I thought I was prepared, thought I’d buttressed myself for the news of what the 47th President was planning to do on his first day in office, for the sight of Republicans in Congress waddling behind him like ducklings or the billionaire bros shining his shoes for the chance to make a few more tax-free billions, but when the actual moment came at 2 pm on Monday when the New York Times printed the text of his Inaugural address, I sat in my chair and wept.
Magnificent! I was at a 5-day silent retreat through Tuesday, in part to divorce myself from Monday’s circus, although I did honor MLK in my own way, so driving home Tuesday night, I felt like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass! It was Bishop Budde’s sermon that kept me grounded — hoping the PPH will publish Rick Peterson’s and my response piece. I’ll send it to you, if they don’t. I love your image of the piano lesson with Sister Mary Francis! Thank you, Colin, for the image. Music is so fabulous for helping us get in touch with our feelings, particularly their depth, and also expressing them. I expect when I get back from my Florida adventure on March 3 that I must return to my ukulele practice. Thank you, thank you, Kathleen, for these words. Indeed, I do have “a deep hunger for words that mean something, that hold something about our humanity and care for each other.” Sending love.
Thank you Judith!! I would love to read your response to Bishop Budde's sermon! You are I know feeling all of this and searching yourself for connection and forms of resistance. Resistance through story telling is so important now...and your own sermons too! Write. Write . Sending lots of love back!!
Homeless, indeed. But only for the moment. Convening with the creative community is where the work begins.
"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how we heal." (Toni Morrison)
Bishop Budde's words were the first poem of resistance. We have the same responsibility. Thank you, Kathleen, for reminding us of the power we have.
Send me anything you devise to find language for the resistance and for connection! I know you must be at it and know you will have powerful words to share!
FYI: We just opened a Democracy Co-op office in Kennebunk. We are planning events: community conversations, focus groups, readings, strategic plans for navigating this moment in time. Stay tuned!
Thank you for this, Kathleen. Practical suggestions from Indivisible to act on Immigration:
“We need to act now. Here’s what we can do:
Protect our children with the Safe Schools for Every Student toolkit: Trump’s decision to strip "sensitive locations" protections has left schoolchildren vulnerable to ICE enforcement, spreading fear among immigrant families. Our new toolkit empowers local Indivisible groups to demand school boards adopt policies that keep schools safe for every student, regardless of immigration status. Adapted from the National Education Association’s Guidance on Immigration Issues, this toolkit includes actionable steps, legal insights, model policies, and outreach materials to help communities stand strong and ensure every child can learn without fear.
Know your rights: Understanding your rights is the first step in protecting yourself and your community. Immigrant advocacy groups like the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center have created essential "Know Your Rights" resources that outline what to do during encounters with immigration agents, whether at home, at work, or in public. These resources include critical information about your legal protections, how to respond calmly and safely, and what to avoid saying or doing. Equip yourself with this knowledge and share it widely to help build a stronger, more informed community.
Volunteer your legal expertise: Attorneys, this one’s for you. Your skills can help protect immigrant families from unjust deportations and ensure they receive the legal support they deserve by volunteering to provide virtual counsel and advice or representing a family or youth in immigration proceedings. The Immigration Advocates Network connects attorneys with opportunities to assist those in need, offering guidance every step of the way. Sign up to volunteer and be a lifeline for vulnerable communities.
Support immigrant advocacy groups: Organizations providing legal aid, direct support, and sanctuary to immigrants are on the frontlines of this fight. They need our help now more than ever. Donate to the National Immigration Law Center (or an organization of your choosing) today.”
Oh, Nancy, this is invaluable. I have been wondering how to find this out about what exactly it is that I would do if I saw a child being taken away. This really helps. I wonder if some of us could set up an evening event, a panel of ACLU and maybe people from the state and lawyers to inform people so they would be prepared to intervene?
