There are crises all over. We are trapped in it daily. And for more optimism, here are 10 forgotten crises all over the world. Most of them are famines and devastating storms made by climate change leveling town all over. The laundry list of terrible in the US is near endless. If you are expecting any hope in this post I have none. Normally Stacy Abram’s podcast is a good one for a dose of optimism albeit a small one. But this week even she couldn’t help.
The short version- it’s BAD. They even reference that article about Hitler using the German constitution to destroy democracy in under 2 months that The Atlantic has pay-walled. I don’t normally post anything from The Bulwark so this is a FIRST. But this is an important episode. Pay particular attention to Amanda Carpenter who expresses much better than I can, the entrenchment of trumpism and the fact that this could last YEARS especially with the fact that they are firing bureaucrats with the competence to run things and replacing them with pure loyalists who are NOT loyal to trump, but are loyal to Project 2025 and the goals of the authors and THEIR vision of taking rights back to the 1800s. The purges have already begun as Federal Inspectors General are removed from oversight positions.
On to some “artwork”. So this ugly little shit is what I’m working on now. Funnily enough its a piece where I drew that character- traced it actually, thought it was too good to ruin, put it away for months and now here I am ruining it.
Things to DO: If you have a $5 floating around there are a lot of good places to donate it. Your local state Democrats can always use the money, or find a local candidate for something and volunteer to help them out. School board is the overlooked workhorse and the extremist Rs have been taking over school boards for YEARS while Dems focus solely on state and national races. However with the attacks on LGBTQ youth ramping up exponentially local school boards will be a flashpoint. And keep in mind ANYONE can run for schoolboard. If you have money support ACTUAL journalism and share stories from verified sources. Some journalists have broken with legacy publications to start their own free Substacks like The Contrarian.
Things to watch: Tubi has a handful of Yasujiro Ozu films. His work is delicate and emotional, often involving death and how people deal with it, and it’s inevitability. Not all of them! But I dunno, find one that’s more of a gentle slice-of-life. He made plenty of those too. AND a the new season of Single’s Inferno is on Netflix!!! If you need pure escapist drama/romance this is the BEST SHOW EVER. I don’t link stuff on Netflix since you’re either subscribed or not.
Lastly I leave you with some nature photography. I decided to try and get back into the photo hobby of taking close-ups of moss. These are all taken during a walk around the block.
Take a long breath in and a long breath out. Repeat for 1 minute.