I got my stickers! Especially with the administration's attacks on higher education, it seems timely to put them up on the Cornell campus, so that's what I'm going to do. Pics coming via email soon.
I want to add to your list of things to love about strangers is loving how people refuse to stay in their lane. We have this amazing local, artisanal bakery. They make the most incredible baked goods, all with locally grown and milled flour. Seriously delicious stuff. But today they started a brilliant anti-fascism campaign because WHO GETS TO TELL THEM TO JUST BAKE BREAD? Nobody, that's who.
I put up a Note about it, so folks can go look at some pics in Notes. You can also see more great visuals here (because we're old and still on FB):
I'm on the board of the local social justice mural project. I've reached out to see if we can support them in turning it into a mural to have for years, because their message should never be lost. And their creativity should never not be celebrated.
LOVE this story about the bakery! One thing I learned at a recent organizing event: the tipping point for fending off authoritarianism is apparently as low as 2-3.5% of the population resisting. So much lower than I thought, which ironically makes it feel more important to me to “life out loud” on this, like the bakery. Brilliant baked goods AND anti-fascism? I love this bakery.
I just attended a poetry reading last week where I took out my notebook and scribbled, "I think I am a little bit in love with everyone." I had just watched the most earnest teenager recite his poem in front of a room full of strangers. It started off with "I've only been electrocuted once/ by accident," and then declared how that feeling was like the feeling of holding another person's hand for the first time. My heart just went all floppy thinking of it again. And at a community jazz and poetry event, a photographer shared how he'd just spent the week taking free head shots for federal employees. When I have been out in the world lately, and taking in art, and actually talking to people about what they love, I have left a little bit more in love with everyone. What a gift.
This was a gift this morning-- I was feeling pretty discouraged in the midst of all of this. What a comfort to know I'm not alone (and what courage it helps foster). I have my first meeting with a brand new baby neighborhood group this week that's trying to foster ways to make sure that kids can play safely outside and develop autonomy to do small errands in the neighborhood (e.g., how do we build a culture where we say that all the kids are our kids), and I'm so excited to meet everyone. A small but hopefully first step in neighborhood organizing.
What a step! I'm so excited for your whole neighborhood, and know that none of our tiny steps will be enough to keep the discouragement away all the time, but still! We keep trying!
oh Garrett, I too am in love with so many strangers and so many friends, and I am full of grief and rage and love all at once. Thank you for putting it so well.
I've been watching the Star Wars movies with my daughter and I had forgotten the line in The Last Jedi when Rose tells Finn: "That's how we're gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love". With all this love, how can we not win?
As a Canadian being conscripted into a trade war I want no part of, with neighbors whom I love - please know that I and so many others on this side of the border have your back. If you are ever unsure, I recommend watching the recording (or live production) of Come From Away - the true story of 38 US bound planes forced to land in Gander, NFLD on 9/11 and the community they found there.
I've been reading about FDR's Lend-Lease plan during WWII and although US Neutrality prohibitted them from selling armaments to either side, they would fly planes close enough to the border that farmers with their tractors would drive up and drag them over the border into Canada where they could be used by the Allies. Maybe as citizens we need to come up with our own variation. What if small family farms in border states just "borrowed" fertilizer rather than pay tarriffs to import it? Maybe we partner schools on opposite sides of the border to "share" school supplies like pen-pals?
Come From Away is the perfect musical. And the true story is even more heartwarming. Thank you for knowing that our love for you is real and no orange menace will tear us apart.
I had a very Seattle experience last week that also had me grinning from air to ear and in love with strangers. I signed up for a sauna on the beach experience, where you sit in a large log-shaped wooden structure with benches facing each other and a wood stove on one side with a window looking out on the sea. You sign up for an hour and you are one of 16 people. People start off just talking with whoever they came with but end up making instant connections with the strangers sitting next to them as we heated up and then plunged in the cold water and then returned to the inferno multiple times. Afterward, we all giggled in the rain as we struggled to change into our clothes and get on with our days, everyone feeling a bit better about everything.
I shared this week’s newsletter with a few friends who would like to subscribe. Is the best way for me to share the newsletter and have them sign up through Substack or do you have another way to sign up?
I have to recommend this wonderful song about saunas ("bastu" is the Swedish word for sauna). It's about finding fellowship and letting go of stress in the sauna.
As soon as I saw saunas mentioned, I knew that you would answer the signal to do some Bara Bada Bastu evangelism.
