Intro: What do I do?
I do both too much, and not enough; never enough.
I write part-time for GovTrack.us—I'm one of the two main writers for their White House Tracker Newsletter. I spend anywhere from 9 - 15 hours per month writing for them. I'd love to do more, but it's a small operation and that's not in the cards at the moment. For now, I'll continue to write a couple articles at a time. In the coming weeks I'll be writing about U.S. aggression in South America, and ICE's lack of vetting and training. Really joyful stuff, right?
I'm also considering an independent writing project, but I won't share too much about that right now since I'm notorious for having ideas and not following through. This is a cycle I run through often. Stay tuned for an update that may never come!
Politically, I serve on my local township board. To be honest, we don't really do a whole lot so I'm trying to figure out if there's more we could be doing. I'm not sure if there's anything we are actually missing, given the limited scope of township authority, but hopeful I'll find some way to further serve the community.
We'll see in the next week or so if I'm going to be on the ballot in the Spring as a Precinct Committeeperson for my county Democrats. I have a weird relationship with Dems; I'm much more left on the political spectrum, but that's where there's infrastructure to engage in the political system. Right now, we have ZERO resistance to MAGA Republicans in my area because I live in a crazy-red district in the rural Midwest. I don't want to live where the resistance doesn't exist, so I hope to draw it out of those who are currently too afraid of their neighbors to speak up.
I'm not sure how many leftists I'll find in my county, but I know there are some Democrats. They're a small minority, and most of the time they're pretty quiet—I hope to help show them that it's okay to take a stand as a minority. I might even argue that's the most important time to do so. We'll see if they're open to that message.
In general, I try to advocate when and where I can for marginalized groups. I believe we should strive for an equitable society in all forms—race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. I'm a pacifist with the understanding that violence comes in many forms, often perpetrated behind-the-scenes by the state. My country, for example, is not only performing violent acts against its own citizens, but funding a genocide in the Middle East as well as committing war crimes against civilians in South America. So while I believe in a non-violent lifestyle for myself, I'm not so disillusioned as to think that everyone has the privilege or desire to make that choice, and I respect that. Fuck ICE. Free Palestine.
Aside from all of that, I work 40 hours per week at my soul-suck; try to be the best daughter, wife, friend, sister, and aunt I can in no particular order; and I dunno, read a book now and then?