Betterment and Praxis

This guidebook offers practical tools and principles for peacekeepers, rooted in the belief that nonviolent discipline is not just a tactic — it’s a strategy for resilience. By projecting calm, modeling solidarity, and preparing for the unexpected, peacekeepers help movements withstand pressure without fracturing. If fear is the goal, then solidarity is the antidote.

For the April 1, 2025, Illinois Consolidated Elections, I created a voters’ guide to contested public library board elections. This wasn’t the initial plan; I intended to cover all the boards with elections. But the effort was Herculean, even with a group of dedicated volunteers, and ultimately, it wasn’t the guide’s goal. So rather than try to cover every public library election on the ballot, I focused exclusively on those elections where there were more candidates than open positions (that is, they were contested elections).

One thing worth emphasizing before diving in, though, is that the goal of this project was fact and information, not perfection or completionism. I knew from the start that I would not have information for every library in the state because Illinois is a big state with many rural communities whose information isn’t as easy to access as suburban or urban areas. Setting aside perfectionism in exchange for accuracy was crucial.

A couple of preliminary steps are worth mentioning since they will impact everything going forward. First: find out when your next library board elections will be held and plan to have your voter guide prepared a couple of weeks in advance. This will give you a personal deadline for when you need your information to be as updated as possible. You don’t want to have your guide available too early, as you’ll miss a lot of information about candidates in the weeks leading up to election day. Groups like the League of Women Voters often hold candidate forums two or three weeks before an election, and local newspapers begin publishing candidate questionnaires then, too–assuming you have local newspapers covering these municipal elections. You can learn a lot from these; providing links to recordings or articles is extremely helpful in your guide.

Then, build your timeline and project around your available time and energy. For the April 1, 2025, election, I began my work in December 2024. Though information about candidates on the ballot wouldn’t be available until late February, this gave me a lot of lead time to do some preliminary research. I did this project in addition to working full time, parenting, and other things, putting in probably 3-5 hours a week at the beginning and closer to 7 or 8 as the election got nearer. Find people to help you with some of these tasks, and/or get more local on your guide to make the lift easier. State library advocates helped me develop a school board election guide similar to Frank’s, while I put together the public library guide myself. Illinois has fewer public libraries than school districts, so this was doable.

Environmental activist and author Robin Greenfield is known for his fully committed experiments in ecological living. His most recent book, Food Freedom: A Year of Growing and Foraging 100% of My Food, covers his efforts to live entirely independently from the industrial food system. Greenfield succeeded only by relying on others who guided him in his gardening, fishing, and foraging, and came to understand the profound power of community and how naturally that flows through food.

Here are Greenfield’s suggestions for strengthening your own food community.

We need more discussion spaces and more spiritual and emotional support groups. While some on the left are dismissive of gatherings and activities that are not grounded in productivity, we must acknowledge that the connective tissue we need to move, build, and care collectively is lacking. In addition to not being bonded to one another, we often lack the skills to build those bonds. Plenty of people and products are primed to exploit those shortcomings. We must present alternatives, issue invitations, and welcome people into the messy process of building relationships.

There is a common admonition that often circulates on social media, especially among leftists, that goes something like: You don’t have to ask what you would’ve done during the Holocaust, or any other historical atrocity. You're doing it right now. These words are valuable in that they encourage us to abandon fantasies of who we would have been in another context, and to live our values here and now.

As an organizer, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the gulf between what many people believed they would do in moments of extremity, and what they are actually doing now, as fascism rises, the genocide in Palestine continues, and climate chaos threatens the survival of living beings around the world. Some of these disparities can be chalked up to the simple truth that people often are not who they imagine themselves to be. This truth reminds me of the lyrics of Joe Henry’s “Our Song,” in which Henry refers to the vicarious thrill we derive from watching movies:

We push in line at the picture show / For cool air and a chance to see / A vision of ourselves portrayed as / Younger and braver and humble and free. /

Fantasies about who we would have been—and what we would have done—in moments of profound injustice serve a similar purpose. They allow us to imagine braver, more purposeful versions of ourselves. But when we’re confronted with the reality of catastrophic injustice in the world around us, we are forced to measure those fantasies against reality. The results can be profoundly depressing. Many people have discovered that they have more in common with those who witnessed atrocity and simply went about their lives, perhaps uttering words like, "That’s a shame," or complaining that someone should do something.

