Hello and happy Friday to you! I want to start this post by thanking you for even opening this email.
Because, I don’t know about you, but my inbox has been absolutely out of control this year, mostly due to all the political, activist, anti-fascist substacks I subscribe to. I feel like I’m in a Cathy comic, drowning in emails. “AUTHORITARIANISM! AACK!”
In November, I talked about Trump’s first term, when I felt compelled to stay on Twitter, keeping abreast of every new development, as if that gave me some control over what was happening. I said I wouldn’t do that again this time. And I haven’t!
But instead, I get all these damn emails. And they’re smart and inspiring and instructive and grounding, but I CANNOT READ ALL THESE EMAILS. No one can.
I say this not to complain. It’s desperately important for all of us to stay abreast of the overwhelming destruction happening on a daily basis, to fight and resist in the ways we can, to spread the word about what’s going on.
And, with the legacy media failing to meet this moment in many ways, the onus is falling on independent media companies to fight for a just and equal America. I am grateful for these companies.
I do want to acknowledge, though, that, in this time of everything, everywhere, all at once, sometimes it feels like it’s our job to take in all of it.
And we cannot.
So, in writing this, I want to remind you—and myself too—that focusing on one thing is often more productive and sustaining than trying to focus on all things. This can relate to activism, yes, but also to the work we do each day.
Be kind to yourself and know that slow focus has deep value. As I’ve said many times, and will continue to, engaging in this kind of deep work right now—when everything in our society encourages you not to—is a form of resistance.
Musk & Trump & Pals © don’t know how to deep focus. They literally can’t access empathy. All they know how to do is destroy quickly. It’s rough. But one of the ways we can fight that is by deep focusing on one thing.
Which brings me to:
One Easy Way You Can Fight for America Right Now
I’m currently writing 20 Vote Forward letters to voters in Wisconsin ahead of the very important April 1st Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which could shift the balance of the court away from fairness and justice and back to the extremist party that is doing so much damage to our country.
For this straightforward bit of activism, you’ll print out as few as 5 letters, handwrite a short message on each about why you think voting matters, then address and stamp the letters, and send them! Vote Forward encourages you to write a nonpartisan message of your choice, starting with I believe voting matters because…
You can sign up now if you’re interested. Letters must be sent by March 24th, but that’s plenty of time. Write some letters this weekend!
And now, before I go, some…
T-Recs!
1984, by George Orwell
What a cliché to read this book right now, I know. But I haven’t read it since high school and man, it hits different now. I’m only 60 pages in and I’m absolutely loving it. Chilling and grounding at the same time. Here’s a passage that resonated more than I wanted it to:
His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word “doublethink” involved the use of doublethink.
Molly and the Memphis Thunder
I’ve been listening to this five-song EP from 2019 as I write this post and remembering how absolutely wonderful it is. Molly Hager and Ian Kagey are brilliant musicians, their voices sound like magic together, and these songs will make you feel things.
Mo
Okay, I already mentioned Netflix’s Mo, but Katie and I finished Season 2 last night, and we’re in awe. It’s a brilliant work of art that will expand your mind and heart and humanity.
If you made it this far, thank you. I appreciate you. Hope you are breathing deep and laughing a lot. See you next week for the return of Making Things is Hard, when I talk with all-star Flatiron Books editor (and my best buddy) Zack Wagman about being on the editorial side of things.
See you then!
Pre-order my MG debut, Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend, out in August!