Note of the Living Deb

I'm happy to report that the No Kings protest seemed just like all the other protests I've been to. But with a bigger crowd.

I noticed the uniformed folks this time, though, because of the news. They were just standing around talking to each other while staying alert. Someone posted video of them noticing being filmed and then smiling and waving. So, as usual, my life is nothing like the news, for which I'm very grateful.

Also as usual, the best parts were the signs and costumes. I saw two protesters dressed as the president. One was held captive in the golden lasso of a gal dressed as Wonder Woman (thus forced to tell the truth), holding a sign showing truths he was saying. One was in a fancy airplane, decorated with golden balloons saying "ME."

Favorite signs:
* Pawns can never be king
* Bring back empathy and competence
* Fight ignorance, not immigrants
* Our monarchs are butterflies
* No Faux-King Way!
* Who Would Jesus Deport?
* If I wanted a king, I'd buy a mattress
* Veto the Cheeto
* You know it's bad when the introverts are out here
* Trump for Mayor - Alcatraz 2027
* If it was Kamala, we'd be at brunch right now

A friend recently recommended What Can We Do? A Hierarchy of 20 Things to Resist Fascism (Part 1 of 3). The author comes from a very left-wing perspective, but what he says applies to everyone who is pro-democracy. And he writes for an audience that is already convinced that we are headed for autocracy--even if you don't agree with that part, there are still be some good ideas for you. It's like what if I go to extra efforts to take care of myself, and then it turns out we have a real election in 4 years after all? Win-win! You just have to be ready to deal with his anxiety and even anger before reading and be ready to translate what he's saying into language that makes sense to you.

The best thing is that besides having a *lot* of ideas, he has them organized in a hierarchy, starting from the most important and safest and then working up to the toughest, most dangerous ideas. This hierarchy isn't exactly in the order I would choose and it gets a little less organized at the top, but it's still fantastic.

I like the end points. First: take care of yourself, just like on an airplane. (Except on an airplane, the [non-high-jacking] pilot isn't actually trying to kill anyone.) And last: civil disobedience, which he calls passive resistance. He emphasizes that it's not yet time for "direct action," no matter how tempting. That would just give them another excuse to escalate. And I will add that it's never time for violence (except in self-defense). One thing I've seen way too many times in my reading about other countries is that the new regimes that come into power on a tide of violence tend to end up just as bad or worse than the one they overthrew. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is not your friend, but another enemy trying to use you for their own ends.

Here are some more ideas that spoke to me (organized by which section he discusses them in).

1. Survive. Prepare and Plan.

'At what point will you leave? What is the trigger? Is it the first demonstration where the National Guard opens fire on U.S. citizens? Is it the quiet acceptance of Republicans trafficking U.S. citizens into El Salvadorian concentration camps? Is it when every blogger and activist writer starts getting arrested? Is it when trans people have to wear identifying markings? Is it when political dissidents go missing by the dozens? When will you pack up the car and drive?

'Where will you go? Canada? Mexico? What city exactly? Have a "go bag" ready. Get your paperwork in order. Do not let your car get below a half a tank of gas.'

Yeah, my current "not yet" answer might really not been good enough. I don't want to leave. I'm not one of the main targets and can pass for not being a target. But I've been reading that part of the fascist playbook is to demonize some set of people and then expand that demonization to all those who support those people or protest the demonization.

2. Thrive

If you're a target, 'every act of pleasure and joy is a subversive slap in their face.' Even if you're not, 'it's difficult to emphasize enough just how much the cruelty and malice and horrors can GET to you. It's a struggle just to keep from sinking into The Swamps of Sadness.' And that makes everything else harder, too.

6. Document the truth

He thinks that even just keeping a private off-line journal of what's going on is a form of resistance.

"There’s going to be a lot of fascist attempts to rewrite the story. Not just the overarching narrative—sometimes the very facts themselves. ... So keeping a record can help you stay grounded. It can remind you that you’re NOT crazy when you feel like the goalposts are shifting. It can help you remember exactly what you felt, when you go back to see what happened on a day. It may remind you that a month ago, you found today’s everyday behavior absolutely unconscionable, and how far normalization has brought us all. It may even possibly be of use to historians."

My new horror journal fits into this.

7. Give support/Deny support

'If you are surviving, thriving with radical self-care, know what's going on, think about it and document what is true, but are not quite ready to step into the light of direct attention, you can support those who are doing what you want and deny support to those who aren't.'

You can both help out people who are in the trenches the same ways you might help a new parent or a mourner or someone dealing with cancer (casseroles, help with chores, etc.). You can vote with your dollars - 'The nice thing about economic activism is that they're so focused on their profit margins, they’ll feel the pinch almost immediately, even from small changes.

