๐๐๐ feeling hopeful ๐๐๐
plus reading recs, favorite articles (tomatoes!), & things Iโve been eating and watching
Hi! I'm feeling hopeful and energized, electric about Kamala Harris โ newly optimistic for the future! ๐๐๐
Like, Iโm inspired by political campaign ads?? We Choose Freedom and Fearless are worth watching! The speeches have really been energizing me too โ here are some links to the first day at her Delaware election headquarters, the first presidential rally, and yesterday's rally in Atlanta. And I'm loving the energy on TikTok (@kamalaharris and @kamalahq) and Instagram (@kamalaharris @kamalahq).
I think we can win this now, but it's going to take all of us doing what we can.
We are not going back
Let's get organized, friends. Here are some ideas for things we could do:
1. Voter registration - Get registered yourself if you're not yet, or check your registration. You can also help others get registered and get their questions about voting logistics answered.
For Washington people: here's the link directly to Register to Vote in Washington State. (We get to vote by mail and you don't even need a stamp, it is awesome.)
2. Donate to the Harris Campaign
The link is kamalaharris.com and wow it felt good to do that! It was so awesome to be part of the over 1.5 million individual donors raising over $200 million for Harris in the first week. I'm going to keep donating โ wanna join me?
3. Get organized
Sign up for phone calling, text banking, door knocking, postcard or letter writing โ find something that suits you, and maybe even do it with friends. If youโre looking for places to start, here are a few ideas:
Mobilize has Volunteer Opportunities, Events, and Petitions you can look for near you or online
Showing Up for Racial Justice on Mobilize and White People for Harris has specific actions for white people to step up and take responsibility and fight racism in white communities
Send Postcards to Swing States, which is organized through the Progressive Turnout Project! Signups for the presidential race start August 5th, and you can already sign up to get postcards for competitive House districts (we have three in Washington)
Write letters to encourage voter turnout with Vote Forward
The last few elections Adam and I have organized with friends to write postcards letters. This year our goal is to work with our friends to send 500 or more Postcards to Swing States. Writing that many cards is a lot of work but they don't go in the mail til Oct 24th so thereโs timeโฆ and it's fun to do it together with friends at dinners, and hand out batches for friends to take home. (Seattle crew, get ready, I'm gonna be in touch โ also, please invite us to do stuff you're organizing!)
4. Share with friends and people you know
Talk about it! It's easy to be silent, or be mad that the dems don't have perfect politics (I know thereโs a lot more I want!), but this is what we've got and thereโs less than 100 days left, so let's go! Especially all my white dudes, I want to see you get out there doing stuff and donating, and being a role model and inspiration to all your other white dude friends!
Artists: let's make art, make posters, make tote and sticker and t-shirt designs, make video edits, make music! Writers, let's write โ and post in all the places you usually share. People who like cooking, let's feed people! What uniquely suits your personality, resources, skills and talents? What do you want to do? And let's invite everyone along with us.
Ours is a fight for the future
We're still in the early years of this climate crisis jackpot era but I have really been feeling it lately. The fires, the smoke, the heat, the floods, the news of the AMOC slowdown and hitting 1.5C last year. I think this election is a make or break one for a lot of climate tipping points. This Bill McKibben newsletter put it well:
The climate catastrophe is now playing out in real time. She may be the last president able to truly help stem the tide.
The climate stuff is all tied together with the attacks by the Republicans on well, almost all of us. In Everything You Need to Know About Project 2025's Plan for the EPA, Drilled points out how all the awfulness is coming from the same people:
Once again we see that those pushing against climate action are not just aligned with those attacking trans rights, racial justice, labor rights and reproductive rights, but are in the same organizations, being funded by the same universe of backers.
Let's get to work, y'all!
Riso Bookstore is freshly updated with a bunch of new publications, including Ya No Quiero Ser Fuerte and Futuro, two of my favorites from our friends S A R A โ Sociedad Anoฬnima Reproduccioฬn Autogestiva! And more from Living Room Press, Cold Cube and Secret Room Press!
LOOKING
Where thereโs smokeโฆ I feel this toxic swirl of dread and fear every day about the future
For horror fans, a TV Writers-Led Super PAC just released an ad called These Guys Are Just Weird โฆ I need to scrub my brain now.
READING
If you haven't read about Project 2025's objectives yet, wikipedia has a decent summary.
And if you're wanting a round up of JD Vance's creepy views on women, read Salon's article GOP's "incel platform" repels voters.
I'm going to send a longer newsletter on summer reading in a bit, with lots of book recs โ but two to put on your radar right away are Less is More about degrowth and post-capitalism, and The Chaos Machine about how the algorithms radicalized so many people into conspiracy and hateful beliefs. They both gave me a lot of hope too. It's a week for hope!
EATING
Alex grilled homemade pitas(!!),ย feta dip, tomato-cucumber salad and other delights for a little dinner party. I've been eating lots of soups this week, and tomatoesโฆ and I really want to make Alice Waters' Tomato Confit.
For sending a bunch of get out the vote postcards with friends, it's going to take some parties for sure - pizza nights and soup nights for sure, and picnic potlucks. I'm getting inspired by:
RESOURCES
Better support for markdown in google docs (finally!)
Watch Duty - Wildfire Maps & Alerts โ I also made a 2021 post about wildfire and smoke resources
Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (I just downloaded this free ebook, excited to read.)
๐๐๐
โAmelia
P.S. โ Here's the link to donate to Kamala Harris!!