In a world designed to keep us drowning in outrage, the most radical form of resistance is to focus on what we can control. And I hate to tell you, but that isn't ending fascism from the futon.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! this puts into words all I've been feeling the last few weeks. They say "everybody wants a revolution but nobody wants to do the dishes". I'm doing the dishes. And growing food. And giving stuff away. Making space for community, however small
This is so helpful! I have been a complete anxious mess lately, trying to do everything to have some positive effect on the craziness. Buried in politics. Drowning in social media. This reminder you offer is calming and inspires me to engage again in a connected pleasurable path forward. We neighbors have recently had a friendly leisurely gathering, making plans to build a community garden. I'm going to suggest dinners together. Spring is here and the flower gardens are begging for attention. There is so much life to be lived...locally.
So glad this resonated! It's amazing how shifting from that anxious spiral to focused local action creates much-needed mental space. Your community garden with shared dinners sounds perfect - I hope it grows into a space that feeds both bodies and souls while building those essential community roots we all need right now. And I hope this model pops up ALL over the U.S., especially in areas that need it most.
LOVE this - taking care of ourselves/our communities in the midst of this chaos is how we take some of our power back! It’s a delicate balance of being aware of the fuckery and not letting it consume us completely!
Thank you! And yes, exactly - it's about finding that sweet spot where we're informed enough to act meaningfully but not so bombarded that we become overwhelmed and immobilized. Taking care of our communities is both practical climate action AND a form of resistance against systems that want us isolated and exhausted. I've been dabbling with smaller actions for years, yet it's only recently that I've fully grasped how these efforts actually build resilience and tackle the bigger issues directly - just at a scale where we can see tangible results and maintain our sanity in the process. And it's liberating.
Agreed! It's all very manageable day-to-day, helps actual people in real time, reduces local climate footprint, sidesteps the capitalist oligarchy whenever possible, and creates meaningful long-term change. All while keeping us sane in the process!
Thank you for this!! I turned away from constant protest a year ago to immerse myself in mutual aid and community building. Sometimes I have a nagging guilt about not being "in the streets" as much, and this is a nice reminder that performative outrage is not where I need to be directing my energy.
Thank you! I feel this completely. There's def still value in street action for specific goals and community building, but think you're completely right to question the impact of big, broad protests. When they barely moved the needle under a 'progressive' administration, their effectiveness under an authoritarian one is 🥴 at best. On the flip side, your mutual aid work is creating real change right now - that's not retreating, it's advancing on a more effective front!
Yeah, the anger can be exhausting but I use it to fuel productive actions like some that you have mentioned. I haven't interpreted your postings as sneering or shaming. You have vented what many of us have felt but have been conditioned by our "polite" families and society to not express in a public forum. Yay for exercising your first amendment rights the way that you want to!! I don't think that anyone should try to shame you into silence. If you want to shut up for now and find purpose in your garden with your children then that's also good. There will be other days when you want to vent, especially when the squirrels (or groundhogs or deer) decide that your garden is the smorgasbord of herbivore heaven.
I believe that this regime will find more ways to make many of us angry many more times before they are done because they've only started on some of the sections of the 900 pages of their Project 2025 plan... which I think they'll revise when they see us pushing back or thwarting their insanity.
Maybe some folks are further along on their path of enlightenment or have already achieved "one-ness" with the state of things in their world.
This is your journey to be done in your timeline on your pathways. I'm with you for every dig be it verbal on your Substack or in your physical garden as you clear out the choking weeds and stones and plant real and metaphorical seeds and seedlings of hope. Your words and actions can and will nurture others who are experiencing these times as fledgling gardeners or who are returning to a plot that was neglected because of other things prioritized in their lives.
As a recently retired science teacher I too will be revisiting my garden which I had neglected over the past few years as I took care of ailing relatives and raised offspring. I have been scrutinizing which plants need to be excised because they are choking out other plants and which plants need to be transplanted elsewhere because they have not adapted well despite my hopes of their hardiness.
Some of my neighbors have pristinely manicured gardens and lawns uniformly and precisely planned and edged to within millimeters of exactness. I admire their hard work and diligence to tackle every weed or stray leaf that has the audacity to end up in their garden, lawn and driveway. I don't have the energy, time or desire to be like them.
I secretly celebrate my dandelions pretty yellow petals and their defiance to grow in the lawn and between sections of the sidewalk, even though it might risk the ire of those devoted neighbors. As long as I don't get snarky citations from the governing municipality I can live with the dandelions and clover in my itty bitty lawn. The biology teacher in me knows that natural communities and ecosystems are more efficient in recycling nutrients and are less labor intensive than monocultured lawns and gardens that are rigidly planned and policed.
So I'm gonna aim for maintaining gardens that'll not stress me out. Some might require more attention than others, especially if I decide to do a vegetable garden instead of my current back lawn of grass, dandelions and clover.
The bottom line is that we're still living a country where you have the Constitutional freedoms to express yourself in words and in your yard in multiple ways (unless you're in some fascist HOA neighborhood, for which I can only offer thoughts and prayers).
