Entry 365: What Am I Going To Do?

My Facebook feed has blowing up with outrage this weekend, for good reason.  We are living in outrageous times.  People online compare things with which they disagree to Nazism so frequently that somebody named Godwin formulate a law about it.  But when our government starts trying to ban people of a certain religion from entering the country, including, in some instances, people with legal authority to be here, such comparisons start to become apt.  I realize it's important not to exaggerate, and it's important not to catastrophize, so I'm not going to say Donald Trump is the next Hitler.  What I am going to say is that he's getting way too close for comfort.  And we need to nip this shit in the bud now.

The best quote I saw on Facebook was something like (I'm paraphrasing):

Remember in history class when you would learn about times of oppression and think, "If only I was alive back then..."  Well, that "then" is now.  What are going to do about it?

This is something I was grappling with before this weekend and it's intensified tenfold over the last few days.  Obviously Trump's unconstitutional, unconscionable executive orders have a lot to do with that.  But on a more personal note, I found out a good friend of mine is facing felony charges and a possible multiyear prison sentence for helping shut off an oil pipeline.  When something like this happens it really ratchets up the "I'm not doing nearly enough" guilt.

But that begs the obvious question -- what can you do?  Especially if you, like me, live in a super blue city with no real representation in Congress and have a full-time job and two young children to raise?  For now, I've been donating money.  It's not very creative or personal, but at the moment I have more disposable income than free time.  In the last few days S and I have donated to my friend's legal defense, the ACLU, and Earth Justice.  I've also renewed my subscription to the New Yorker (even though I rarely have time to read it anymore), and I think I'm finally going to give in and get a subscription to the New York Times* and the Washington Post.  Paying journalists to do real journalism is also important when you have a president who lies constantly and then tries to use the media as a bulwark against the public backlash.  So currently my contributions to La Résistance are strictly monetary, but if the moment calls where I have to take it beyond that, I hope I'll be ready.

And if you are looking for a place to donate some money, check out Puzzles for Progress (run by a crossword puzzle constructor named Francis Heaney -- I've never met him, but he seems like a cool guy).  The nice thing about this is that after you donate you will get a bunch of fun puzzles to do.  Diversions and distractions are also very important.  This is going to be a long fight.  It's going to be won over years, perhaps generations.  If you try to battle every minute of everyday, you will likely burn out quickly.  So stay fresh, stay sane, stay positive.  We will do this together.  Truth and sanity always wins in the end... hopefully.

Alright I gotta go, dad duties, see.  Until next time...

*I've resisted this in the past because I don't like that they make you pay separately for the crossword puzzle.  But given how much Trump hates the New York Times, I might have to finally get past this.