OK, folks, time to report in on this week's activities. I will collect up a few stragglers from the past week and add whatever you tell me. Let's hear from a few lurkers. [Is that the right term? It sounds rather derogatory, but of course I do not mean it that way.]
I have started preparing my Freud lectures, which will follow very closely my Freud tutorial. The first Kant lecture has now passed 30,000 views, so unless there is one Kant fan out there with obsessive compulsive disorder, it has had an unexpectedly wide audience. The ninth lecture has hit 1800, which is 6% of the first, quite a fall-off, but also six times as many people as studied Kant with me in my entire career. The miracle of the cloud.
This week was marked for me by the abrupt and inexplicable loss of access to the administrative page of this blog, only to be restored the next day by a gifted young woman in the UNC walk-in tech help office. I sent her a Thank You card with a Starbuck's gift card inside. As I said in my card, for her it was just another day at the office, but for me it was a life saver.
A reminder:
ReplyDeleteAssata Shakur (former Black Panther, shot up in the 70s, brutally treated, escaped, and fled to Cuba): “If you are deaf, dumb, and blind to what’s happening in the world, you’re under no obligation to do anything. But if you know what’s happening and you don’t do anything but sit on your ass, then you’re nothing but a punk.”
Called Rep. Faso's (R) office and asked when his Town Hall would be. The phone-answerer told me that he would be having a "Tele-Town Hall." I asked her to convey my stong disappointment that Rep. Faso would not be meeting with his constituents. A few days later, an org. called Citizens of the Hudson Valley emailed that they would be holding their own Town Hall (tonight) with or without Faso. I emailed a talk show on the local NPR station with the time and place, and they read it on the air. It also engendered five minutes of discussion. Hope to get back from NYC in time to go.
ReplyDeleteGave some money to Osoff (GA) and Campoverdi (CA) and Stand Up America.
Moved the ball about two yards down the field in my effort to get our church to take a stand on the refugees. It's now second and eight.
Joined the ACLU
ReplyDeleteJoined the Not My Presidents Day protest on Central Park West, near Trump International Hotel on February 20th, where I found that chanting such things as "we need a leader, not a creepy tweeter!" was not only ego-syntonic, but therapeutic. Contributed to two candidates and one Daily Kos action through Act Blue. Also opened a Twitter account to follow breaking news from journalists covering our descent into autocracy (35% of the population want this--Prof Wolff's question, "What side are you on?" is urgent and serious), rogue federal agency accounts, as well as luminaries like Corey Robin, Sam Wang, etc.
ReplyDeleteAttended a local Our Revolution meeting (basically my little suburban town and the adjacent one). We made a plan for upcoming (tomorrow and Monday) health care rallies, and how to connect with other local "Indivisible" groups to pursue larger actions. Side note: between these two suburban communities there are maybe 30,000 people, and I know of at least four different groups that have formed in the last month.
ReplyDelete1. Joined about a thousand people in a demonstration outside the office of Rep. Dave Reichert (R). Reichert is refusing to hold town hall meetings with his constituents.
ReplyDelete2. Called the office of Rep. Jayapal to thank her for her work on behalf of immigrants.
3. Attended a meeting of our Neighborhood Action Coalition.
I increased my monthly donation to the ACLU and did quite a few online petitions.
ReplyDeleteI was planning on attending "Little Marco's" town hall here in Tampa, but he slithered out of it like the snake in the grass that he is...
Continued my accelerated pace of reading to help understand (I'm not sure it's working, lol!)
Can't wait until the Freud lectures!!!
Lurker here!
ReplyDelete1. I called my Congressional Representative (Patrick McHenry) and complained about his weekly newsletter's description of Obamacare. (Trying to find different ways to voice the same concern.)
2. The call worked well, so I resolved to reply to his weekly letter with a phone call every week. It won't be hard to find something that ticks me off.
3. Started reading _The Dialectic of Sex_ by Shulamith Firestone in my free time. Will see if I can voice some angry second-wave feminist concerns in class discussion.
4. Convinced my mother (a family nurse practitioner) to call Congress and complain about the plan to repeal Obamacare, too. They wanted me to get off the phone, but they said they would pass her message on to the Congressman.
=Sent message "Don't Let Congress Strip Family Planning Funding!" to the following recipients: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC).
ReplyDelete=Signed White House petition "Remove Steve Bannon from National Security Council"
=Donated again to North Carolina Democratic Part
* On Wednesday, there was a rally downtown calling on our city to divest from Wells Fargo. I didn't make it to the rally, but I did call one of my city councilmembers to voice my support for the idea.
ReplyDelete* Left a message with the North Dakota governor urging him to veto bills that criminalize protest.
* Gave to Stephanie Hansen's campaign (Democrat for State Senate in Delaware)
* Gave to Jon Ossoff's campaign
* Contacted Elizabeth Warren (via https://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=email_senator) thanking her for introducing the Presidential Conflicts of Interest bill
* Emailed Disney's CEO (robert.a.iger@disney.com) asking him to make a public statement against the Muslim ban.
* Signed up for the email list at https://www.sisterdistrict.com/volunteer