A friend attended a meeting on these issues at St Luke’s yesterday. I’ll ask her for contacts. I want to be on a rapid response list when witnesses are required but will continue to focus on climate with Third Act Maine. Robert Hubbell’s words yesterday reconfirmed my focus: “Focusing on the climate crisis is another way of re-framing our perspective—causing us to consider the long-term future of our nation. After all, saving democracy will be a hollow victory if human-caused climate change creates massive environmental disruptions that deny our grandchildren the ability to enjoy their democratic liberties in a safe, secure, and healthy environment.” There is so much to do and each of us must choose and pray that others will follow their hearts with determination.
Thank you, Kathleen. I lie awake at night, feeling frightened and helpless - your substack and the elicited comments help me believe community and positive action will help us get through this.
Well aren't we lucky he didn't pretend to take her message in.
The image of his sneer and so provocative and so cruel, I believe it will supply the resistance with great force. Someone needs to make a poster of the image and put it on sweatshirts and pumper stickers. And put the word Mercy below it.
It is wonderful to be part of this community that your beautiful and true writing has inspired, Kathleen. Thank you all. I am feeling the increased connection with all of us who are the resistance - and kindness too. That is a blessing in all of this madness. We are more awake and more caring. 🙏❤️
I was just on a Progressive Democrats of America zoom with guest participant Nadine Smith of Equality Florida. Nadine is a brilliant, compassionate, grounded organizer. She left us with sane, clear, hopeful actions for this moment. Here is her substack link: Wide Awake America ;1nadinesmith.substack.com
It just shows how needy this man is that he couldn't just say, Yes, of course we will show mercy. He usually doesn't have any trouble lying. He forgot that, "mercy blesses him that gives and him that takes." Think of the positive press. Thanks for your essay. Connection is going to save us...and the country. I've already signed up for the Contrarian.
Excellent as usual. I am so glad you plugged the Contrarian, one of many great sources of support for the resistance. About your point that the DNC has not identified an individual to lead their response, maybe it needs to be a more cooperative and team effort. My hope is that the DNC develops supportive relationships with all the many not formally political groups that support a compassionate agenda. That kind of coalition could be successful.
Magnificent! I was at a 5-day silent retreat through Tuesday, in part to divorce myself from Monday’s circus, although I did honor MLK in my own way, so driving home Tuesday night, I felt like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass! It was Bishop Budde’s sermon that kept me grounded — hoping the PPH will publish Rick Peterson’s and my response piece. I’ll send it to you, if they don’t. I love your image of the piano lesson with Sister Mary Francis! Thank you, Colin, for the image. Music is so fabulous for helping us get in touch with our feelings, particularly their depth, and also expressing them. I expect when I get back from my Florida adventure on March 3 that I must return to my ukulele practice. Thank you, thank you, Kathleen, for these words. Indeed, I do have “a deep hunger for words that mean something, that hold something about our humanity and care for each other.” Sending love.
Thank you Judith!! I would love to read your response to Bishop Budde's sermon! You are I know feeling all of this and searching yourself for connection and forms of resistance. Resistance through story telling is so important now...and your own sermons too! Write. Write . Sending lots of love back!!
Homeless, indeed. But only for the moment. Convening with the creative community is where the work begins.
"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how we heal." (Toni Morrison)
Bishop Budde's words were the first poem of resistance. We have the same responsibility. Thank you, Kathleen, for reminding us of the power we have.
YES YES YES, DAPHNE!
Send me anything you devise to find language for the resistance and for connection! I know you must be at it and know you will have powerful words to share!
FYI: We just opened a Democracy Co-op office in Kennebunk. We are planning events: community conversations, focus groups, readings, strategic plans for navigating this moment in time. Stay tuned!
PS - If anyone on this thread has the time before it closes, go see this at Boston Museum of Fine Arts:
https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/power-of-the-people-art-and-democracy
Or sign up for the related webinar that is coming up. It will inspire you all to rise up, keep going. The arts is where resistance ALWAYS begins
Thank you for this, Kathleen. Practical suggestions from Indivisible to act on Immigration:
“We need to act now. Here’s what we can do:
Protect our children with the Safe Schools for Every Student toolkit: Trump’s decision to strip "sensitive locations" protections has left schoolchildren vulnerable to ICE enforcement, spreading fear among immigrant families. Our new toolkit empowers local Indivisible groups to demand school boards adopt policies that keep schools safe for every student, regardless of immigration status. Adapted from the National Education Association’s Guidance on Immigration Issues, this toolkit includes actionable steps, legal insights, model policies, and outreach materials to help communities stand strong and ensure every child can learn without fear.