I will heave and hoe through the detritus of this political disaster with you. Stay Strong!
Thank you for this thoughtful comment! I'm so glad you haven't interpreted my writing as sneering - that was never my intention. And I love your celebration of dandelions and clover (big fans over here too!). To be clear, I won't be stepping away from writing, it's fundamental to who I am. I'm just stepping back from trying to please everyone - the contradictory demands of people wanting more outrage, or more positivity, or more validation of their specific approach.
Your perspective on amping up the natural ecosystems versus rigid monocultures resonates deeply with soul and all we need to achieve as a world! I'll be gardening and writing alongside you through this political disaster :)
Definitely needed this. Sometimes I feel lost about what I can do to resist, be a part of a movement, or create change. I recently moved to a home with a garden plot! I will focus on learning how to garden and maybe even grow enough produce to donate to people in need, even if it is only for one person.
Just finished planting the last of my potatoes in grow bags. Rain today and the peas doubled in size. Tomorrow the rhubarb goes in its garden. Lettuces and chard are getting bigger in the cold frame. Tomato, eggplant, celery and broccoli seeds are growing under lights on the kitchen counter. The CSA I support starts back from break in two weeks. Happy dance here.
Thanks for all that you're doing -- I do think one can be outraged AND plant seeds, as well as do the caregiving and community work that is necessary for everyone's survival. Onward --
The outrage is sadly unavoidable - and please don't think I'm claiming some moral high ground here. I'm outraged CONSTANTLY too! The notable difference between this Jo and the Jo of yesteryear is I'm trying to channel that outrage into something tangible NOW - food for families, and not just food for thought, etc. But the gardening, chooks, building, etc doesn't replace the outrage; it gives it somewhere constructive to go with my ADHD!
You sound completely amazing. I'm a caregiver for my severely disabled 30-year old daughter -- have been involved in advocacy efforts for the disabled for decades. I draw on that experience -- both emotional and physical -- to get me through this time. I always say that I never got anything good being nice to the Powers That Be. Fighting for the vulnerable is intense work but an honor as well.
Thank you so much for the work you’re doing! We resist within our communities and with the hope we spread to others. I appreciate you!
🖤🖤🖤
Great piece, Jo. Glad to have you in the grower tribe. I write with the same mesaage. It's a life worth living amidst the chaos and hell.
Thank you, Margi! Your work resonates with me too - we're building something meaningful, tending both soil and soul.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! this puts into words all I've been feeling the last few weeks. They say "everybody wants a revolution but nobody wants to do the dishes". I'm doing the dishes. And growing food. And giving stuff away. Making space for community, however small
Yes, Evelyn! The dishes may not be sexy, but they're necessary!
This is so helpful! I have been a complete anxious mess lately, trying to do everything to have some positive effect on the craziness. Buried in politics. Drowning in social media. This reminder you offer is calming and inspires me to engage again in a connected pleasurable path forward. We neighbors have recently had a friendly leisurely gathering, making plans to build a community garden. I'm going to suggest dinners together. Spring is here and the flower gardens are begging for attention. There is so much life to be lived...locally.
So glad this resonated! It's amazing how shifting from that anxious spiral to focused local action creates much-needed mental space. Your community garden with shared dinners sounds perfect - I hope it grows into a space that feeds both bodies and souls while building those essential community roots we all need right now. And I hope this model pops up ALL over the U.S., especially in areas that need it most.
Love this piece, so good. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Joshua!
LOVE this - taking care of ourselves/our communities in the midst of this chaos is how we take some of our power back! It’s a delicate balance of being aware of the fuckery and not letting it consume us completely!
Thank you! And yes, exactly - it's about finding that sweet spot where we're informed enough to act meaningfully but not so bombarded that we become overwhelmed and immobilized. Taking care of our communities is both practical climate action AND a form of resistance against systems that want us isolated and exhausted. I've been dabbling with smaller actions for years, yet it's only recently that I've fully grasped how these efforts actually build resilience and tackle the bigger issues directly - just at a scale where we can see tangible results and maintain our sanity in the process. And it's liberating.
I like the way you are thinking. It makes so much more sense.
Agreed! It's all very manageable day-to-day, helps actual people in real time, reduces local climate footprint, sidesteps the capitalist oligarchy whenever possible, and creates meaningful long-term change. All while keeping us sane in the process!
Fantastic, for saying all of that, thank you!
You're welcome, Andre! Thanks for reading and being here!
Seeds seeds SEEDS!!!!!
YES! Both literally and metaphorically!
Thank you for this!! I turned away from constant protest a year ago to immerse myself in mutual aid and community building. Sometimes I have a nagging guilt about not being "in the streets" as much, and this is a nice reminder that performative outrage is not where I need to be directing my energy.
Thank you! I feel this completely. There's def still value in street action for specific goals and community building, but think you're completely right to question the impact of big, broad protests. When they barely moved the needle under a 'progressive' administration, their effectiveness under an authoritarian one is 🥴 at best. On the flip side, your mutual aid work is creating real change right now - that's not retreating, it's advancing on a more effective front!
