Welcome to Organizer’s Corner — a (free) newsletter from your friends at Get Pod Local! Because we can help you stay inform — but then what?
Enter in your weekly call to actions (CTA!) from our Resident Precinct Chair, Joey Cade!
This newsletter is free, but if you’d like, please buy us some coffee! xoxo
The Past Week Has Been Painful
For all of us paying attention, of course, but also particularly in my home. My work fam community, built over 2.5 decades, lost a mentor, friend, and colleague to a fast, aggressive disease (which Trump cut funds to combat....)1
I excelled in my joyful work as producer and educator, with big events and lectures this week. Standard self-sacrificing behavior we creative, capitalist-raised over-achievers do to ourselves. We know that Magic can happen in the fire - and it did this week; work was very rewarding.2
Most impactful to my family this week has been the loss of our old, tiny queen Izzy, a quiet, always-hiding tuxedo cat. But I find that after having allowed the expected wave of emotion to release - with tons of crying over personal losses, I am also feeling a deep sorrow for America.
For those of us paying attention and doing the work on the ground fighting tyranny, it feels like we're a couple ants fighting a many headed dragon that's burning all that matters to the ground...
Strange Fruit Indeed
Unfortunately, we keep being reminded that we've never really been free, of course. As evidenced by the continued lynchings of Black Americans...
Read: Body of a Black student is found hanging from a tree in Mississippi
Read: Hanging death of a student in Mississippi is officially ruled a suicide (they always say this, btw)
Read: Colin Kaepernick Shows True Character After College Student Found Dead On Campus
This Is Not New
Even the loss of freedom in media has been a problem since forever, like since the 1950s...
Read: LBJ understood the value of satire
“It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.” - President Lyndon B. Johnson
Because we now have an authoritarian whose government is run by White Christian Nationalists, this is what happens.
This has always been the way, but they have more power to spread lies now.
Watch: How They Snuck Christianity Into America’s Origin Story
Freedom Of Speech Is The First Amendment For A Reason.
If you missed what happened with Jimmy Kimmel, here's my fave explainer👇.3
If you're not into brevity 👇
Read: How benching Kimmel landed Disney’s Iger in the middle of culture wars
Read: 'We vote with our dollars': People are boycotting Disney and canceling their streaming subscriptions
Read: Mark Ruffalo Warns Disney’s Stock Price Will Drop “A Lot Further” If ABC Cancels ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’
The Quiet Parts (And Warnings) Out Loud
In case you think we liberals are being hyperbolic, this is what maga says out loud these days.... 👇
And experts are sounding alarms 👇
While I Don't Feel Optimistic Today, I Have To Choose HOPE.
If Ady Barkan could hold hope, I can. ❤️
If Bad Bunny can use his beautiful art to lift up and economically advantage his community, and honor some of his mentors, we can embrace the joy and resistance of his PR residency4
And Some Historians Are Still Holding Out Hope
So, today I am letting out my emotion - with tears and going to boogie some rage out. Then, I'm going to get in some real, resistance-focused REST tonight so I can get up, dust myself off tomorrow, and get back to the fight. ✊🏻
I Hope You'll Join Me In Fighting Back This Week
Even if you're tired, even if you don't think your act will make a difference. If we all think that, we lose.
It is only when ALL of The People5 stand up and take back the reins from our elected officials who, per the Constitution, work for us!!
If You Don't Do It For Yourself, Do It For Your Neighbor
Here's some specific ideas
If you can, hit this protest on Tuesday6
PLUS, It's The 21st Night Of September, So Put This On And BOOGIE!!!
Because JOY IS RESISTANCE.7
Love and high fives, see y'all next week,
- Joey
And Now, A Moment of Brief Zen
Organizer’s Corner is a Newsletter brought to you by our very own, Joey Cade Lots of folks have ideas of what can help / what you should do — and while no one has all the answers, we (specifically Joey) do have some. Okay, a lot. Joey is not just a co-host of Get Pod Local …she’s also the Precinct Chair for Dallas’ Precinct 1052.
Other GPL Goodies
Every week, Jalon catches you up on what is going on out here, who is doing it, how does that impact your everyday life, and what everyone is saying about. We are based in Texas, so we have a lot of Texas news, but we cover the whole wide world. There is a LOT of stuff going on everyday, and no one can keep up with it all, but we attempt to….for you. (Clap for us).
GPL Presents: Organizers Corner w/ Joey Cade
Every Sunday night, Joey Cade, our Resident Precinct Chair, lays out our Call To Actions for the week. Because knowing what’s going on is one thing. But doing something about it is another. Let’s do both!
GPL Presents: Water Cooler Chats
Every morning, Jalon D'na and Joey Cade check in and talk about something we read or saw on slack. And once a week, we let you in our conversation! Click below to sign up for that weekly newsletter!
GPL Presents: Daily News Briefs
Every weekday, Jalon reads you the headlines of the day — just to keep you in the know. Think NPR at the top of each hour, with a lot of shade some jokes.
I know we all know this, but this will start to become a normal occurrence, and we hate it here.
Supreme Court lets Trump cut $783 million of health research funding amid anti-DEI push
Federal judge is ‘inclined’ to order Trump to restore $500 million in UCLA research grants
Trump Seeks to Cut Basic Scientific Research by Roughly One-Third, Report Shows
Shoutout to Joey (this is from Jalon) for being in the middle of a 12 hour work event and still looked over our weekly news newsletter on Thursday to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes before I hit send. ❤️
There is way more of us than them. Remember that.
This is for Dallas, but we highly suggest you look into what protests / activities are happening in your neck of the woods. Please be safe and careful out there.