Know your rights: Understanding your rights is the first step in protecting yourself and your community. Immigrant advocacy groups like the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center have created essential "Know Your Rights" resources that outline what to do during encounters with immigration agents, whether at home, at work, or in public. These resources include critical information about your legal protections, how to respond calmly and safely, and what to avoid saying or doing. Equip yourself with this knowledge and share it widely to help build a stronger, more informed community.
Volunteer your legal expertise: Attorneys, this one’s for you. Your skills can help protect immigrant families from unjust deportations and ensure they receive the legal support they deserve by volunteering to provide virtual counsel and advice or representing a family or youth in immigration proceedings. The Immigration Advocates Network connects attorneys with opportunities to assist those in need, offering guidance every step of the way. Sign up to volunteer and be a lifeline for vulnerable communities.
Support immigrant advocacy groups: Organizations providing legal aid, direct support, and sanctuary to immigrants are on the frontlines of this fight. They need our help now more than ever. Donate to the National Immigration Law Center (or an organization of your choosing) today.”
Oh, Nancy, this is invaluable. I have been wondering how to find this out about what exactly it is that I would do if I saw a child being taken away. This really helps. I wonder if some of us could set up an evening event, a panel of ACLU and maybe people from the state and lawyers to inform people so they would be prepared to intervene?
A friend attended a meeting on these issues at St Luke’s yesterday. I’ll ask her for contacts. I want to be on a rapid response list when witnesses are required but will continue to focus on climate with Third Act Maine. Robert Hubbell’s words yesterday reconfirmed my focus: “Focusing on the climate crisis is another way of re-framing our perspective—causing us to consider the long-term future of our nation. After all, saving democracy will be a hollow victory if human-caused climate change creates massive environmental disruptions that deny our grandchildren the ability to enjoy their democratic liberties in a safe, secure, and healthy environment.” There is so much to do and each of us must choose and pray that others will follow their hearts with determination.
Thank you, Kathleen. I lie awake at night, feeling frightened and helpless - your substack and the elicited comments help me believe community and positive action will help us get through this.
Together!! with purpose!!
Well aren't we lucky he didn't pretend to take her message in.
The image of his sneer and so provocative and so cruel, I believe it will supply the resistance with great force. Someone needs to make a poster of the image and put it on sweatshirts and pumper stickers. And put the word Mercy below it.
You hit the right keys! and Colin's illustration is marvelous: looking back.
beautifully put and very inspiring!
Yes, yes, yes! And the conservative Wall Street Journal has already begun the pushback. The dictator in Serbia has stepped down....
You've hit all the right notes, Kathleen, as always. Thank you. Bill McKibben's latest at The Crucial Years is also useful in this moment.
It is wonderful to be part of this community that your beautiful and true writing has inspired, Kathleen. Thank you all. I am feeling the increased connection with all of us who are the resistance - and kindness too. That is a blessing in all of this madness. We are more awake and more caring. 🙏❤️
Thank you Kathleen!
Yes and Yes!
I was just on a Progressive Democrats of America zoom with guest participant Nadine Smith of Equality Florida. Nadine is a brilliant, compassionate, grounded organizer. She left us with sane, clear, hopeful actions for this moment. Here is her substack link: Wide Awake America ;1nadinesmith.substack.com
Kathleen, that was Kathleen M's comment about mercy
It just shows how needy this man is that he couldn't just say, Yes, of course we will show mercy. He usually doesn't have any trouble lying. He forgot that, "mercy blesses him that gives and him that takes." Think of the positive press. Thanks for your essay. Connection is going to save us...and the country. I've already signed up for the Contrarian.
Excellent as usual. I am so glad you plugged the Contrarian, one of many great sources of support for the resistance. About your point that the DNC has not identified an individual to lead their response, maybe it needs to be a more cooperative and team effort. My hope is that the DNC develops supportive relationships with all the many not formally political groups that support a compassionate agenda. That kind of coalition could be successful.
thank you.