'Also, maybe you just take the time to find a board gaming group that doesn't "hear everyone out." Or find a church service that isn’t shaming queer people for being fed up with MAGA.' (Obviously I do want to hear everyone out; he means accepting the opposite of reality as one of the "both sides" that people should hear.)

I think this is where I am in the pyramid right now, figuring out more ways to do this. 'Megacorporations aren’t always easy to work around, and doing so is almost always some form of privilege. So just do the best you can.'

9. Support Democrat politicians

If you're a conservative, you will definitely have to reframe some of this author's arguments who finds most Democrats to be too centrist.

Or not. 'It's vote blue, and then hold them accountable. It's "This might not make things better, but there is a surefire way that they'll get worse…"

'...There is nothing the left [or anyone pro-democracy] wants that isn’t a hundred times harder to achieve when authoritarian forces have us scrambling.

'...Fascism exists in the U.S.—even under Democrats. (Even though Democrats don’t like to think about that very much.) But it is SO much easier to fight. It is so much more violent and developed and articulated under Republicans.'

10. Do not obey in advance

This is a fairly new idea to me, though I've heard it before. 'Most power is yielded to authoritarian regimes freely. Of course, some people agree with what’s going on. But even among those who don't, there isn't really any appreciable foot dragging. People consider what the authoritarian government wants and then do it without even being asked. They think if they're super extra sugar-on-top cooperative, the eye of persecution will never fall on them—even though there was LITERALLY no time in history when that was ever true. And if the authoritarian can move six steps without even having to ask, then they’re that much less tapped out when it's time to take steps seven, eight, and nine.

'They are watching us closely to see what they can easily get away with, and what will cost them political capital and a hard fight. At least, make them pass a law before you obey. Or expend resources to force your contrition. Or demand it. Something.

'At some point, they will ask. Then they will tell you that you should. Then they will get in your face. Then there will be threats. Then they will come after you. Whether any of this is legal when they do it is highly questionable. It’s up to you how long you hold out, but do NOT comply in advance.'

He actually doesn't go into specifics on this one.

11. What CAN you do?

'Remember in The Three Amigos (which… is one of those eighties movies that hasn’t aged super well, but it’s better than One of the Guys) when the Amigos ask what the people of Santa Poco are good at, and someone says, “We can sew!”

'So Martin Short is like, “Sew like the wind!” And then the bad guys come and think the Three Amigos are fucking everywhere because the townspeople are all wearing Three Amigos costumes that they sewed.'

That reminds me of the session I went to on the StrengthsFinder, where instead of emphasizing improving your weaknesses, they emphasized finding more ways to use your strengths. My favorite example was the person bad at math but with good people skills, learning to watch for the hints their math instructor was giving on what was most important and focusing study time on those things.

'This movement needs everything. It’s going to need artists. It's going to need idealists. It's going to need ambassadors. It's going to need politicians. It's definitely going to need lawyers. It's going to need keyboard warriors. I have some old comrades who opened a free clinic in the inner city. I have a friend who knits Afghans. You might think that's sort of boring, phone-it-in activism. But he has, over time, been responsible for giving upwards of a thousand cold people a blanket. I promise you that’s a positive impact.

'Some folks will be better at opening their wallets and supporting the cause financially. (And boy, do we need financial support.) Some will be better at organizing. Some will be so good at doing their "five calls" that they can do other people’s five calls—maybe even fifty or a hundred calls a day. [See 5 Calls.] Some will be better at creating TikTok videos. Figure out what your skill sets are, and then make a plan for how you can use that to support. Lean into what you're good at.'

12. Choose an institution or ideal to defend

I have heard many times that we can't respond to everything, and that this makes us want to give up, but that instead we should just focus on one or two things. But he makes it sound like this isn't as useless as it feels. 'Pull one thread and help to unravel the whole thing.

'...So pick an institution—maybe a media outlet, a particular law, a court, or even an ideal like voting rights—and defend it. Use a search engine to find out about its struggles, and show up. Give time, energy, maybe money if you have it. Make five calls to your representatives, and keep the pressure on to protect this institution.'

15. Educate

I feel like most of my friends and readers are already educated.

'The job of an educator in activism is to combat false narratives, check bunk facts, frame arguments, point out choices in language. ... Most people have a motive to pretend to be reasonable, and then reject ideas that cause cognitive dissonance.' Some can't be reached. Some 'will need your gentle patience. Many folks just woke up. They need some time to become James Connolly. Teach them the truth of what is going on. Teach them their rights. Teach them how to build a response team. Teach them how to give mutual aid. Teach them how to do phone trees. Teach them how to build parallel infrastructure. Teach them how to resist.'

