Post #2: How Did We Get Here, and Where Might We Go Next?

Let's jump right in. After November's election, I wracked my brain for a constructive response. Knowing what those first four years were like, I couldn't imagine how we'd withstand another round. Feelings of futility set in.

But I took heart in the realization that other people all over the country were also wondering what to do. In fact, that was the only antidote to the despair that hit whenever I considered the people who had actually chosen this.

As former academic, it soon bore in on me: 4 years is equivalent to an undergraduate degree. At first, that made me feel even worse (and what happens beyond that? I'm not even going there). But I found a reframe: what if I used this time to embark on some kind of independent study?

I could come out of the 4 years with an honorary degree in "Looking Closely at Things--in Order to Change the Order" or something snappy like that. It would give me an anchor, something to keep from frittering away time in doom scrolling and random rabbit-hole-diving. Maybe I could get some community help in coming up with the curriculum. With any luck, some folks would even want to think about the material with me. That gave me hope. So, I put out a call for people's top two suggestions for a crowd-sourced curriculum I'm calling Learn, Imagine, Act. I got great input, and I'm still interested in your suggestions for materials that can help us:

1) better understand our situation,

2) get a stronger perspective on historical and global contexts,

3) locate or create the possible levers for change that each of us feels most drawn to, and

4) identify strategies for taking better care of ourselves and others?

I meant to get this published sooner, but honestly, I was blown sideways by the scale and pace of what started happening in January. Anyway, here's where we're starting! The following list is subject to change/expansion, and I encourage you to send me your suggestions. Future semesters will include topics such as Climate/Environment, Health, Anti-Racism, Gender and the Body, Empire and Culture, Indigenous History, the Arts, and more.

Here are my Spring/Summer "semester" selections. I hope you'll have a look, and even subscribe here, or come back periodically to see my posts. I plan to share excerpts and ideas from these resources, as well as others. My wish is that we explore, share, and start conversations. I believe we can make a positive difference. Thank you for being here.

Past and Present: Relating to History, Understanding Power

Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny, graphic edition, LESSON 1: Do Not Obey In Advance

Heather Cox Richardson's important notes on Curtis Yarvin, et al: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-27-2025?r=1mmn93&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Masha Gessen, Surviving Autocracy  

It Can Happen Here | Cass R. Sunstein

Many accounts of the Nazi period depict a barely imaginable series of events, a nation gone mad. That makes it easy to take comfort in the thought that it can’t happen again. But some depictions of Hitler’s rise are more intimate and personal. They focus less on well-known leaders, significant events, state propaganda, murders, and war, and more on the details of individual lives. They help explain how people can not only participate in dreadful things but also stand by quietly and live fairly ordinary days in the midst of them.

The New York Review of BooksCass R. Sunstein

Sebastian Haffner, Defying Hitler, A Memoir

David De Jong, Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties and https://www.thejewishnews.com/culture/the-nazi-billionaire-legacy-we-cant-ignore/article_2a7a9918-1922-11ef-9d16-b3e1d42b5c69.html

The rise of pronatalism: why Musk, Vance and the right want women to have more babies

The movement unites ‘family values’ conservatives and tech bro rightwingers. Will this incoherent coalition hold?

The GuardianCarter Sherman

PBS Materials about Nazism and Eugenics in America: The Eugenics Crusade | Full Documentary | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS 

Scenes from American Nazi Summer Camps: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nazi-town-usa-scenes-summer-camp-nazi-town-us/

Journalist Dorothy Thompson’s fight against Nazism https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nazi-town-usa-dorothy-thompson-most-famous-female-journalist/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGq8UVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQGJM-i7OsECYKhPZaDJXgzpypRdnQPHXjNc9L35h5bCaH9LZBoV6ViRNQ_aem_pvEhm309KmU13GPO67SIKQ

Eugenics and the Intellectuals

Stephen Unwin explores how some of the most civilised and intelligent thinkers have supported one of the most dark and barbaric philosophies in modern history.

