As a Minnesotan, what was helpful to hear was a quote by Dan Savage in the middle of the AIDS pandemic: "We buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night." I am trying to live by these words. Mourn in the morning, get out there and do the work in the day, and don't forget your joy at night. That's how we keep pushing. Mourning, activating, and dancing.
And we WILL move forward. We will cry for Liam and his family, praying he gets to come home soon. We will mourn the world's loss of Alex, and honor his memory. And we will come together as a community and help each other, while resisting the regime.
OMG tears came to my eyes as I read this part from you:
"We left the dentist and headed out to sell Girl Scout cookies. “Mom, can we listen to Taylor Swift?” Another check of my phone: a photo of Liam’s school cubby. Five-year-old Liam was taken by ICE days earlier. His principal shared the image. Twenty other students from his school were missing, too.
“Mom,” my daughter asked, watching my face, “why are you crying?”"
=========================
And yes, the best thing we can do is take care of our mental health, and take care of the people within our circles of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers.
Thank you for the information about the Wine Mom event.
PS for those who want to take a small action and contact their legislators, here is a spreadsheet with contact information, thanks to another mom, Megan Rothery:
Let Congress hear you! Be extremely loud!
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
🫂 Yes! Let's continue to care for one another however we can, and show that love is stronger than hate—just like Martin Luther King Jr said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Thank you for ALL you do. Keeping us informed is so pivotal. Keeping us connected is a lifeline we all need. Much love and compassion to you and all the truth-tellers.
Thank you for this. I've been gyrating between measles anti-vaxxers (my sister, who works in pub health epi for South Carolina DPH, is up to her eyelids in cases, having been ordered to ignore 71 of the 76 other reportables they track), ICE murders and the valiant people under siege in MN (yes, I'm donating) and figuring out how on earth I'm going to teach my Biomedical Ethics course without losing it completely in front of the students. I'll get it together, but for now all I can say is: thank God for Heated Rivalry. And a snow day.
I'm a 67-year-old grandmother living in Kansas City. Our son, daughter-in-law, and 4-year-old twin grandsons live in a diverse urban neighborhood in North Minneapolis less than a 10 minute walk from where Renee Good was killed. They report helicopters have been hovering over their home for weeks, and Black and brown neighbors are abducted off the streets. Our kids take turns protesting while the other parent watches our grandkids, and our son feeds the boys dinner while our daughter-in-law spends evenings after work taking food to immigrant families afraid to leave their homes. The parents at their Spanish-immersion day care take shifts standing guard at drop-off and pick-up every day. They are exhausted - and they are white citizens. I can only imagine the exhaustion of those more at risk. Thank you for publishing the list of places to donate. It takes a lot of money to feed, house, clothe, and provide medical care for people unable to safely leave their homes to work. Those of us who do not live in Minneapolis can at least help financially. I donate every day - I hope it helps these families as much as it helps me to stay connected.
Please know that you are not alone. We may never meet in person or even know each other but if each of us treat each other with kindness, empathy, and respect, there is a path forward with hope. My heart is breaking with what is happening in our country. It definitely is not the country I’ve known for 60 years. As angry as I am with those that are perpetrating these atrocities, I fully believe that the rest of us must stand together in peaceful solidarity and support for every person to have the right to compassion, dignity, and due process.
Katelyn, now imagine being married to an Iranian-American woman who has spent the last 47 years of her life hoping and praying for the elimination of the Islamic invaders who took her country, oppressed and savagely controlled her countrymen, friends and family, and--over the past weeks--brutally murdered thousands of protesters ALL WHILE OUR "GOVERNMENT" WATCHED and FALSELY ASSURED them of our help. I have deep empathy, pity and anger over the recent events in Minnesota, but those sentiments pale in comparison to those toward the people--THE PEOPLE--of Iran. Yes, I fear for our nation--for what we witness here on a daily basis and for what I see in other parts of the globe (including, of course, its abnegation of all things public health). Apologies for hijacking your column for a different (but relevant) cause. Keep up the terrific work!
If permission is required then here it is: It's OK to turn your phone off, or set your privacy setting if expecting a family call, when you are with family and close friends. Taking a few minutes with our families is NOT checking out of this mess but rather intentionally checking in with those most important to us. The noiseless and stress-free minutes we all allow ourselves with family and friends will fortify us to do what we need to do for the hours, days, months ahead of us to support our communities and our Constitution.
Thank you for this. I think community health is about all of this- food, shelter, solidarity, community and the acknowledgement of grief. Here in Virginia community has meant all of that this week as we prepared for Winter Storm Fern: checking on elderly and immigrant and other vulnerable neighbors: do you have food, candles, stored water and warmth? How can we support each other? And meanwhile we prepare for whatever new storms are coming our way. But Community Health begins with building a community of neighbors who know and support each other- black / white/ Muslim/ Jew/Christian / Immigrant/ LGBTQIA + we all have something to offer and we can all stand together and protect each other.
As a Minnesotan, what was helpful to hear was a quote by Dan Savage in the middle of the AIDS pandemic: "We buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night." I am trying to live by these words. Mourn in the morning, get out there and do the work in the day, and don't forget your joy at night. That's how we keep pushing. Mourning, activating, and dancing.
