Vol. 2 - Jan. 20, 2021
In this issue: Day One/Essay | The big picture | Read local | The bright side | For your earhole | Now read this | Final frame
Day One.
I started counting the days in my journal entries last March, when the virus began to close in and the governor issued the first orders to limit gatherings. My partner’s father had died in hospice just days before it would have been impossible for us to be with him in his final hours, or to hold any kind of service. The funeral happened when gatherings were limited to 50 people. The next day, the limit went down to 10.
In the midst of the whirlwind of grief and funeral arrangements, this virus suddenly became our world, too. I counted up the days of quarantine, noting early on that I imagined we were in for the long-haul because there was no way the Trump Administration wasn’t going to be as terrible as possible. Reading those old journal entries, though, I can tell how impossible it was to fully comprehend the scale of what was happening. It’s a little less than a year later and we’re just about to top 400,000 deaths nationally and 6,000 deaths in Wisconsin.
I stopped counting around day 150, I think. It seemed useless, to be honest, to attempt to quantify something that had become such an everyday, unrelenting trauma.
The Biden/Harris Administration isn’t going to magically end the pandemic or right all the many wrongs of our world. Still, I’m counting today as Day One, because the inauguration is a welcome and important opportunity for our country to take a long-held breath and reset. To make space for a national mourning and reckoning. To refocus our efforts. To do better.
Fuck Trump and all who aided and abetted him forever and ever. He was just a symptom of an already extant disease in our body politic, yes, but it still feels real good to see him gone. I look forward to at least two years of Democrats not just undoing his administration’s draconian and cruel policies, but enacting new, more humane, based-in-reality laws and programs. I look forward to calling out Biden and his party when they fall short (and they will).
I am also excited for the new class of progressive, smart, energetic elected officials who, more and more, truly represent the country as it is and will be, and not what it was for too long. We have quite a few in Wisconsin, too—some recently elected, and many just now throwing their names into races across the state. From the hyper-local to statewide offices, races that haven’t been competitive in years are seeing a groundswell of interest from candidates whose identities and experiences are no longer the usual monochrome--even in Ye Olde Liberal Madison. I can’t wait to learn more about the people running and to do whatever I can to support their bids. Our Common Council is long overdue for a good shaking up. To start, for instance, there are at least 21 BIPOC* candidates running!
We’re going to need all-hands-on-deck to fight for basic rights and responsibilities in Wisconsin, too, as an alarming number of legislators have publicly doubled down on being anti-democratic obstructionists who openly supported an attempted coup and violent insurrection. The Wisconsin Examiner recently reported on the 15 state lawmakers who signed onto the letter asking Vice President Pence not to certify the results of the presidential election. Referring to the group as the “Q-Anon Caucus,” the article points out that members of the group now make up 4 of the 6 Republicans recently appointed to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections. In other words, they make up a majority of the majority on a committee with the power to further remake and restrict election law in the state.
It’s crucial then that we support the People’s Maps Commission, a non-partisan effort to redraw district maps in a fair and representative manner. Robin Vos and his like will do everything they can to stonewall and obstruct this and any other effort by Democrats to level the playing field. They know they’re increasingly in the minority and unpopular, but have proven time and again that they’ll go to any length (legal or not) to maintain power. It’s incumbent on all of us to stand up and make sure they don’t get away with it.
Wisconsin used to be considered the nation’s laboratory for democracy. In the last decade, thanks to efforts by people like Scott Walker and Robin Vos and the Koch Brothers™, we’ve become the opposite. Much of what’s played out here first was then replicated nationally--to the detriment of anyone who isn’t rich and white. I really feel like we have the opportunity to turn that around now, to once again serve as a beacon of progress for the country. But we can’t revert to what’s comfortable or familiar. We can’t continue to leave whole populations out of leadership roles or the discussion itself.
What new voices and ideas will you support? How will you make space for different leadership? What skills and resources can you bring to bear in support? These are the questions I’m asking of myself and using to guide where I put my focus and energy. Will you join me on day one?
(BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
The big picture.
(Article recommendations dealing with large-scale issues/problems/ideas)
“Donald Trump Is Out. Are We Ready to Talk About How He Got In?” [Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic] “It is still deeply challenging for so many people to accept the reality of what has happened—that a country has been captured by the worst of its history, while millions of Americans cheered this on.”
“What All the Secession Talk Really Means” [Casey Michel for Politico] It’s not about breaking away. It’s about blocking the government from within.
“The Quiet Parts Get Louder and Louder” [Rachel for Autostraddle] Call the riot what it was: white power, not white privilege.
“After the Sacred Landslide” [David Roth for The Defector] “On Wednesday, after he told them to do it, hundreds of people who live to share Trump’s opinions overran the U.S. Capitol building on his behalf, because they believed they were doing their patriotic duty or at least serving their own unenlightened self-interest; it is a pillar of Trumpism not to recognize a distinction between the two. They were mostly following through on the promise that has always been at the heart of Trump’s appeal, which is that they would get to be a part of his greatest deal ever, and cut in ahead of every less-connected other person when it came time to share the winnings, and enjoy the premium luxury finishes and absolute personal impunity synonymous with the word ‘Trump.’”
