Keeping It Together as Everything Accelerates

Things to do now, and a Lucid promotion

Welcome back to Lucid, and hello to all new subscribers! Our next Q&A will be Sunday, Feb. 2, 8-9pmET. It will be “just us,” so we will have plenty of time for questions. Paying subscribers will receive a link to register for the Zoom session at 5pmET that day. If you can’t attend you will find the video on the Lucid home page under the videos tab.

I did another Substack Live with writer and journalist Anand Giridharadas, publisher of The Ink. To help us all process what is happening in America, we are going to do these regularly. The next one will be Monday Feb. 3 at 12:30pmET. To watch, just download the Substack app and turn on notifications. The livestream is open to everyone.

Paying subscribers will find the complete video of the hour-long event on the Lucid home page in the videos tab. To allow more people to participate in the weekly Lucid Q&As, which provide us with community and solace, and also access bonus content such as these Substack Live events, here is a coupon for 50% off for the first year. It is good until Feb. 2.

Anand and I had a wide-ranging conversation about threats to our democracy and how we can respond to this challenging situation as individuals and as supporters of democratic politics. And what the Democratic Party needs to do to meet the moment.

We also talked about keeping a balance between feeling compelled to take action and “be political” in the face of this emergency and the need to restore our energies at a time of stress and change. We are playing a long game as resisters to autocracy. We are only one week in and we will need to prioritize and pace ourselves.

However, here are things you can do: Reach out to those who may be affected by the new government actions and check in with them, and don’t isolate yourself if you are affected. Embedding further in our communities and networks is one way we will get through this.

Robert Reich has a great post with ten things you can do now to help those who are vulnerable. And Protect Democracy’s newsletter If You Can Keep It is publishing important information for civil servants who are targets of Trump administration measures.

Stay well, stay safe, and stay Lucid.

Ruth