In the rhythm and rhyme of history, we all have historical counterparts. Contemplating who those people are—and how we might judge their actions in parallel with our own—can be daunting, or even devastating.

However, it’s important to remember that such measurements are not fixed. Our lives, our character, our part in history—all of these things are the product of choices we make on a continuous basis. Each day, we make decisions about how to move in the world and how to relate to others. We choose what to extend to others, and what to hold in reserve, in order to sustain ourselves and our loved ones.

It’s easy to pass judgment on ourselves and each other for what we’re “already doing” or failing to do. But as an organizer, I’m concerned with what might motivate or allow people to act differently. After all, the people whose actions we have admired during historical moments of resistance, rebellion, and rescue were not simply born into heroic collective action. Many of them witnessed harm and wickedness for years, or even decades, before something moved or enabled them to participate in constructive moral action. Some were slow to join the struggles they eventually helped to enliven. Some were afraid. Some initially supported moderate, reserved actions. Some were complicit until, one day, they could bear their complicity no more. Others didn’t believe change was possible until they were recruited into strategic projects. Many were moved to action by profound loss or the threat of profound loss. They had to find their way, just as many of us must now find our way through this moment.

So what’s holding us back?

I'm generally hesitant to post ZDoggMD videos and rarely watch them on my subscription feed, as he can get a bit woo-woo. But given the title and the events of the past few months, I decided to give this a watch.

It made me feel less alone in what I'm encountering in middle age. Basically, the knowledge that Carlin was right about everything -- and anything else was a lie. There's still the requisite woo-woo, but it's minimal.

We’re a network of lawyers helping to get workers the justice they deserve.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have had their basic rights violated on the job—including tens of thousands who have been fired illegally. Federal workers have an urgent need for legal support.

an eight page zine about different ways to support your local library! made for adults but is kid/teen friendly as well.

please do not redistribute for profit. please print and share with your friends or library patrons!

thank you for reading!

Jury nullification is a term used to describe a situation when jurors decide to acquit a person of criminal charges even though the person on trial could technically be convicted based on the evidence. Jury nullification is a concrete, practical way that jurors can assert their values and stop people from going to jail or prison, and it is one approach that we can use, alongside many others, to disrupt the carceral state.

It is not unusual for people who are critical of the legal system, especially prison abolitionists, to actively try to avoid jury service and the discomfort of interacting with the criminal legal system. However, we urge people who care about abolition or decarceration to participate as jurors because serving as a juror and deciding to say “not guilty” provides a unique and concrete opportunity to put your values into practice.

As a juror, you have the power to single handedly say “not guilty” and get someone out of the grasp of the legal system. This toolkit offers suggestions of potential actions you can take as a juror to help keep people out of prisons and the carceral system now. One of those actions, and the main focus of this toolkit, is saying “not guilty” as a juror, also known as jury nullification. Jury nullification is a term used to describe a situation when jurors decide to acquit a person of criminal charges—say “not guilty”—even though the person on trial could technically be convicted under existing law, based on the “evidence” presented at trial.

Participating as a juror, and engaging in jury nullification, can prevent people from going to jail or prison. Drawing lessons and inspiration from a long lineage of social movements in support of Black liberation and to abolish the prison industrial complex, we offer this toolkit—and the tool of jury nullification—as one small way among many that individual people can show up for the freedom struggles of people targeted by the legal system.

We’re fighting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; lower drug prices; ensure economic justice for all; and guarantee health care as a human right—because everyone deserves to live in dignity.