Well, okay, I don't even know how to do all that stuff.

17. Protect the vulnerable

He gives a lot of examples, from some that seem less scary, like speaking up for people, to some that seem very scary, like blocking an attacker or preparing an Anne-Frank-style hidie hole.

18. Resist

I started hating this word when Obama was president and a majority of Republicans decided their job was to resist rather than to create counter-proposals and negotiate. They just blocked everything that came from Democrats, even things that you would normally expect them to like.

And that's what he means here. But this part isn't aimed at legislators. In this section he talks about doing everything you can to slow them down. 'At this point, you are causing trouble for trouble's sake. Yes, you've got everything lower on the pyramid going on, but you're also just getting in the way. Waste fascists' time with lengthy, wandering, pointless explanations. Be hostile (without getting yourself into trouble for being violent). Talk at length. Bring up irrelevant issues. Go on tangents. Spend several minutes looking for your ID (even though you have it with you).

'Keep yourself safe from injury, repercussions, and always make sure you have plausible deniability, but start to be absolutely EGREGIOUS every time you deal with a fascist—be it a law enforcement officer, a soldier, or just a die-hard MAGA. Make vague patriotic statements so they feel embarrassed to cut you off. ("I know someone doing their best to uphold this great country we both love, like you and I do, understands the need for tightly laced shoes—so I'm just going to do that right now, shaky fingers be damned. This won't take TOO long, my loyal friend. I hope you're not in a hurry. What am I saying, of course you are—you have so many important things to do since you are such an important person—a cog in the greatest machine in the world, am I right? Now… what was the question? Oh right, right, right…my ID. My ID. Let’s see. It's here somewhere…") Misunderstand everything and try to clarify endlessly. Ask for instructions to be repeated. Quibble over wording. Reopen previous discussions.

'Act stupid.'

Post of the Day

Speaking of acting stupid, I found Jay Kuo's Clueless, Chaotic and Contemptuous: A crash course in how the Trump administration avoids answers and accountability to be interesting and horrifying. 'The ability to recognize these tricks provides critical context for the listener to not succumb to the gaslighting.'

I've figured out my last journal type I'm going to do. I never would have guessed, but it's closest to the worry journal I talked about in my first post. In that post I wondered, "Wouldn't it make you feel worse? According to Restoration Counseling of Atlanta, writing down your worries and then literally closing the book on them can help you stop ruminating. Interestingly, they say to "List bothersome issues on the left side of the page." But also, "Think about what you can do to help resolve these issues and write your plans on the right side of the page." (I hate when people just say to try to ignore things or take deep breaths rather than actually trying to change things.) They do admit that sometimes we do have to learn acceptance."

I've decided to write what I'm calling a horror journal. When I read about something horrifying in the news, I'm writing a brief description (with a link to the source) and, just like they said, setting it aside and moving on. I'm not going to be including ideas for resolving every one of these issues because that can get very dark. (So, like a normal worry journalist might say--I'll never finish this assignment in time, and then write down that they could work on it a little each day, ask the professor for advice, etc.) The problem is that the issues I'm listing are things I have very little control over. And having to come up with some sort of solution for all of these impossible, devastating horrors is too much for any one person. I'm already always on the lookout for ways to fight these problems and write to my representatives rather frequently. Mostly I look for ways to join what others are doing and thus amplify their voices, so I sign petitions, join e-mailing campaigns, show up at the occasional rally, and try to vote with my dollars (and of course with my actual votes).

I think most people doing worry journals are fighting more personal worries of some kind. They are especially good for people with crippling anxiety or depression. I keep reading about mindfulness and acknowledging thoughts and feelings without judgement. I don't have crippling anxiety and I'm not judging myself. Instead it feels more like I'm acknowledging the horrors that others are facing, and I am giving them a place of honor. Kind of like a veteran's memorial, but for things like democracy, decency, public health, and the environment. I don't have to try to remember them all--they are all going to be in one place if I need to refer to them.

I wish I'd been doing this the first 100 days. It feels good to have the response, "Okay, this is something I'm adding to my list" instead of just, "Aaaah! Swear swearing swear-face!" I get my frustrations out safely, semi-calmly.

Skip the rest of this post if you need a break from the news. Because today I've noted:
* Although T has supposedly stopped all immigration, he's sent a private aircraft to accept South African Afrikaners.
* "DHS is terminating Temporary Protected Status for people from Afghanistan — meaning they will start deporting those who helped the U.S. and cooperated with our forces, sending them back to Afghanistan and to the Taliban where they will be targeted, jailed or killed."
* House Republicans' proposed Medicaid cuts would mean 13.7 million people will be knocked off the health insurance rolls by 2034 according to the CBO. [I've learned earlier that some people on Medicare don't even know it; they only know the name of their intermediary insurance company.]
* At least one Canadian company is being hit with fees beyond the tariffs just in case their stuff is really made in China.
* The new head of the Library of Congress is a loser lawyer.
* The IRS is losing 11% of their workforce, including 31% of auditors, meaning they will lose much more money from cheaters in the future.

