A new day, a new voice.
David here. I’ll be taking over the updates while Mike takes a step back to focus on his new project.
Judith will be doing the hard work of organizing our rallies every week, so give her a hearty thank you next time you see her!
Don’t worry; you haven’t heard the last from Mike: Watch for his update tomorrow on the new location for his Drinking Liberally events.
247!
It was great to see so many your smiling faces on Saturday. We’re starting to feel the autumn chill a little but the warmth of your happy faces definitely makes up for it.
We had 247 show up on Saturday! Let’s keep it up and try and increase our numbers every week.
Stories Build Movements
Andie has started a TikTok account where she’s documenting our pro-democracy rallies! Give it a follow, like, watch, and repost! She has been asking some of you for your stories of what brought you to our happy gathering.
Please find her and share yours. (I will do a separate post about the importance of storytelling in building a movement.)
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Labor Day Protests
We will stick to our regular Saturday schedule from 1-2 pm in Chaska this coming Labor Day weekend.
May Day Strong is the organizational force for this national protest effort. The theme is “Workers Over Billionaires.” (Share your sign ideas in the comments!) If also want to also protest on Monday, there are opportunities in:
What More Can We Do?
A lot of you are asking that question. You’re not alone. There’s plenty more we can each do individually but there’s also more we can do collectively.
Let’s start with things we can do on our own.
Help grow our movement here in the Southwest metro by sharing SW Crier!
Share any photos or video you take online to let people know there’s an easy (and fun) way to get involved.
Call your representatives (5calls.org makes it easy).
If you are in a book club, insist on reading a book relevant to our fight to defend democracy.
Talk to your neighbors.
If someone close to you has fallen into the clutches of MAGA, Leaving MAGA has strategies for talking to friends and family.
Future Plans
I hope to build Southwest Crier into a true community resource for residents of the Southwest metro. Given that this is a volunteer effort, you’ll have to be patient with me. That said, here are a few things on my immediate to-do list:
Update the Welcome email for new subscribers to include all the logistics and housekeeping info for people who are new to our efforts.
Create an Events page where we can list regular events like ours that are happening in the Southwest metro (I see you, Waconia!).
Create a Resources page that lists great reads, documentaries and trainings.
Explore using the Community Chat feature here on Substack.
One more thing before I sign off: Have any of you been watching “The Gilded Age” on HBO? Season three just concluded and I gotta admit, I love it!
It’s also very relevant to what we’re going through today. What’s the phrase? History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. Here’s the trailer:
Thank you, David, for stepping up to guide our group. I’m very close to 80 but come out as often as possible and am always gratified to see a consistent number of like minded, democracy loving protestors expressing our views. When Trump’s people liken us to old white hippies, my comment is that old white hippies VOTE!!
Ditto the recommendation for The Gilded Age.