And yes, my family are very loyal Swedish Melodifestivalen/Eurovision watchers and when this one came on for the first time my wife yelled out "Garrett, this is what you're always writing about-- the need for male friendship!"
Garrett, Sweden dodged a bullet!!! Måns Zelmerlöw's wife has left him and has alleged some pretty terrible things. I wonder if she would have pretended for a couple months longer that all was well if Måns had won? Might help explain why he reacted SO badly when he lost Mello.
This could also bring down his wine empire (I mean, if Systembolaget drops him, it's all over, since they're the only game in town).
I may not have a ton of faith in our electeds, but I do have faith in people! Public opinion is power! Make representatives afraid of the public again!
I live in the SF Bay Area and there was a plan to have a HUGE protest at Chuck Schumer's two scheduled book events here this coming weekend. One was at a bookstore in Marin County (Book Passage, a store I sincerely love!) which is in sort of a high end strip mall; the part of the store where they do events has a bunch of windows, and it would have been delightfully easy to hold up signs and disrupt his appearance. Not surprisingly, it was canceled yesterday due to "security reasons." I was pretty bummed, since it would have been a fun time. I'm still counting it as a semi-win that Schumer wasn't able to come out here and shill his book.
Speaking of books: Garrett, I'm so happy to hear that your book is coming out in paperback! Not all books receive that honor, and it shows that your publisher has faith that it can sell a bunch more copies, and that perhaps it can become a book club read, since a lot of book clubs only select paperbacks. Congratulations!! And take heart in the fact that a bunch of hostile strangers will not show up and boo you when you are out promoting it.
I got my stickers! Especially with the administration's attacks on higher education, it seems timely to put them up on the Cornell campus, so that's what I'm going to do. Pics coming via email soon.
I want to add to your list of things to love about strangers is loving how people refuse to stay in their lane. We have this amazing local, artisanal bakery. They make the most incredible baked goods, all with locally grown and milled flour. Seriously delicious stuff. But today they started a brilliant anti-fascism campaign because WHO GETS TO TELL THEM TO JUST BAKE BREAD? Nobody, that's who.
I put up a Note about it, so folks can go look at some pics in Notes. You can also see more great visuals here (because we're old and still on FB):
https://www.facebook.com/wideawakebakery/posts/pfbid02X6pGDi9nikJyy1LcyoUC1Lr3JPThXgPmrCWvgBjpGS9dMsCBaZVCLWYdcTPEPrrJl
I'm on the board of the local social justice mural project. I've reached out to see if we can support them in turning it into a mural to have for years, because their message should never be lost. And their creativity should never not be celebrated.
LOVE this story about the bakery! One thing I learned at a recent organizing event: the tipping point for fending off authoritarianism is apparently as low as 2-3.5% of the population resisting. So much lower than I thought, which ironically makes it feel more important to me to “life out loud” on this, like the bakery. Brilliant baked goods AND anti-fascism? I love this bakery.
That tipping point fact is real!
That number makes me feel so much better!
Right?!?
I hope that you can make that mural! And I love that you're helping spread their message!
I just attended a poetry reading last week where I took out my notebook and scribbled, "I think I am a little bit in love with everyone." I had just watched the most earnest teenager recite his poem in front of a room full of strangers. It started off with "I've only been electrocuted once/ by accident," and then declared how that feeling was like the feeling of holding another person's hand for the first time. My heart just went all floppy thinking of it again. And at a community jazz and poetry event, a photographer shared how he'd just spent the week taking free head shots for federal employees. When I have been out in the world lately, and taking in art, and actually talking to people about what they love, I have left a little bit more in love with everyone. What a gift.
Oh yes to that teenage poet and that photographer and all the people we get to be in love with, Thu!
This was a gift this morning-- I was feeling pretty discouraged in the midst of all of this. What a comfort to know I'm not alone (and what courage it helps foster). I have my first meeting with a brand new baby neighborhood group this week that's trying to foster ways to make sure that kids can play safely outside and develop autonomy to do small errands in the neighborhood (e.g., how do we build a culture where we say that all the kids are our kids), and I'm so excited to meet everyone. A small but hopefully first step in neighborhood organizing.
What a step! I'm so excited for your whole neighborhood, and know that none of our tiny steps will be enough to keep the discouragement away all the time, but still! We keep trying!
oh Garrett, I too am in love with so many strangers and so many friends, and I am full of grief and rage and love all at once. Thank you for putting it so well.
Love you, Laurel!
I've been watching the Star Wars movies with my daughter and I had forgotten the line in The Last Jedi when Rose tells Finn: "That's how we're gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love". With all this love, how can we not win?