And we WILL move forward. We will cry for Liam and his family, praying he gets to come home soon. We will mourn the world's loss of Alex, and honor his memory. And we will come together as a community and help each other, while resisting the regime.
I need to print out these words for my desk. That's perfect
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
OMG tears came to my eyes as I read this part from you:
"We left the dentist and headed out to sell Girl Scout cookies. “Mom, can we listen to Taylor Swift?” Another check of my phone: a photo of Liam’s school cubby. Five-year-old Liam was taken by ICE days earlier. His principal shared the image. Twenty other students from his school were missing, too.
“Mom,” my daughter asked, watching my face, “why are you crying?”"
=========================
And yes, the best thing we can do is take care of our mental health, and take care of the people within our circles of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers.
Thank you for the information about the Wine Mom event.
PS for those who want to take a small action and contact their legislators, here is a spreadsheet with contact information, thanks to another mom, Megan Rothery:
Let Congress hear you! Be extremely loud!
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Thank you for this. I have to tune out sometimes, it's just too much.
🫂 Yes! Let's continue to care for one another however we can, and show that love is stronger than hate—just like Martin Luther King Jr said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Thank for capturing what is happening and saying what needs to be said.
The list of resources is helpful, thank you!
Yes!
Wow, I needed this. We feel completely consumed and unable to move as we see the horrors day after day.
Thank you for sharing and yes, let's focus on what is being done and how we need to take care of ourselves and each other.
Thank you for ALL you do. Keeping us informed is so pivotal. Keeping us connected is a lifeline we all need. Much love and compassion to you and all the truth-tellers.
THANK YOU for this beautiful essay! You speak for all of us, I'm sure but the grace of your writing gives comfort.
Thank you for this. I've been gyrating between measles anti-vaxxers (my sister, who works in pub health epi for South Carolina DPH, is up to her eyelids in cases, having been ordered to ignore 71 of the 76 other reportables they track), ICE murders and the valiant people under siege in MN (yes, I'm donating) and figuring out how on earth I'm going to teach my Biomedical Ethics course without losing it completely in front of the students. I'll get it together, but for now all I can say is: thank God for Heated Rivalry. And a snow day.
I'm so glad you wrote this. We are at the tilting point, and your voice helps.
I'm a 67-year-old grandmother living in Kansas City. Our son, daughter-in-law, and 4-year-old twin grandsons live in a diverse urban neighborhood in North Minneapolis less than a 10 minute walk from where Renee Good was killed. They report helicopters have been hovering over their home for weeks, and Black and brown neighbors are abducted off the streets. Our kids take turns protesting while the other parent watches our grandkids, and our son feeds the boys dinner while our daughter-in-law spends evenings after work taking food to immigrant families afraid to leave their homes. The parents at their Spanish-immersion day care take shifts standing guard at drop-off and pick-up every day. They are exhausted - and they are white citizens. I can only imagine the exhaustion of those more at risk. Thank you for publishing the list of places to donate. It takes a lot of money to feed, house, clothe, and provide medical care for people unable to safely leave their homes to work. Those of us who do not live in Minneapolis can at least help financially. I donate every day - I hope it helps these families as much as it helps me to stay connected.
Please know that you are not alone. We may never meet in person or even know each other but if each of us treat each other with kindness, empathy, and respect, there is a path forward with hope. My heart is breaking with what is happening in our country. It definitely is not the country I’ve known for 60 years. As angry as I am with those that are perpetrating these atrocities, I fully believe that the rest of us must stand together in peaceful solidarity and support for every person to have the right to compassion, dignity, and due process.
Katelyn, now imagine being married to an Iranian-American woman who has spent the last 47 years of her life hoping and praying for the elimination of the Islamic invaders who took her country, oppressed and savagely controlled her countrymen, friends and family, and--over the past weeks--brutally murdered thousands of protesters ALL WHILE OUR "GOVERNMENT" WATCHED and FALSELY ASSURED them of our help. I have deep empathy, pity and anger over the recent events in Minnesota, but those sentiments pale in comparison to those toward the people--THE PEOPLE--of Iran. Yes, I fear for our nation--for what we witness here on a daily basis and for what I see in other parts of the globe (including, of course, its abnegation of all things public health). Apologies for hijacking your column for a different (but relevant) cause. Keep up the terrific work!
If permission is required then here it is: It's OK to turn your phone off, or set your privacy setting if expecting a family call, when you are with family and close friends. Taking a few minutes with our families is NOT checking out of this mess but rather intentionally checking in with those most important to us. The noiseless and stress-free minutes we all allow ourselves with family and friends will fortify us to do what we need to do for the hours, days, months ahead of us to support our communities and our Constitution.
Thank you for this. I think community health is about all of this- food, shelter, solidarity, community and the acknowledgement of grief. Here in Virginia community has meant all of that this week as we prepared for Winter Storm Fern: checking on elderly and immigrant and other vulnerable neighbors: do you have food, candles, stored water and warmth? How can we support each other? And meanwhile we prepare for whatever new storms are coming our way. But Community Health begins with building a community of neighbors who know and support each other- black / white/ Muslim/ Jew/Christian / Immigrant/ LGBTQIA + we all have something to offer and we can all stand together and protect each other.