“The American Abyss” [Timothy Schnyder for the New York Times/paywall] “Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about some basic facts, citizens cannot form the civil society that would allow them to defend themselves. If we lose the institutions that produce facts that are pertinent to us, then we tend to wallow in attractive abstractions and fictions.”
“They Say This Isn’t America. For Most of Us, It Is” [Kaitlyn Greenidge for Harper’s Bazaar] “You can tell a person’s values by who they afford grace to, who they afford forgiveness to, who they presume to always be welcomed back into the fold of community.”
Read local.
(Article recommendations to do with Madison and/or Wisconsin-based things)
Over at Tone: Many thanks to Editor/Publisher Scott Gordon for inviting me to start a cross-collaboration between that site and this newsletter. My first bit of first-person reporting comes in the form of today’s article that looks at a recent rash of transphobic stickering in Tenney Park, and how a local resident turned it around to raise money for an organization that is by and for Black transgender women. Fuck TERFs!
Literally, go read local! A new, Black-owned bookstore is now open in Stoughton: Itty Bitty Bookstore (and as always, in Madison, please support the excellent A Room of One’s Own).
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board called for Sen. Ron Johnson’s resignation or removal from office in the aftermath of the Capitol riot (and were right to do so). RoJo demanded space to respond. They gave it to him...but included their own, detailed footnotes. Honestly, I wish news outlets would do this kind of real-time fact-checking/response work on every quote and op-ed by public figures.
Are you keeping up with the new “Pleasure Practices” column by Sami Schalk over at Tone? Because you should be. It’s all about pleasure activism, which is something I’ve only recently begun to learn about and am ALL FOR. The most recent edition is all about appetizers.
The bright side.
(Positive action and ideas)
How’s this for something positive: As of today, Trump is no longer president and will likely spend the rest of his life facing down the courts, bankruptcy, and general failure.
One of Tone’s other new, regular columns is Making the Nature Scene, which is focused on all things outdoors. The first edition has a great list of ideas for how to beat the winter blahs. Also, bonus points for the George Michael reference (WAM! = Wear A Mask).
Do you know Morgan? Morgan is my friend Megan’s kid and roller derby’s number one fan. She’s also kicking hunger’s butt via a virtual lemonade stand that’s raising money to support Little John’s Kitchens in their effort to get good food to people who need it while eliminating food waste. Cooler still? She’s going to be a featured interview during Biden’s inauguration festivities tonight! I KNOW HER! If you haven’t heard of (or donated to) her virtual lemonade stand yet, get on it! You’ll get a coupon for lemonade, cookies, and even puppy petting when she can finally set up the stand post-pandemic.
For your earhole.
A truly kind soul took the time to put together a Spotify playlist of some of the records that were left behind in the home of James Baldwin after his death in 1987. Aretha Franklin, Gloria Lynne, Diana Ross, Shirley Bassey, the list goes on. J’adore!
Every year a bunch of nerds write essays about some of their favorite music and then go head-to-head in a March Madness-style tournament to determine a winner - and this year I’m very proud to be one of those nerds! There’s a different theme each year and for 2021 it’s March Plaidness: ‘90s Grunge/Punk/Rock edition. I’ll be tackling the riot grrl classic, “Rebel Girl,” by Bikini Kill. You can listen to all the songs that will be in the running (and indulge in some serious nostalgia) via this playlist. And then follow the tournament (and vote, um, for me? I guess, sure sure) in March!
P.S. You can create a Spotify account for free to listen to these, but I am also fully aware that Spotify’s politics kinda suck and also they pay artists for shit, so no worries if it’s not for you/please always support artists directly by paying for their music via sites like Bandcamp.
Now read this.
More great newsletters to follow:
Roxane Gay has the Audacity: “This is not about ‘economic anxiety,’ or ‘culture wars’ or ‘identity politics,’ though, certainly white supremacy is the purest expression of identity politics. There is no seeking to understand people willing to commit acts of sedition because we already know everything about them we could possibly need to know. We are at an inflection point, one where white people need to deal with the problem of other white people. They need to figure out how to divest themselves of white supremacy. They need to disavow the people who won’t do so. They need to stop trying to minimize the severity of what happened on January 6th. They need to stop trying to empathize with or humanize people who gleefully defecated in the halls of Congress and destroyed public property and beat a police officer to death and were responsible for the deaths of four others. These people need to be shut out of public life until they deal with their racism which may well mean they need to be shut out of public life indefinitely. They do not deserve nice things. They will not be missed.”
Lyz Lenz is a top-notch reporter based in Iowa: “The weekend after a violent insurrection in the nation’s Capitol led by pro-Trump rioters, I went to a gun show and then to church. I was less scared at the gun show than I was at the church.”
Final frame.
If you ever find yourself driving the backroads of southwestern Wisconsin, just north of Barneveld, I highly recommend stopping by Hyde’s Mill. The old stone dam, wooden mill building, blacksmith shop, and miller’s house are well worth the stop. In better times, I’m told the owner will invite guests in for an actual demonstration of how the water wheel works.
‘Til next time.
Thanks for reading! Hit me up with questions, comments, suggestions, and tips on great hiking spots.
Disclaimer/Disclosure: I am employed by the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy. However, any and all opinions expressed in this newsletter are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of my employer.
I never liked Friends or Seinfeld.