The Rebel Badge Club has monthly challenges, which are fun because everyone's working on them at the same time and so you can get plenty of ideas. The challenges don't all interest me, but March's Challenge for World Book Day sounded fun. It's not all about reading but touches on all kinds of aspects of books, which is fun.

There are 28 requirements of which at least six must be completed.

The first thing I learned is that I tend to lose motivation between when I learn about a new challenge and when I'm officially allowed to start it. I appreciate the lead time for planning, but in reality, instead of waiting a few days, I wait a couple of weeks, and then it feels like stress. In the future I'll start whenever I feel like, though I won't post anything until the first day.

Even with only 6 things required, I didn't finish by the end of the month, having done only 5. That's okay; the mantra around there is how badges are self-assessed, so you can do them however you like. And it's all about fun and personal growth, and there's more of that to be squeezed out of this challenge, so I'll keep going. But I'm posting now so I can link from the group's page during the proper month.

I'd already done many of the requirements in the past. Those aren't supposed to count. But there are also plenty of requirements for things I've never done. And there's room to do old things in new ways. And of course any excuse for more charity, even if it's just repeating something that's been done in the past, is good. It's the last day today, so I'll post now, but I plan to do a few extra things as well.

Here are my notes (crazy long, so behind a cut).

( Read more... )

We can resist some of the craziness going on right now by voting with our dollars, the only language big business understands.

What's DEI?

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It includes things that have also been called fairness, equal rights, and civil rights. Here is a tiny list of some examples of how to make things more diverse, equitable, and inclusive:

* equal pay for equal work
* ramps
* floating holidays
* changing stations in men's rooms
* lefty scissors
* subtitles and captions
* audiobooks
* step stools
* glasses and hearing aids
* shampoo for all hair types

It turns out that many of these accommodations are handy for all kinds of people, not just those who really need them.

But there has been a backlash from people who, well, I hope it's an exaggeration to say that they would rather live in a world where they get to have slaves and beat up their wives and roll people in wheelchairs off cliffs for fun.

The boycott

In the face of the current US president's action to end government DEI, many companies have also been rolling back their DEI programs.

In response, "Dr. Jamal Bryant, the influential pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in metro Atlanta, is leading a 40-day economic fast--or boycott--of Target in direct response to the retailer's decision to phase out its DE&I initiatives" including a pledge of $2 billion in investments toward Black-owned businesses. "And the impact of the boycott is already felt. Since Black consumers began boycotting Target, the company's stock has dropped by $11." (See The Villager's 2/14/25 issue.)

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, is urging people to educate themselves and spend accordingly, focusing on Black businesses when possible.

The Latino Freeze movement says that so long as they freeze NIH, DEI, immigration, we freeze spending. They have lists of companies that are and are not committed to DEI and also good advice on doing your own research.

What I'm Doing

I'm not a single-issue consumer. I mean, Dollar Tree is on Latino Freeze's list of committed businesses, but they still treat their employees like garbage. Still, it feels good to see that my main two grocery stores, HEB and Trader Joe's, are on the committed side of their list.

Businesses I use on the other side include Home Depot, Ace Hardware (Breed and Co.), Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), and Toyota.

Target - I've heard from friends that Target has also had far fewer of the fun LGBTQ items than in the past. So I'm considering switching to People's Pharmacy, Sprouts, and/or Wheatsville Food Coop for toiletries and writing Target a letter describing my disappointment in their recent turnaround. I already buy most of my clothes at thrift shops, but I'll be looking for new places to get socks and undies.

Google - This is another company that I used to love but that has been disappointing me more and more. Now they make me sit around and wait while they put together an AI answer to my search request. I'm happier when I remember to add "-ai" to the end of my search requests, but I'm thinking of trying some other search engines. Duck Duck Go seems the obvious choice. If I don't like that, maybe Yahoo. Recommendations appreciated!

Other - In general, I'm trying to buy more things used, direct from the source, or from coops or B-corps. For example, I almost never use Amazon anymore--another company I used to love that has become disappointing. I now look for books I want from Half Price (also evil in its own ways) and Powell's in Seattle. I did some research before buying my last pair of shoes and went with REI. I bought the board game Finspan direct from Stonemeier Games, though I still like Tanuki Games for other purchases. Of course it's impossible to be fully informed and it's time consuming, so I'm sure some of my decisions are worse, but I feel that overall, things are better.

