Checking In, Again
You need despair and anger in order for an authoritarian to rise.
Whatever those things are that you bring to the community, do them and do them with joy.
That is an act of resistance. Showing up and doing the things that you love says to an authoritarian,
'You have no place to root here.' "
- Heather Cox Richardson, author, email Letters from an American, FB history and politics lectures
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for receiving my democracy check-in, a help to me in these days of resisting and persisting.
They say that a key to resistance is COMMUNITY. So, thank you for being mine.
Another key to resistance is JOY, like in this interview: D.C. pastor hopeful and resolute after church awarded Proud Boys' trademark : NPR
The Rev. William Lamar, IV, is one of my new, resistance heros.
I was recommended Witness this week by another hero of mine, the chair of the sociology dept. and faculty senate at SPU (where I teach.)
The idea is that we are each a witness, stopping untruths in our everyday settings, preventing them from becoming a growing, social problem.
Our new Orlando actions this week:
Joe is writing to the elected congressmen who attended Jesuit Universities.
I'm writing to the board and presidents of my alma maters to embolden their push back the attack on our colleges and universities.
This week, may we show up, do the things that we love, and do those things with joy,
Carla
My favorite quotes from this week:
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Leonardo da Vinci
"You are not powerless, and he is not unstoppable. Look at and look from the funding freeze and how quickly he was forced to surrender.
- Pete Buttigieg
"When we enter the door, we are given a new worldview because we have faced our fears and overcome adversity. That's all you can do now:
-Seek solace in the storm,
-Keep calm, pray daily,
-Make it a habit to meet the Holy everywhere everyday,
-Show resistance through art, joy, trust, and love."
- Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle
Seattle Actions this week:
VOTE! Election Day is Tues Feb 11 - housing and public school levy.
Feb 18th! Community Forum: Event Registration - Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
Want to help who has been hurt this week?
Lutheran Social Services: https://lcsnw.org/2025/02/ceo-responds-to-reckless-attack-on-lcsnw-other-lutheran-organizations/
Catholic Relief Services CRS Action Alert, article about CRS by the former president of CRS in America Magazine
It seems to me that Catholic Social Teaching is something for everybody:
Respect for Human Life: Every human life is sacred.
Respect for Human Dignity: All people are created in the image and likeness of God.
Social Participation: Encouraging active engagement in society.
Preference for the Poor and Vulnerable: Advocating for those in need.
Solidarity: Recognizing our interconnectedness.
Stewardship for Creation: Caring for the environment.
Subsidiarity: Decisions should be made at the most local level.
The Common Good: Promoting the well-being of all.
****
Did you know that..
New Day's Lyric
May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren't ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.
This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren't aware, we're now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.
Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.
We heed this old spirit,
In a new day's lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what we've fought
Need not be forgotten nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.
by Amanda Gorman
For ...
Personal Hope and Perspective: New to Grateful Living? Explore grateful.org Today!
Indivisible National Website https://indivisible.org/
Help with Indivisible Action Steps
Several Actions To Stop DOGE and Project 2025
Stop Trump/Musk Power Grab and Support Trans Rights in WA
Senators Must Actually Fight Trump's Spending Freeze and Power Grab