stopping, reversing advances in the AMERICAN VALUES of DIVERSITY, EQUITY and INCLUSION.

Or they’re falsely saying their anti trans initiatives are “protecting children” when it is doing nothing of the sort — in fact, it is harming trans and all LGBTQIA+ children and their families and friends, which is the opposite of protecting children.

Call people out on their bullshit, and use the language YOU want, not their rhetorical rigamarole.

Analog Living

My big thing for this year is analog living. I detailed this out in my last post.

Issues not politics

I’ve been a die-hard Democract since 2002 (after a brief period from 1998-2001 of being a Green Party member). Since 2017, I’ve done A LOT of things for local and national candidates for office. I’m really burnt out on the Democratic Party right now, though. So, until the DNC et al on a national level can get their collective heads out their collective tushies, I plan to do any advocacy/ organizing/ activist work on an issue-based level, instead of doing so for a particular Congressional or Presidential candidate. State and local politics is a bit different, since you really can make an impact at that level (as I noted above.) But even in this case, I’m still focusing on issues more than state politics: ranked choice voting, changes to how the state legislature works, homelessness, abortion rights, etc etc.

Move along, together

It sucks right now, and it’s scary. But 1/3 of us actively voted against this. 1/3 of us didn’t participate because of a myriad of reasons that we can maybe change in coming election cycle and get those non-participants motivated again, or for the first time. 1/3 of the voting population voted for this but even then, not all of them wanted THIS. They (IMO, ignorantly and/or foolishly) believed the populist economic message and thought they would be seeing a better economy be the focus of this Admonistration. The rest, so less than a 1/3 of the voting population, wanted this. And this is who we will work to defeat in big and small ways as we move along this period of history together. (Yes, I just took lyrics from the Muppets “Moving Right Along” to end this; I’m listening to the song is why! Ha.)

I hope this advice has helped you. There is a lot of good advice out there, right now. Swear, scream, get angry, for sure. Then take care of yourself. Then work on what you can to make things better. That’s what I’m doing.

💗

Categories
Activist Witch Modern Witchcraft Notebook Witchery Things To Do

Surviving 2025

Where will you be dwelling in the new Robber Baron “Broligarchy” Era?

So far, I’ve disabled my political Twitter account; deleted my TikTok account; and deleted the Facebook app off of my devices. That is the start.

Between the weird and false claim from Zuckerberg that Facebook needs more masculine energy (literally NOTHING needs more masculine energy, tbh), and Musk’s cesspool that was once Twitter, I am at the end of my interest in those two major platforms. I’m also annoyed that Instagram is ruled by Reels. I miss the static photos of the 2010s. I haven’t been a regular poster on Instagram in a while as a result.

So, what to do to stay connected to the people, groups, and large communities of interested with whom I’ve connected via social media since its inception? I’m not sure quite yet, but I’ve started on some things.

Not Using Social Media at All

What a concept. But I’m trying to just pull way back from digital living in general. Give me books, diary writing, embroidery, junk journaling, board games, playing cards, dancing, walking, cooking, tea making, etc etc. My gardening plans have been on hiatus since I moved to Woonsocket. My wardrobe is in desperate need of organizing. I have so many craft projects I want to do with my mom. I’m ready for a more analog existence. And if I want to get in touch with people, I’ll use medium-old/new ways, like text, email, phone.

One of the other reasons I’m just not feeling social media these days is that so much of it is getting invaded by AI, and so much of what’s generated by AI is pure slop.

Focusing on Email, Blogs, and Newsletter Subscriptions

This, for me, is the best way to curate my digital intake. If I take the time to subscribe to a newsletter, then I obviously want to read what the person has to say. I don’t need an Al Gore Rhythm to show me what interests me. I have my own discernment for that. And so I am planning to focus on that method of digital consumption more than social media.