I'm also writing a lot of letters. I don't write on everything important. But I do check my emails for petitions (many of which are now actually e-mails which you can change the wording on--and I do) and occasionally write letters out of the blue. Phone calls are more effective, but ugh. I also went to the President's Day protest since I do live in one of the 50 state capitols.

Letter-writing strategies

Sometimes I get to have fun with my letters like the time I said how it was hard to think of a worse choice to lead some important health department, but "fortunately Thanos is fictional."

And my basic mantra is that we can do better. And as public servants, we rely on them to...

I like to promise my Republican Senators that if Trump decides to run an opponent in the next primary because they are being too decent, I promise I will vote in the Republican primary (you don't have to belong to a party to vote in a primary in Texas, but you are allowed to vote only in one) so that I can vote for him. Last time Trump endorsed opponents, most of them won, so I understand the fear. But someone at the protest said that although the Trump-endorsed opponents tend to win the primaries, they also tend to be more likely to lose the general election. Still, I could never hope that someone even scummier than my reps would win even a primary.

And when I'm in a position to respond in person to people who are spouting craziness, I've decided that rather than call them idiots or whatever, I will just point out that they've been lied to. This puts us in the same boat--us against the liars, rather than dividing us.

And then whenever I find myself unable to think of anything more useful to say than "I hate you so much!" or "What is wrong with you?" I know it's time for a break.

I found Kathryn Stockett's The Help in a little free library. It's about three people in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi. One (Aibileen) is a Black maid who is really also a nanny, but she moves on whenever her young charge becomes racist. She's on her 17th white child. One (Minny) is a Black maid who keeps getting fired for speaking her mind. And one (Skeeter) is a white woman who wants to become a journalist.

I liked that it showed many different situations. We get lots of looks at situations where the maids have to just nod and say yes to all kinds of crazy things. We also see situations where the maids really like parts of their jobs (Aibileen loves the kids she works with; Minny loves cooking). We see a couple of very violent situations. And, fascinatingly, the idea that although white men will physically attack Blacks, the women are more subtle. They will get you blacklisted from jobs, from getting justice, from being allowed to keep living in the same house. So, horrifying and terrifying. And of course the Black maids have to deal with ordinary non-racism problems like abusive husbands, sickness, feet hurting.

There were a couple of fascinating situations showing how people dealt with their lack of power. One pregnant lady moved in with her mother to get her husband to do what she wanted. And in Skeeter's book, they include a secret about one of the most powerful white ladies as "insurance." That white lady would now be motivated to say that the book wasn't set in their city at all, and therefore that embarrassing thing that happened did not happen to her. Mostly people just kept quiet or gave the lying answers their questioners wanted to hear and did what they were told to the best of their ability, even if it was impossible and/or not appreciated.

Another interesting thing is that being too friendly to the maids was not helpful. For example, the maids were used to having a certain amount of privacy from being forced to eat in the kitchen instead of the dining room. A time when they didn't have to be "on" and could just relax and eat.

Reviewers either like the book or feel that it is whitewashed. We see the viewpoint of all three major characters, but in the end, it's still a book by a white lady trying to understand as best she can.

And the privilege. Skeeter gets advised to take any journalism job she can, and replaces a housekeeping hints writer. She knows nothing about housekeeping and has to get all her knowledge from Aibileen. Worse, she then steals an idea for a book from Aibileen's deceased son, to write about what it's really like being black in the south at that time. Even her editor warns her it would be crazy for any Black folks to talk to her about this topic. (To be fair, coming from a fellow white person, it might have more impact among whites than a more authentic book by a Black person, as we learned in history class about Uncle Tom's Cabin.) Of course writing this novel in 2009 is much less dangerous. Though it still makes me cry and want to shout "Never again!"

Was this Jim Crow garbage better than slavery? I'm going to say in most cases yes. These maids actually got to go home at night, which surprised me. They were more likely to be able to keep in touch with friends and family. But it wasn't nearly as much better as it should have been. And modern times aren't nearly as much better than the situations in this book as they should be.

Since it's a novel, things have to happen. Skeeter reminds me a bit of Mary in the movie "Saved!" who is one of the cool kids in high school and tries to be a good Christian, which gets her pregnant (it all makes perfect sense in the movie!) and then she's kicked out of the popular girl's clique. Skeeter is trying to be sneaky, but her liberal ideas leak through, and she is also kicked out of her clique of popular ladies.

Skeeter's book of interviews is published with changed names and with the author listed as anonymous, but it's not enough and then the novel gets more and more terrifying. But then the novel has a very fake happy ending--all three of our main characters end up managing okay. I seriously doubt that could have happened in real life. Some reviewers complained there was too much of a white savior theme going on, but Skeeter only took some small initiative in giving some people the credit (and money) they deserved.