As a Canadian being conscripted into a trade war I want no part of, with neighbors whom I love - please know that I and so many others on this side of the border have your back. If you are ever unsure, I recommend watching the recording (or live production) of Come From Away - the true story of 38 US bound planes forced to land in Gander, NFLD on 9/11 and the community they found there.
I've been reading about FDR's Lend-Lease plan during WWII and although US Neutrality prohibitted them from selling armaments to either side, they would fly planes close enough to the border that farmers with their tractors would drive up and drag them over the border into Canada where they could be used by the Allies. Maybe as citizens we need to come up with our own variation. What if small family farms in border states just "borrowed" fertilizer rather than pay tarriffs to import it? Maybe we partner schools on opposite sides of the border to "share" school supplies like pen-pals?
That line always makes me tear up!
And thank you for the cross border solidarity! I love that idea of non-military cross-border neighbor to neighbor tariff busting!
Come From Away is the perfect musical. And the true story is even more heartwarming. Thank you for knowing that our love for you is real and no orange menace will tear us apart.
I had a very Seattle experience last week that also had me grinning from air to ear and in love with strangers. I signed up for a sauna on the beach experience, where you sit in a large log-shaped wooden structure with benches facing each other and a wood stove on one side with a window looking out on the sea. You sign up for an hour and you are one of 16 people. People start off just talking with whoever they came with but end up making instant connections with the strangers sitting next to them as we heated up and then plunged in the cold water and then returned to the inferno multiple times. Afterward, we all giggled in the rain as we struggled to change into our clothes and get on with our days, everyone feeling a bit better about everything.
What a lovely shared moment!
I shared this week’s newsletter with a few friends who would like to subscribe. Is the best way for me to share the newsletter and have them sign up through Substack or do you have another way to sign up?
Yes, through substack is the best way (and thank for sharing, Vicki!).
I have to recommend this wonderful song about saunas ("bastu" is the Swedish word for sauna). It's about finding fellowship and letting go of stress in the sauna.
https://youtu.be/28__O2Ngc74?si=peMeqhZw8iCXAvTt
OH my god this is SOOOOO good! Thank you for sharing!! Bara Bada Bastu!!
As soon as I saw saunas mentioned, I knew that you would answer the signal to do some Bara Bada Bastu evangelism.
And yes, my family are very loyal Swedish Melodifestivalen/Eurovision watchers and when this one came on for the first time my wife yelled out "Garrett, this is what you're always writing about-- the need for male friendship!"
Garrett, Sweden dodged a bullet!!! Måns Zelmerlöw's wife has left him and has alleged some pretty terrible things. I wonder if she would have pretended for a couple months longer that all was well if Måns had won? Might help explain why he reacted SO badly when he lost Mello.
This could also bring down his wine empire (I mean, if Systembolaget drops him, it's all over, since they're the only game in town).
Oh whoa! I hadn't heard!
I may not have a ton of faith in our electeds, but I do have faith in people! Public opinion is power! Make representatives afraid of the public again!
Yep! Yep! Yep!
I live in the SF Bay Area and there was a plan to have a HUGE protest at Chuck Schumer's two scheduled book events here this coming weekend. One was at a bookstore in Marin County (Book Passage, a store I sincerely love!) which is in sort of a high end strip mall; the part of the store where they do events has a bunch of windows, and it would have been delightfully easy to hold up signs and disrupt his appearance. Not surprisingly, it was canceled yesterday due to "security reasons." I was pretty bummed, since it would have been a fun time. I'm still counting it as a semi-win that Schumer wasn't able to come out here and shill his book.
Speaking of books: Garrett, I'm so happy to hear that your book is coming out in paperback! Not all books receive that honor, and it shows that your publisher has faith that it can sell a bunch more copies, and that perhaps it can become a book club read, since a lot of book clubs only select paperbacks. Congratulations!! And take heart in the fact that a bunch of hostile strangers will not show up and boo you when you are out promoting it.
Oh my goodness you're right, I was blessed with such a lovely/perfect book tour (by any standard, but particularly by Chuck Schumer standards lol)
Aw Pete. He caught so many strays in A Complete Unknown.
That movie drove me so hard into Team Nice Pete it's not even funny
This was such a beautiful essay.
Oh thank you Chiara
Pete ♥️❤️🔥💔😭
This essay reminded me of a song I love, which I have been singing to myself often: https://thebirdsings.com/work-to-be-done/
Ooh, thank you for introducing me to it!