Good Reminder. Thank you for this.
Always welcome!
Yeah, the anger can be exhausting but I use it to fuel productive actions like some that you have mentioned. I haven't interpreted your postings as sneering or shaming. You have vented what many of us have felt but have been conditioned by our "polite" families and society to not express in a public forum. Yay for exercising your first amendment rights the way that you want to!! I don't think that anyone should try to shame you into silence. If you want to shut up for now and find purpose in your garden with your children then that's also good. There will be other days when you want to vent, especially when the squirrels (or groundhogs or deer) decide that your garden is the smorgasbord of herbivore heaven.
I believe that this regime will find more ways to make many of us angry many more times before they are done because they've only started on some of the sections of the 900 pages of their Project 2025 plan... which I think they'll revise when they see us pushing back or thwarting their insanity.
Maybe some folks are further along on their path of enlightenment or have already achieved "one-ness" with the state of things in their world.
This is your journey to be done in your timeline on your pathways. I'm with you for every dig be it verbal on your Substack or in your physical garden as you clear out the choking weeds and stones and plant real and metaphorical seeds and seedlings of hope. Your words and actions can and will nurture others who are experiencing these times as fledgling gardeners or who are returning to a plot that was neglected because of other things prioritized in their lives.
As a recently retired science teacher I too will be revisiting my garden which I had neglected over the past few years as I took care of ailing relatives and raised offspring. I have been scrutinizing which plants need to be excised because they are choking out other plants and which plants need to be transplanted elsewhere because they have not adapted well despite my hopes of their hardiness.
Some of my neighbors have pristinely manicured gardens and lawns uniformly and precisely planned and edged to within millimeters of exactness. I admire their hard work and diligence to tackle every weed or stray leaf that has the audacity to end up in their garden, lawn and driveway. I don't have the energy, time or desire to be like them.
I secretly celebrate my dandelions pretty yellow petals and their defiance to grow in the lawn and between sections of the sidewalk, even though it might risk the ire of those devoted neighbors. As long as I don't get snarky citations from the governing municipality I can live with the dandelions and clover in my itty bitty lawn. The biology teacher in me knows that natural communities and ecosystems are more efficient in recycling nutrients and are less labor intensive than monocultured lawns and gardens that are rigidly planned and policed.
So I'm gonna aim for maintaining gardens that'll not stress me out. Some might require more attention than others, especially if I decide to do a vegetable garden instead of my current back lawn of grass, dandelions and clover.
The bottom line is that we're still living a country where you have the Constitutional freedoms to express yourself in words and in your yard in multiple ways (unless you're in some fascist HOA neighborhood, for which I can only offer thoughts and prayers).
I will heave and hoe through the detritus of this political disaster with you. Stay Strong!
Thank you for this thoughtful comment! I'm so glad you haven't interpreted my writing as sneering - that was never my intention. And I love your celebration of dandelions and clover (big fans over here too!). To be clear, I won't be stepping away from writing, it's fundamental to who I am. I'm just stepping back from trying to please everyone - the contradictory demands of people wanting more outrage, or more positivity, or more validation of their specific approach.
Your perspective on amping up the natural ecosystems versus rigid monocultures resonates deeply with soul and all we need to achieve as a world! I'll be gardening and writing alongside you through this political disaster :)
Made my Saturday morning. Thank you!
You're welcome, Mark! Your comment made mine :)
Definitely needed this. Sometimes I feel lost about what I can do to resist, be a part of a movement, or create change. I recently moved to a home with a garden plot! I will focus on learning how to garden and maybe even grow enough produce to donate to people in need, even if it is only for one person.
One person is a whole human fed. So important ❤️
Just finished planting the last of my potatoes in grow bags. Rain today and the peas doubled in size. Tomorrow the rhubarb goes in its garden. Lettuces and chard are getting bigger in the cold frame. Tomato, eggplant, celery and broccoli seeds are growing under lights on the kitchen counter. The CSA I support starts back from break in two weeks. Happy dance here.
Thanks for all that you're doing -- I do think one can be outraged AND plant seeds, as well as do the caregiving and community work that is necessary for everyone's survival. Onward --
The outrage is sadly unavoidable - and please don't think I'm claiming some moral high ground here. I'm outraged CONSTANTLY too! The notable difference between this Jo and the Jo of yesteryear is I'm trying to channel that outrage into something tangible NOW - food for families, and not just food for thought, etc. But the gardening, chooks, building, etc doesn't replace the outrage; it gives it somewhere constructive to go with my ADHD!
You sound completely amazing. I'm a caregiver for my severely disabled 30-year old daughter -- have been involved in advocacy efforts for the disabled for decades. I draw on that experience -- both emotional and physical -- to get me through this time. I always say that I never got anything good being nice to the Powers That Be. Fighting for the vulnerable is intense work but an honor as well.