I did like the author's afterward, especially the part where she has mixed feelings about growing up in Mississippi. When she tells people where she's from, some express condolences, and she'd say, "What do you know? It's beautiful down there." Or one time, "I informed him that Mississippi hosted the first lung transplant and the first heart transplant and that the basis of the United States legal system was developed at the University of Mississippi." And also that it's where William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Henson, Faith Hill, James Earl Jones, and Craig Claiborne were from. But then if people responded that they'd heard it was beautiful down there, she'd inform them that "My hometown is number three in the nation for gang-related murders."

I've heard a movie was made of this. Looking at the trailers, it might be good. But it looks too happy. Too heartwarming. Also, Skeeter should be way taller and skinnier and her hair should never be in ringlets (except maybe in one scene) but a giant pile of frizz. Also it has the title of the book of interviews wrong--it's real title was much better, just Help.

I just received the third volume of the Rebel Badge Book and am intrigued by the Advanced Diarist badge. The first requirement is to try a different type of journalling each month for six months. And ten examples are given. Interestingly, some are different formats, others are different topics. So you could journal the same topic 6 different ways or journal 6 different topics the same way.

Topics

The different topics mentioned are:

* Gratitude journal - to improve life satisfaction. I feel like I'm pretty attuned to the positives in my life which admittedly is pretty easy considering that I have almost every imaginable privilege and virtually everything I'm bad at is perfectly fine in my current lifestyle. I wouldn't mind trying this, though. It seems fun.

* Dream diary - I'd maybe have one or two entries a month. Short. Mostly nonsensical. Or one could write about your hopes and dreams and call that a dream diary. Or maybe any ideas of things you'd like to do in the future, so you don't forget.

* Memory journal - I guess some journals about your plans or dreams; these would be about things that have already happened. When Covid took over our lives I kept a covid journal for a while. I kept track of news and how things affected my friends and me. Googling shows that people like to keep track of certain accomplishments and other experiences (like races run, books read, board games played).

* Worry journal - This sounds like the opposite of gratitude journal. Wouldn't it make you feel worse? According to Restoration Counseling of Atlanta, writing down your worries and then literally closing the book on them can help you stop ruminating. Interestingly, they say to "List bothersome issues on the left side of the page." But also, "Think about what you can do to help resolve these issues and write your plans on the right side of the page." (I hate when people just say to try to ignore things or take deep breaths rather than actually trying to change things.) They do admit that sometimes we do have to learn acceptance.

Stoic journaling sounds similar.

Other ideas:

* Spending journal - Whenever I'm wondering where my money is going, I've kept track of everything I've bought and the answer has become clear. Normally I don't have to be that detailed to know how I'm doing, though.

* Food journal - I've kept track of everything I've eaten and compared that to the next day's weight to see if I could find out anything new. And I did learn some good things, like it's okay to eat an unreasonable number of potato chips, but not of tortilla chips.

I've heard it's also a good idea, when you're into emotional eating (which I am), to keep track of the emotions to help you figure out some strategies for avoiding that.

A friend of mine likes photographing restaurant food to help him remember later what he liked and didn't like at different restaurants.

* Anything else you want to stay accountable about.

* Exercise journal - A friend of mine loves weight lifting because it's so easy to make visible progress, so keeping track of that could be motivating. Or any area you're trying to make improvements in.

* Fashion journal - The My Style badge (volume 1) requires taking a photo of how you're dressed each day.

* Travel journal - These really help me get maximum value from my travels because I can re-visit them later. I both write and take photos.

* Holiday newsletters are also a type of journalling.

Formats

Here are the formats mentioned:

* Circular diary - I'm guessing this is a format--I've never heard it and can't find what it is online)

* Bullet journal - this is a paper journal that also incorporates to-do lists and calendars as well of other things you'd like to keep track of, like all the books you've read or movies that friends have recommended, or the sizes of things you keep forgetting (air filter size, alarm clock battery size). It's highly personalizable, and I really like mine when I actually keep up with it. Now that my Elections job is over, it's time to get back to it.

* Photo diary - I like these for traveling. And they are good for before-and-after projects. I just saw a time-lapse record of someone building a Lego creation. One of my friends was showing me Strava, an exercise app that records your route and you can also take a picture during your journey.

* Embroidery journal - I'd never heard of this! Apparently you embroider a small icon representing some memorable part of your day each day. People recommend keeping a key because you might forget what your icons mean. These can be quite pretty, especially if you can draw. But it sounds a little high pressure for my tastes.