The mission of Social Security Works is to,

Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice

Funding for Social Security Works comes from donations from the public, and grants from foundations including the Open Society Foundations, the Retirement Research Foundation, CREDO, and the Civic Participation Action Fund. Social Security Works was founded with a generous grant from Atlantic Philanthropies.

The Trump administration has placed all federal workers in its crosshairs — from executive orders on DEI and return to office, to mass layoffs, destruction of teams, and shuttering of departments — with more to come. It’s easy to feel demoralized, but many workers just like you are stepping up.

The chaos induced by Musk and friends ripping off essential (often lifesaving) departments and services is already leading to mass popular outrage. Millions of ordinary people know they benefit from the protections and service that DOGE is slashing. All of those people can become allies alongside the power of workers and their unions acting collectively. With those two factors together, the battle may be long, but workers can win. Here are some ways to join the fight.

-What is the NLRA: https://workerorganizing.org/what-is-the-nlra-9318/

-Am I covered by the NLRA: https://workerorganizing.org/am-i-covered-by-the-nlra-9620/

-We can still organize and win under a weakened NLRB: https://workerorganizing.org/we-can-still-organize-and-win-under-a-weakened-nlrb-9578/

[Image description: a largish cardboard box containing around a hundred packets of vegetable seeds]

Our library is hosting a seed swap tomorrow and, well, we're friends with folks whose family runs a local business, where they have one of those vegetable seed stands on display. All it took was asking if they had any seeds they would like to donate for the event and seed library and they gave us scores of seeds. My wife and I organized them this evening and I'll be bringing them to the swap, then sticking whatever's left in the seed library.

I'm really excited about how many folks in our town this might provide some measure of relief and security - in addition to the seed swap attendees, the library also grows veggies in the plot out back for donation to the local food pantry and involves kids from the nearby schools for some of the garden projects.

If your library runs programs like this (or other local community support groups do), I'd really encourage you to volunteer even just calling some local spots for support or donations. Sometimes you get the chance to make an outsized difference.

Just wanted to share the servers Gardenfence has identified as hate sources so you can curate your fedi experience better.

https://github.com/gardenfence

Curious what the general consensus is on what we should do with our savings. My friend just liquidated 1/3rd of his portfolio. Wondering what I should consider for my 401k. What are you all doing?

I just signed up for the RSS feeds that tell you what bills are going through the senate, congress, and the oval office. I recommend this subscription.

for your propaganda use

Growing up in Arizona (little fluffy clouds), this unnecessary twice-a-year routine is still baffling.

Origin and Mission: The Visibility Brigade model was born in 2020 out of a frustration due to the lack of physical messaging in the real world regarding the existential crisis we face as a nation. People need “social proof” to know how best to act and we deliver this weekly. We present our messages at a pedestrian walkway over Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey. Our goal is to remind folks of this crisis, to suggest simple actions to take and to support pro-democratic state and national candidates. However, perhaps the greatest purpose at present is to comfort heartbroken voters and let them know that they are not alone.

Who We Are And What We Do: as Margaret Meade once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." A Visibility Brigade needs only a handful of dedicated members (5 minimum) to create weekly actions. This requires a weekly dedication of 60-90 minutes a week of placing a simple message in a public location, usually an overpass or other well-trafficked locale.

"We have less than 30 days until the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) laws are rescinded. This is the 50-year bedrock of American environmental conservation. Normally, these actions take years but the administration has provided 30 days for public comment gutting clean water and clean air. Please stop scrolling for 2 minutes and populate the Federal Register with dissent. The comment period ends on MARCH 27!

A. Go to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03014/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations

B. Click on the green rectangle in the upper right corner ("SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT") .

C. Fill in your comment, and info at the bottom, and SUBMIT COMMENT. All you are required to fill out is first name/last name, your comment, then click the "yes I know this is a public comment" box at the bottom."

-@dwenius@toot.cat