Friday, November 11, 2016

What to Do?

BLM Rally, Ithaca
Day 3. My mom wrote to ask about political volunteer opportunities near the retirement community she's moving to next month. Like me, she had heard Elizabeth Warren tell us all to "Volunteer and stay connected."

Everyone is wondering what to do. Yesterday I tried (unsuccessfully, for now) to step down from the Democratic Committee, because that kind of top-down, exclusive organization seems inauthentic right now, plus I'm so very mad at the national committee. (The state committee is barely functional—it's an arm of the governor's office and completely irrelevant.) The BLM Anti-Trumpism rally, on the other hand, felt organic and authentic, yet lacking in purpose. So I guess I'm looking for something authentic and goal-oriented, because marching around or listening to badly-miked speeches is not going to do it for me.

I am willing to go to the Million Women March, though, because I understand the comfort that kind of solidarity can bring.

At this very moment in my world, people are posting about a parade of trucks with Confederate flags driving down the main drag in Watkins Glen. And Cornell students have left their classrooms and gathered on the Arts Quad to protest the election results. The comments on the live Cornell Sun video include "How many of you didn't vote?" to "Grow up!" to "Poor snowflakes."

I think there will be a lot of milling around for a while.

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