This does remind me of temperature quilts, where you add different colored squares each day representing the high and low temperatures. I think it might be interesting to make a quilt of one city from the year you were born and then a modern one (from the same city) but also depressing. For that much work, I'd rather record something more interesting.

* Doodle journal - My first guess was that you just have a notebook for doodling. But apparently many journallers use doodles to illustrate other things or just make their pages prettier. There's also such a thing as the 30-day doodle challenge where you get a new topic each day to make a doodle for.

* Daily one-second video - This seems a lot like a photo journal!

Other ideas:

* Art - I guess you could use any art form to journal: painting, mandalas, cartoons, music, drama, essays, poems, letters, ("Dear Diary"!), um, potato stamps, pottery... Maybe just to create, maybe to express specific topics.

I have a water colorist friend who decided to just paint something every day.

* Scrapbooks - To collect artifacts of your life.

* Trackers - Visual ways to track progress or participation.

* Pieces of paper in a jar - I've heard of people writing things they are grateful for on slips of paper and putting them in a jar. Then later when they need a lift, they can pull out a slip or three to remember.

* Prompted journals - there are various books providing prompts for various topics like gratefulness or writing your autobiography.

Putting it all together

Right now a lot of my processes are broken. I don't print my pictures; they are just a mess on my laptop. I ran out of storage in the place I was using to add pictures for my blog. And as much as I love, love, love electronics, I'm not liking how temporary they can be. Things crash. Things lose support. Things can't be tranferred. So I want to figure out a good way to make the kind of travel books I used to make, with both photos and writing and then make some.

I might try joining my friends on the free version of Strava, adding illustrative photos.

I might try a gratitude journal.

I'm fascinated by artistic secret code creations. I made a bead bracelet with different colors for dots, dashes, and spaces that says "Happiness" using Morse Code. I could try to think of something worth immortalizing and figure out a way to do it.

I could try writing a few lines each day in Spanish, to practice. And I could just send them to my friend from Spanish class and see if we get back in the habit.

I can't draw, but I'd like to. (People don't like sitting next to me when I play "Telestrations.") I took an informal class in cartoon drawing once, and a couple things came out cool. I actually learned more about 3-D while taking Calculus III. Anyway, it's easy to look up icons for things online, and lots of people like illustrating their bullet journals. I could try adding doodles to my bullet journal.

After Trump's victory, a worry journal might be a good idea.

Some of the requirements of the My Style, [Nature] Observer, Critic, and other badges could be incorporated in this.

What kinds of journalling have you enjoyed?

Of course no one wants to support terrorists (well, except maybe some other terrorists). So it would make sense to find and arrest suspected terrorists for their crimes. But HR 9495 is meant to just make sure their tax-exempt organizations start paying taxes. Supposedly. Actually, it's meant to terrorize nonprofits that don't agree with Trump. Here's how Lloyd Doggett, my US Representative, describes it.

This bill would have enabled Trump through his Treasury Secretary to effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization based on a unilateral accusation of “terrorism,” even though that group had done nothing illegal. The tax-exempt status can be revoked without presenting a shred of evidence, without offering any specific reason, without providing any hearing, and without any meaningful right of appeal, no matter how capricious, no matter how unjustified the claim.

All of this is done in the name of stopping financial support for terrorists. Like all of us, of course, I oppose terrorism and do not want to be mischaracterized as pro-terrorist by my adversaries. Trump’s list of targets would only be limited by his imagination, not any guardrails. Trump could target organizations that assist refugees for harboring “terrorists,” a hospital that permits the alleged “terror” of abortion, an environmental group mislabeled as “ecoterrorists,” a private university that permits too many anti-Trump protests, think tanks with the audacity to think differently, groups fighting Christian Nationalism or simply any tax-exempt group not viewed as sufficiently pro-MAGA.

We cannot lay down in response to the threat he poses. While I was able to marshal enough Democratic votes to stop this measure last night, the challenge presented by a Trump administration certainly remains with us. I will work together with all of goodwill for progress but will not back down from defending our values and advancing reasonable alternatives to the many dangerous policies that Trump has proclaimed.

Okay, that's not how justice is supposed to work in our country. We are supposed to get fair trials, based on evidence. This sort of strategy is how we treat non-citizen suspected terrorists (which I also think is wrong). This sort of thing feels like step 1 toward a society where citizens are to rat each other out. Well, step 2 in Texas, where you're supposed to rat out people who want abortions for any reason at all.

The ACLU and Oxfam America oppose this obstruction of free speech. Independent Sector, a pro-nonprofit group, has more details on this bill.

