Thanks for this post and the podcast, Margaret. I’ve been thinking about this very thing a lot lately. My spouse of 30 years died suddenly last year, and as I emerge from the deepest quagmire of grief, I’ve thought a lot about what my life looks like going forward (nothing has radicalized me like the death of my partner). Im also at a point in my life where I don’t think I’ll ever have a boss or a landlord again, and that’s given me time to think (and act) on the problems I see in my community, now that my time is my own. Thanks for the motivation and inspiration. Because it could happen here! We could make things better, or fight like hell trying.
<3 I'm sorry to hear about your partner, but it's awesome that you're taking the "let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair" idea to heart!
One thing that I think is a good idea: learn to cook for a lot of people. If you're going to organize, you need food. It's hard to organize empty stomachs. Restaurants are expensive, prepared food is expensive. Ingredients - flour, sugar, water, salt, yeast - you can still have those cheap. And that's not even including scavenging / dumpster diving / potlucks. Then, not only do you have people breaking bread together, but you have a small victory that builds. Like, hey we fed all these people, what else can we do? that kind of thing.
Earlier this year I got sick of feeling angry and helpless and decided to start doing what I could. A friend of mine and I had a long conversation about how to live our values and I settled on feeding people. So I linked up with my city's food not bombs chapter and jumped in. I found it sort of funny that earlier this year you and Robert Evans had a conversation on your podcast and it basically was like can't think of what else do to, just feed people because that was my thoughts exactly. I've been peripherally involved in different leftist and social justice movements in my city (much more active pre pandemic, but then one of my children had some serious health issues and I had my life implode so I fell out of activism for a few years), so it was a pretty easy step back into doing something.
One of the things that has stuck with me as I've returned to being involved is to give yourself grace. There are people and groups out there that make you feel like you're not doing enough if you're not sacrificing your entire life, and it's best not to let that belief seed take root in you. Some days you will have more capacity than others. You have to be the only judge of what you have to give and it's important to remember that you can't pour from an empty cup. Joy is a form of resistance and it's so important to make room for that in the work we do. (The book pleasure activism by Adrienne Marie Brown covers some of those concepts it's very good)
What I appreciate about you, Margaret, and the rest of the team at Cool Zone is that you all seem to operate from that perspective. We have important work to do, but we can't become too self important.
I'm sort of rambling, but I believe that the key to what each individual needs to do is figure out what actions will help stave off doomerism. What can we do to make the world a little better concretely. For some it may be giving their life too the movement. For me it's building a community of mutual aid and participation in that community (along with feeding people)
Anyways, thanks as always for your writing. It's thought provoking and educational. I appreciate all you do.
Thanks for this post and the podcast, Margaret. I’ve been thinking about this very thing a lot lately. My spouse of 30 years died suddenly last year, and as I emerge from the deepest quagmire of grief, I’ve thought a lot about what my life looks like going forward (nothing has radicalized me like the death of my partner). Im also at a point in my life where I don’t think I’ll ever have a boss or a landlord again, and that’s given me time to think (and act) on the problems I see in my community, now that my time is my own. Thanks for the motivation and inspiration. Because it could happen here! We could make things better, or fight like hell trying.
<3 I'm sorry to hear about your partner, but it's awesome that you're taking the "let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair" idea to heart!
Hey, this is really good. Good work.
One thing that I think is a good idea: learn to cook for a lot of people. If you're going to organize, you need food. It's hard to organize empty stomachs. Restaurants are expensive, prepared food is expensive. Ingredients - flour, sugar, water, salt, yeast - you can still have those cheap. And that's not even including scavenging / dumpster diving / potlucks. Then, not only do you have people breaking bread together, but you have a small victory that builds. Like, hey we fed all these people, what else can we do? that kind of thing.
Earlier this year I got sick of feeling angry and helpless and decided to start doing what I could. A friend of mine and I had a long conversation about how to live our values and I settled on feeding people. So I linked up with my city's food not bombs chapter and jumped in. I found it sort of funny that earlier this year you and Robert Evans had a conversation on your podcast and it basically was like can't think of what else do to, just feed people because that was my thoughts exactly. I've been peripherally involved in different leftist and social justice movements in my city (much more active pre pandemic, but then one of my children had some serious health issues and I had my life implode so I fell out of activism for a few years), so it was a pretty easy step back into doing something.
One of the things that has stuck with me as I've returned to being involved is to give yourself grace. There are people and groups out there that make you feel like you're not doing enough if you're not sacrificing your entire life, and it's best not to let that belief seed take root in you. Some days you will have more capacity than others. You have to be the only judge of what you have to give and it's important to remember that you can't pour from an empty cup. Joy is a form of resistance and it's so important to make room for that in the work we do. (The book pleasure activism by Adrienne Marie Brown covers some of those concepts it's very good)
What I appreciate about you, Margaret, and the rest of the team at Cool Zone is that you all seem to operate from that perspective. We have important work to do, but we can't become too self important.
I'm sort of rambling, but I believe that the key to what each individual needs to do is figure out what actions will help stave off doomerism. What can we do to make the world a little better concretely. For some it may be giving their life too the movement. For me it's building a community of mutual aid and participation in that community (along with feeding people)
Anyways, thanks as always for your writing. It's thought provoking and educational. I appreciate all you do.