Byline TimesStephen Unwin

‘Who’s Virginia Woolf Afraid Of?’

Stephen Unwin explores how the famed author’s views about disability were typical of a growing intellectual endorsement of the dangerous ideology of eugenics in the early 20th century

Byline TimesStephen Unwin

‘Life Unworthy of Life’: The Lessons of T4

Stephen Unwin delves deep into the intellectual traditions and cultural mindset that produced the Nazis’ ‘wild euthanasia’ of people with disabilities, and finds we have not yet put those prejudices to rest

Byline TimesStephen Unwin

Psychology of Political Movements/Ideologies/Affiliations

Role of Podcasters in views of young men https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/20/joe-rogan-theo-von-podcasts-donald-trump?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Natalie Winn, on Incels  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0

Cristina, Undevoted, “I Fell Down the Alt-Right Pipeline” https://undevoted.org/2024/11/06/i-fell-down-the-alt-right-pipeline-this-is-my-story/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGq69lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHT7NzY8ja-NjnbzPhTqxkkDBctVshY3fKUd5Gwh4nFP_koXYRrCP1Y7RHg_aem_A41v0V9_CK4R4rIt7kMC2g

Naomi Klein, Doppelganger

Forms of Creative Agency and Protest

John Lewis, Walking with the Wind, Across that Bridge, or Carry On

Kelly Hayes, Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care

Elizabeth Sawin, Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World

Loretta Ross,   Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel
Shannon Downey, Let’s Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers

Commentary and Analysis:

Heather Cox Richardson, historian: Letters from an American https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/

Timothy Snyder, historian:  https://snyder.substack.com/

Joyce White Vance, lawyer, writing Civil Discourse, https://joycevance.substack.com/

Sherrilyn Ifill, lawyer, writing on Civil Rights and Democracy  https://sherrilyn.substack.com/ 

Podcasts

Eat. Drink. Think. Edible Communities (sustainable food systems) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTC6AWbeVXVNhQ4HAnYkvEmWywH6tzsKH

https://www.cultivatingplace.org/ Cultivating Place

The Death Panel

Welcome to the Death Panel, a twice-weekly podcast about the political economy of health. Hosted by Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco, and Jules Gill-Peterson.

Death Panel Podcast

Frontiers of Commoning Podcast  https://david-bollier.simplecast.com/

Resources and Organizations 

Stop Project 2025 Comic

Trump’s Project 2025 is a detailed plan to shut you up, and shut you out. Don’t let it do either. Read on, then vote.

Stop Project 2025 Comic

Https://indivisible.org Political activism

https://5calls.org Information, resources, and sample scripts for calling legislators

Database on Brand Political Contributions: https://www.goodsuniteus.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGq7PZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaHouI-6eNNBheXEt1cjtDl2aKPtIS_w88H7jiuZyUGk5hqC5IH1VowWLQ_aem_dP1GzmkTqnJ-e6hWvDyIRQ

Environmental Working Group–Consumer guides, food, water, and product databases https://www.ewg.org/

Center for Food Safety–resources and actions to take https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/

Beyond Plastics–information, actions https://www.beyondplastics.org/

Food and Water Watch: Issues overviews, how to get involved- https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/?_gl=1*6zd5ky*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIxMjM1MjQuQ2p3S0NBaUFydmE1QmhCaUVpd0Etb1RuWFc1d09IMzFpTUczTk8tRFp3M0lHM0piaW5WRjdob1l3MTQxSk42cHoteEdJT2p0RzY0Zzdob0NoWHNRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_au*MTE1MTU0NDE5Ny4xNzMyMTIzNTIz*_ga*NDUyMDAwNjA4LjE3MzIxMjM1MjM.*_ga_X09714MWYF*MTczMjEyMzUyMi4xLjAuMTczMjEyMzUyOC41NC4wLjkzNzY5MzA3OQ..