This particular vote was some weird situation where the vote was whether to STOP this bill, and where because of some budget weirdness, a two-thirds majority was required. You can find out how your Representative voted (e.g., Rep. Doggett voted Yay to stop the bill). Doggett says, 'undoubtedly it will be back because Trump’s thirst for unlimited power can never be quenched.' So consider writing or calling your Representative to tell that person how you feel about their vote (or lack thereof) and what you, as their constituent, want them to do if/when this comes up again. Or at least remember this if they ask you to vote to keep them in office.

I'm using a new tag today, authoritarian. Avoid anything with this tag if you need to in order to stay out of depression.

This year there are a few races I'm pretty excited to be voting in.

Strong Endorsements

US Representative - I get to vote for Lloyd Doggett (District 37) again. I love how often he votes very reasonably, even when no one else is (Patriot Act).

City Council Member - I'm pretty happy to keep Chito Vela in office (District 4).

President - I'm very excited to vote against Donald Trump and enjoyed the beginning of the campaign for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, though I've heard Harris has gone quite negative during the time I've been without a computer.

US Senator - I'm also happy to be able to vote against Ted Cruz. I haven't heard much about Colin Allred but it's been basically good.

Other Thoughts

Mayor - I was really hoping the Chronicle would help me decide how to vote for mayor, so I was disappointed when I saw they had no endorsement. But they gave Robin and I enough information to make a decision. I recommend scrolling down their endorsement list to get information to decide for yourself. I know who three people are voting for, and we are all picking someone different!

Judges - In these and other partisan races I'm going with the Democrat, though what little I've been able to find makes it sound like Republican Daniel Betts might make a decent District Attorney. Mostly I feel the Republican focus on being tough on crime is pretty over-the-top in our current atmosphere, especially with the way white collar crime is basically ignored and the way private prisons lobby to maximize profits.

ACC Board of Trustees For Place 7, only Cole Wilson responded to the League of Women Voters, so that's who gets my vote. For Place 9, Joe Sefton seems very tech focused, whereas Julie Ann Nitsch seems more well-rounded, so I'm going with the latter.

AISD At-Large Position 8 - After reading the Chronicle's endorsement I narrowed it down to Lindsey Stringer versus Fernando Lucas de Urioste. After reading Community Impact's Get to know the Austin ISD school board candidates, I decided Stringer seems more focused on learning whereas de Urioste seems more focused on retention, so I'm voting for the former. But check it out for yourself.

Edited to add: I've already voted, but later in the Chronicle a long list of endorsers, and most making endorsements for this position chose de Urioste. I'm sure they know more than I do and if I were voting today, I would choose him.

Travis County Proposition A - Childcare Subsidies - I think this is one of those situations where investing in giving people a leg up helps the whole culture.

For more details on what it would actually do and what it would cost in property taxes, see the Austin Monitor's Ballot measure asks taxpayers to help fund access to affordable child care.

Austin ISD Proposition A to support public schools - Things are so bad, that many agree that despite a majority of the money going to other school districts due to the Robin Hood law, the amount we'd get to keep would make a big difference. See KUT for a story-based style or AISD for a more direct style. I'm voting for this one.

As usual, for most of these races, I feel like the blind leading the blind, so if you have opinions, let me know!

I like to remove labels from wide-mouthed glass jars when I can. (My favorite is peanut butter jars.) If I can't then use the jars myself, I donate them to Austin Creative Reuse. (Before they existed, I donated them to Goodwill.) Here's how I do it.

Removing the label

1) Try just peeling the label off. Sometimes this works! First I scrape up a corner with a fingernail, then try to peel it as slowly as possible to minimize glue residue.

2) If that doesn't work, I soak it in water for a while. Sometimes the label will just float away!

3) If that doesn't happen, I might scrape it a bit with a fork to give the water more access. Then sometimes it's quite easy to just scrape up the label with a fingernail or even with the fork.

4) If it's stuck pretty good, I'll try my metal spatula.

A friend of mine recommends Goo Gone for non-plastic labels. She says to spray it on and let it sit. Also, she says you can use razor blades on glass.

Removing the adhesive

When a small amount of adhesive remains, it can often be removed with alcohol. I put some on a piece of paper towel and rub it on the jar. The adhesive might just dissolve right off. Or it might take some elbow grease. Or it might kind of just move around, so sometimes I use the spatula again. And sometimes I just give up and toss the jar.

A friend of mine thinks lighter fluid works better than alcohol. The kind for refilling lighters, not the kind for lighting charcoal (assuming they're different). That scares me, plus I don't keep it on hand.

If you have additional strategies, I'd like to hear them!

Link of the day - Grumpy Rumblings' About that anti-price gouging policy — economists don’t actually hate it (it’s just not been explained well in the press) - Kamala Harris's policy is actually an anti-trust thing, not a price-fixing thing.