What Social Media I Still Use…for Now

I’m not completely off social media. I’m not even totally off all the social media I don’t like at all. The apps are deleted; thus I can only view on a browser. I realize their usefulness in limited, curated capacities. I see the wisdom in staying on platforms where I’ve been able to connect with like-minded people since the start of the social media era.

I’m an early adopter. I was instant messaging on AOL in 1995. I have been on Facebook since the days when you needed a “.edu” email address to sign up. I used to operate eight different Twitter accounts. So, I’m not leaving in a “you kids and your new fangled technology” kind of way.

I’m doing it in a “this is kinda boring and often detrimental, if not just unhelpful” kind of way.

Additionally, for the apps I still use, they’re all in a folder on my phone. That folder is on the last window of four windows. The most tempting but least helpful of social media apps are buried even further within that folder, on the 4th window of that. That way, I really have to think about whether I want to go on there, whereever “there” may be.

Those caveats out of the way, here’s my list of social media that I am still on:


Pinterest

I love the heck out of Pinterest, still. I find so much good stuff there. There isn’t a lot of interaction on posts, but perhaps that’s why I like it. It is currently my favorite social media platform.

Tumblr

Ye olden internette of Tumblr has a little resurgence once Twitter started going down the tube. I think I want to explore there some more.

Reddit

It’s clunky, but simple and I find good stuff there, too.

Bluesky

One big thing I’m trying not to do this time around with the Frump Admonistration back in office is to skip tuning in to news that does not help me in anyway. I cannot affect the cabinet picks, the executive orders, the pardons of criminal traitors. So, I’m trying to avoid the lefty media I used to follow so incessantly.

I don’t follow them on BlueSky. Instead, I have created a list. I’ll tune into the list if I hear stuff from my “Normie Friends” (people who don’t follow politics incessantly) that they’re concerned about, to get the input from trusted progressive media, politicians, and activists.

It’s hard to break a habit of almost a decade, tuning in to the posts of popular progressive political figures. I revert back to it out of habit when I’m just futzing around on my phone. I’m getting better, though!

Signal

The writer Mo Ryan suggests this app for DMs. She says don’t use any other platform’s DMs or your text to discuss anything sensitive. So I signed up for signal. I don’t use it for anything, yet.

Discord

It is structurally like Reddit, in that it’s message-board based. I don’t love it, but I see its benefits, and i am on there for politcs and literary stuff.

Patreon

I support artists there. Two visual artists: one who makes self-care tools, and another who make gorgeous fantasy-inspired anime-like drawings of plus size imaginative figures. I also support a music teacher, Jeff Rolka, who has a series of vocal warm up videos that I use often.

Substack

I kind of think of Substack like the old RSS feeds. There are a lot of good contributers there. I support Brian Beutler’s “Off Message” for national political commentators. I support Steve Ahlquist for local Rhode Island news.

Bookish places

Good Reads is not ideal but I use it anyway because tht Bezos has me with his Audible and Kindle Unlimited. He’s the broligarch to whom I’m most beholden, with my Fire TV, subscription groceries on Prime, and habit of trolling for excellent fashion deals on the Prime App on a Friday night, instead of going out to bars like I did in my 20s and 30s.

I also still have a Library Thing account, and I’ll always love that corner of the internet, even if I don’t frequent it as much as I did in the mid 2000s.

And I have joined Book Bub, since an author I like is on there. But I haven’t done much there, yet.

The Rule of One

The other thing that I am doing to help keep my head is to stick to the Rule of One for consuming news.


Analog Living and Witchcraft

One thing I have loved about social media is learning more about modern paganism and modern witchcraft. The thing is, though, so much of what I give a “like” to are wonderful little memes on how to observe a coming Sabbat or Esbat by doing all these wonderful practices, like lighting candles, saying spells, making jars, performing a ritual, meditating, etc. That’s what we all need to do more of. Once we read that lovely post of things to do on the upcoming Full Moon, we need to put the phone down and get to it!