Too Hot to Think
Summer is my favorite season. I like it when it’s too hot to think. I like the shock of cold water on sizzling hot skin, the way a cold shower feels when you’ve been in the sun too long. All of my journal entries these days are lists of questions I don’t have the answer to, but sunscreen and cold water and a book on my roof, the sun on my shoulders and I calm down a little. It's hot enough that I take little breaks and close my eyes, feel the sweat behind my knees, listen as the M train goes by, think about the horrid humidity of train platforms followed by the wind as the train pulls in followed by pebbled skin in the shock of cold air on the train. I hate the way my thighs stick to the plastic seats. I love the condensation of an iced coffee dripping over my fingers.
Sometimes when I put together these newsletters, I start to feel a little repetitive. There are people in power willing to burn it all to the ground to make themselves a little more comfortable, to get more money, more power, more fame - whatever they think they need to shape the world in their image. They are hurting us, hurting our friends and family, hurting people looking for a better life, hurting the planet. And the only way to stop them is by all of us coming together and fighting just as hard to shape the world as we want it - where we all have the resources we need to thrive, the opportunity to learn, to express ourselves, to connect with each other, to live boldly and freely.
It’s all true, and it’s all important, but it’s too hot to think. So, let’s just do it. Sometimes, democracy needs foot soldiers. Here’s some ways to help this summer:
Ohio has a special election coming up on August 8 on a ballot measure to increase the threshold needed to amend the state’s constitution, from 50% to 60%. The idea is to make it much harder to pass an amendment that would protect abortion rights in November. But it would also make it harder to protect queer rights and the environment or to raise the minimum wage.
I’ll be making calls to ask Ohioans to vote no on this ballot measure. You can join me here.
If you know folks in Ohio, reach out to them to make sure they know this election is coming up, what the stakes are, and what they need to vote. You can get info on voting in this election here (particularly important as Ohio has a strict voter ID law now in effect), and info on the stakes of this vote here.
Virginia has state elections coming up this fall. Right now, Virginia has a divided government, with a Republican governor and Republican controlled House of Delegates, and a Democrat controlled state Senate, blunting the impact of Republican control. Governor Glenn Youngkin is my personal nemesis - a sweater vest wearing extremist who uses SAT words and a genial demeanor to mask his extraordinarily harmful ideology. He has promised to sign an abortion ban if it ever reaches his desk. He’s heightened surveillance in schools to make it easier to ban books and the teaching of actual history, and restricted the rights of trans students. He’s rolled back voting rights, and is trying to remove Virginia from a regional effort to address climate change. And I want to give him a really bad day this November. He’s not on the ballot, but control of the VA state legislature is. Let’s make sure Democrats take it back.
You can write letters to Virginia voters to encourage them to vote here.
You can make calls to Virginia voters with Sister District, one of my favorite organizations in the whole world. They make it super easy, and contrary to popular belief, phone banking has never once killed anyone!
You can set up a recurring donation to Virginia Democrats here, which if you let it keep going past the election, will not just help this cycle but will help them build power all year long.
Five letters to voters. Five phone calls. Five dollars. Five friends who vote because you reminded them. If everyone subscribed to this newsletter does that we’ve already got over a thousand letters, a thousand phone calls, a thousand dollars, a thousand voters. Every time you share this, that number grows.
Okay, so maybe I repeat it because it’s true. Together we can make a difference. Together we can defend our friends and family and our planet from those trying to trample us on their way to the top.
Together we can win. See you next week.