A Song to Sing, All Over this Land

With apologies and thanks to Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, I start this little blog with the "If I Had a Hammer" song running through my head, giving me hope in what feels like a dark and scary time.

Every day since the election of November 9, 2016, I have found inspirations and actions that I can take to fight to keep our civil rights and voice my solidarity with peace-loving people.

And I want to compile them here, mostly for myself.  But if they are helpful to someone else, great.  I want to share in this space-that-is-not-Facebook.

My intention is to post at least one thing a day that someone like me could do - beyond the shouting into the echo chamber - to rise up, defeat racism, protect the vulnerable, speak truth to power and contribute to the beautiful thing that is a civil society.  I have been so extraordinarily lucky to have been born in this time and in this place and experience the freedoms that everyone should have - and I feel those freedoms are being threatened.  So I count myself in - to telephone, to march, to keep track of what happens, to seek legitimate news, to give my time and my money.

Today's Action Ideas:

1. Get and read the U.S. Constitution for your mobile phone - you can find it in many ways, including by purchasing an e-book version.  Or just bookmark this: https://uscon.mobi/usc/index.html

2. (Today's Easy) Enjoy "If I Had a Hammer" and thank the folk music artists for some great protest songs that we can use as inspiration, again.  (I still have to protest this shit?  Yes, yes, you do.)

3. Put some worthy organizations "on the drip" (monthly recurring automatic donation).  Here are the ones I have researched and believe to do great work for civil rights:

• ACLU
• Southern Poverty Law Center (especially their fantastic curriculum for schools, "Teaching Tolerance")
• Planned Parenthood

4. Put up a yard sign for at least one cause you believe it - whether it's "Black Lives Matter" or "Climate Change is Real" or "Women's Rights are Human Rights".  You will probably find at least one neighbor who is now encouraged to come talk to you and let you know they are with you.  Start having those conversations, let them turn into groups of neighbors having dinner and giving each other moral support.

5. Watch the movie "Trumbo" - great acting by Bryan Cranston and many others brings light and heart to this timely look at how McCarthy's "Black List" policies harmed so many.