Checking In; Q&A Today at 1pmET; Video of Nov. 3 Q&A w/Sherrilyn Ifill
Welcome back to Lucid. I wanted to check in, send support to everyone, and remind you that our next Q&A will be today, Nov 8, 1-2pmET. It will be “just us,” with no guest, and there will be much to discuss. Paying subscribers will receive a link to register for the Zoom gathering at 10amET.
If you’re new to Lucid, here’s the format: I talk for a bit, or converse with our guest, and then we open it up to your questions. Lucid subscribers now come from 172 countries, and there is always a global perspective as well as insight into what is going on in areas of the U.S. particularly affected by ascendent authoritarianism.
Paying subscribers receive a video of the first half of the Q&A a few days later (in case you cannot attend). If you’d like to join these inspiring and informative weekly gatherings, you can upgrade to paid or sign up as paying here. Until Nov 9, you can use this coupon for 30% off for the first year:
I want everyone to have this video from our last Q&A on Nov. 3, so you can get a sense of what they are like and also benefit from the wisdom of Sherillyn Ifill, the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University and the former president & director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
While our gathering took place two days before the election, Ms. Ifill was focused on how we can repair our damaged institutions going forward, regardless of the outcome. Her call for a process of “forensic accounting” of those institutions and a serious reckoning with the ways our system is manipulated by anti-democratic actors resonated with many.
I will leave you with a few thoughts. I have often talked about the United States being an anomaly among nations by having such a long period between the election of a president and the inauguration. In those months, if bad actors are involved, as was the case with Trump in 2020, then it leaves ample time to plan anti-democratic actions—say, to try and overturn an election that doesn’t go your way— or even organize a coup attempt.
This time, I am glad to have these months. We need them to rest, and we need them to shore up our networks, have conversations with our family and associates, and embed ourselves further in our communities, since those networks and relationships will sustain us in 2025 and after.
It might be a good time to reduce the time we spend on our devices and devote more time to in-person encounters; we might also take up new habits that ground us in nature, spark our creativity, soothe us, and strengthen our bodies. To be resilient, we need to be “in shape” mentally, and getting stronger physically helps with this too.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eugene Robinson likely had resilience in mind when he told Ari Melber recently: “[But] I think we don’t have to carry [Donald] Trump in our heads all the time. Let’s do productive things. Let’s continue the fight and continue it in ways that do no harm.”
I am looking forward to seeing some of you in a few hours. It is always great to be together, but especially now, as we absorb the ramifications of a Trump-Vance administration, being in community is so important.
Years ago I read of a practice used by a religious sister called "custody of the eyes." The thing I remember was casting down your eyes -- looking away -- when confronted by something that was detrimental to your spiritual health. I do that with DT, whose mugging, scowls, and rages upset me mightily. I look away. Same with his voice -- in whatever way I can, I silence it. I will stay informed on my terms, without giving him space in my head. Thank you, Ruth, for continuing to remind us to take care and stay strong.
Frankly, if I were Donnie, I would have a food taster on the payroll when Shady JD comes to dine....The Silicon bros are not going to wait too long to implement the agenda they bought and paid for.