Enough with the despair. Time to Speak!. Act! Laugh! Get Out The Vote!
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #88 SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
Last week I wrote that the GOP convention & events in Portland & Kenosha had plunged me into deep despair. Your responses to my confession were instantaneous & intense. Some subscribers commiserated. ("You're not alone! That's exactly how I feel.") Some reprimanded me. ("How dare you lose hope? We don't have the luxury of despair.") Others sent articles, quotes, videos, books, memes. The historians among you declared that we've endured worse --slavery, Civil War, the Great Depression, two World Wars, assassinations, Vietnam, 9/11 -- & promised we'll survive Trump, too. The activists alerted me to groups working to get out the vote, which, of course, is the best way to change the status quo & save our beleaguered country.
* In her conversation with Meghan Markle (above), Gloria Steinem says, "If you don't vote, you don't exist. The voting booth is the only place where we're all equal." The Dutchess cheerfully reports that her husband Harry is a proud feminist. Here's is a snippet of Meg's and Glo's chat about women.
POLITICS
* Let's hear it for *Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) who said out loud what millions of us have believed for months. "This president is deliberately killing people!!"
* Surrealism in everyday life: Trump inominated for Nobel Prize. (By a right-wing Norwegian official.)
PUT THIS UP IN YOUR TOWN
* "It's not the China virus, it's the Trump virus!" says activist-rabbi, Chaim Seidler-Feller, Director Emeritus of UCLA Hillel. Keep track of all those who've been killed by POTUS' mismanagement, denial, & trivialization of the pandemic. Contact Chaim here to find out how to put up a billboard like this in your town.
FILM
* Tonight, Thurs, Sept 10th, at 7-8 PM EST, the Democracy 2020 Youth Film Challenge Awards will live stream films by young people ages 15 to 25 who share their top concerns about the state of the nation. Event is free but RSVP in advance. Anatola Araba (above left) and Patricia Duff (right) will host.
* Did you know that nearly 20,000 Jewish refugees from Hitler's Europe found refuge in Shanghai during WWII? I didn't. But the remarkable PBS documentary, "Harbor From the Holocaust," introduced me to several of those Jews and the Chinese locals who welcomed them. Somehow, I felt this moving, little-known story of resilience, creativity, and community speaks to our political moment.
* In "Homecoming" a clever 6-minute short by Jennifer Blair, a nervous college student returns home to confess his secret to his proudly progressive parents. Can you guess what it is?
VIDEOS
* British wedding photographer summons several odd categories of guests to pose with the happy couple. "Everyone who's slept with the bride," for instance.
*Comedian Joel Chasnoff catalogues his sins (and ours) just in time for Yom Kippur.
* Another "Honest Government" video, this one about mail-in voting. Funny, yet not.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
*Jacob Blake's sister Leterta Widman (above) speaks the truth & breaks your heart.
* Graffiti in Wisconsin (above) gives one pause.
* "Race, Rights, Righteous Anger, Redemption & Hope, produced by Janet Dewart Bell, (above) features a diverse group of leaders discussing where we are as a nation & how to move forward together.
BOOKS
I don't often read two books at the same time but I was attracted to these new titles, dipped into one, then the other, and now I'm hooked by both. I recommend them to you for priority reading this Fall, obviously for disparate reasons. (And please buy them at an Indie bookstore.)
* "Gullible's Travels: A Comical History of the Trump Era" is Marvin Kitman at his sassy, satirical best. Even if you're disgusted with POTUS' loathsome behavior, and as depressed as I am by what the Bone-Spur-in-Chief says and gets away with, not to mention every Tweet that comes out of his pudgy little fingers, I guarantee that this book will make you laugh. It's the best antidote to Trump toxicity since Clorox.
* David Nasaw's propulsive prose turns history into a captivating page-turner. The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Person's From World War to Cold War describes what happened to various populations -- the good, the bad, and the monstrous -- dislocated by violence & tyranny. Here's everything you never knew about the fate of concentration camp survivors, slave laborers, POWs, and Nazi collaborators (many of whom ended up in the US) once the hoopla of victory and liberation turned into the reality of massive displacement and the complexity of resettlement and repatriation.
GET OUT THE VOTE!
If you've been looking for a concrete way to make a difference between now and Nov. 3, pick one:
* Vote Save America. Volunteer, donate, and get involved where you're needed most.
* Working America, This highly effective letter-writing campaign finds that one person can address 100 letters in 90 minutes and change between 2 and 5 votes in the battleground states. The voters targeted by WA tend not to watch cable TV but they do read their mail.
* Rock the Vote employs pop culture, music, art & technology to engage young people in politics, inspire them to vote, & show them how to use their collective power.
* Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, & Mary (above) sings "Show The Way" with a sweet intensity. Its opening lines -- "You say you see no hope/ You say you see no reason we should dream/ that the world will ever change," made me feel he was reading my mind. Peter's not "just" a singer, he's an intrepid organizer. His current project is a Youth Voter Initiative to rev up students & other young people and get them to the polls (or the post office). To get involved, contact Peter Yarrow here.
* Broadway actor Arica Jackson (above) is one of the hosts for Youth Voter Initiative. Watch her video, then forward it to every young person you know.
* Dr. Debbie Almontaser (above) Senior Advisor to The Million Muslim Votes Campaign describes MMVC's goals and strategies starting at 3:00 on the timeline.
WOMEN
* I loved the memorial notice (above) inserted in The New York Times by the daughters and granddaughter of the late Dorothy Greenhouse, who died 100 years ago on Aug 26.
* In 1995, the UN International Women's Conference was convened in Beijing where Hillary Clinton famously declared, "Women's rights are human rights." Now, 25 years later, Ellen Chesler, Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, surveys the political & social progress of women around the world.
Editor's note: After today, I'm putting the Newsletter on hiatus. It's been a labor of love but I need to reclaim for my own work the massive amount of time it takes me each week to curate these gleanings. Farewell for now and thanks to all 5000 of you for reading me.
STAY SAFE. STOP HATE. VOTE!
-- Letty