Coming back to life

I had my conference on Sunday. There were things we should have done differently, but overall, I'm incredibly proud of the program we put together and the energy we generated. I am particularly proud that our plenary was about Environmental Justice and Energy Democracy, and one of our final sessions was about Rare Earth Minerals and the role that plays in our energy transition. (And because I couldn't get enough of that topic, I went into a webinar the day after that talked that issue as well. Please watch, it was awesome and thought provoking.) And I get to check off a box on a life goal list for having also included a session on organizing--and libraries!

I'm coming to my regularly scheduled programming in good conscience. I complain bitterly about how the universe is sometimes set against me, but in this case, I think my timing is working out well. I was healed up enough to limp around in a boot, and while I felt it that day--my weakest point? The calf muscle on the affected leg--I was able to keep up, and emboldened to walk around two days later for my annual physical. (And where do I feel it today? My outer and inner thighs. Walking--who knew?) I'm grateful to my sisters and husband for giving me the time I needed to heal up. 

As promised, I reformatted my phone and computer the next day. The phone was done in less than an hour, and I'm proud of myself for realizing that I could use my power cord to transfer data from my Surface to my phone. (I know, that doesn't sound like much, but when someone asked me to do that a decade ago, I had no idea what they were talking about, and I certainly didn't have the cord.) 

The Surface was another story, and that was in large part because I wanted to physically back up some of my files. I think some people will think that's quaint, but I needed to be sure that all would be well, and I wasn't sure that they wouldn't be lost off of the cloud as I reset the computer. Paranoid? Maybe, but I've lost too much over the years to risk it now with valuable files.

Hours of work, but it was worth it. The computer seems to be running more smoothly now, and it's nice to have so few things on my phone. (But it would be even nicer if I could remove more. Why is Samsung forcing me to keep the browser and store? Yeah, I know why, but still.) I am eagerly awaiting my new keyboard tomorrow--this one is eight years old--and then I'll have, as far as I'm concerned a new machine.

I've gone through all of this to simplify my digital existence and get back to my real life. After spending so much time with this machine the last few weeks, today I ordered four books, with a few more in queue at the next paycheck (not counting the one I just ordered for my niece yesterday). In the last few weeks, I've actually managed to read four books, and in the last month, eight. They were my lifeline when I was lonely, overworked, and uncomfortable.

It would have been very nice, and in some ways more convenient, to have had the internet I remember from ten years ago during that time, but that internet is gone. That internet was monetized out of existence, and it doesn't make sense to romanticize it too much. The people who wrote good things, took pretty pictures, and made engaging videos very quickly wanted an exit strategy that would mean, really, that they wouldn't have to do those things. The blogs and websites--even social media accounts--that I liked were always the bait for something else. I didn't know what it was, but I don't think those bloggers, writers, photographers, videographers, and even commenters knew, either, except that it was something that should "generate income". 

There's a world in which, maybe, that could have worked for some sites and people, but that world wouldn't contain AI-generated slop. Because that has ruined the value proposition of the World Wide Web.

People know this but they don't understand it: the internet is older than I am. But while people were using message boards when I was in grade school and really into email when I was in college, it wasn't until I was a young adult that the internet became something everyone needed to have, and that was because of the Graphical User Interface--that's GUI to you--that is the World Wide Web. Being able to, basically, attach graphics to hyperlinks changed everything. It's not an exaggeration to say that the World Wide Web was the killer app of the internet.

But I find myself groaning when I look at internet art now. Even if it isn't clearly generated by AI, it's quite possibly generated by it, especially if the "production values" are very good. Whenever someone posts a picture these days, I always wonder if it's real. (And have people already started interrogating definitions of reality and authenticity, the way they do "natural" and "artificial" food? I'll sit that inane argument out, thanks.) The whole thing makes me want to engage less and less with the kind of sparkly content that used to be so exciting a decade ago. And that's sad.

I expect to be reading a lot more books. Hopefully I can still find people to talk about them with.

Deb in the City 

So busy I don't even have time to complain about how busy I am

Until, of course, now.

I was willing to go about my business--which was busy enough as it was--until the "establishment" wing of the Democratic Party quite clearly pushed Biden out of the race. I did not want that to happen, in large part because people had been signalling since late 2021 that *of course* Vice President Kamala Harris couldn't possibly succeed him. My position: if Biden was going to bow out, then they needed to replace him with Harris immediately. An actual convention fight would have been suicide. 

Oh hey--looks like tens of millions of people were just as irate as I was, and Harris easily locked up her delegates and raised eye-watering amounts of money very, very quickly. 

A few weeks before that, I had raised my hand and said I'd volunteer to help organize lobbying our senators for the Jewish Earth Alliance. Organizing is always a little running around, but it would be over as of August 8. So fine.

A few days before Biden's announcement, I had been asked to help organize non-partisan phone banking. That is also more than a bit of running around, but that also had an end date--and it was for a good cause. I agreed, and we started planning.

And then the announcement came, and I was emailing like a crazy person. When democracy is on the line, it's not the time to whine about how much work I have ahead of me. Relax after I'm sure we've pushed back a fascist. 

It's coming along--there's more work to be done, but we've got time. It's one of the few times in my life I'm not worried about annoying people--again, democracy vs. fascism. And even if some people are giving me a side eye, or just straight up glaring at me, I *know* a number of them are going to come running later. (How do I know this? Oh, I don't know, maybe because I lived through November 2016 through January 6,  2021.) I don't see my job as dragging everyone into something they don't want to do; I see myself as making things available for them when they are.

I still have a lot going on in my messy personal life, but I'm kind of grateful for that. Isn't that a big part of what we're hoping to preserve?

Deb in the City

What an Organizer Does

I'm a born organizer...actually, no I'm not. I make myself hyper-aware of the little details that need to be done to make a vision a reality because I'm actually not innately aware of them. When I have a vision, I don't automatically see all of the steps needed to get there, which is why I have to work so hard to make them happen.

Earlier this week I put an event for Jewish Climate Action Network, Massachusetts chapter (JCAN-MA), in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation for their Sacred Grounds program. This is how we got there:

• A year and a half ago I asked one of my sons what he wanted to study
• Among other things, he says "the science of climate change"
• I find a bunch of books, including one by Judith Schwartz called Cows Save the Planet that talks about the potential of regenerative agriculture. (I'd been exposed to the concept before, but never in that detail.)
• We read another book of Schwartz's, Water in Plain Sight.
• I see this as a great complement to the work JCAN-MA is doing with heating/cooling/transportation, and propose it as a team.
• People like the idea.
• I organize one webinar on victory gardens. Not only do I find someone else to host, I find other people to attend, one of whom joins the team.
• I organize another webinar on compost, led by the second person who told me about regenerative agriculture. People come.
• There's enthusiasm for all things gardening and agriculture, in large part due to the pandemic. We apply for and get a grant for money to bring more programs forward.
  
• The vice-president of JCAN-MA wants to talk about the limits of food and agriculture as a climate solution, and I'm all over it. (I have not saved the world with three decades of vegetarianism.) People come.
• One of the team members hosts a webinar on how we can bring Jewish values, including caring for the earth, into our gardening. People come.
• With some of the money from the grant (above), we host a film series and discussion including two films, Intelligent Trees and Hometown Habitat.
• We love both films, and we all really love Sacred Grounds, a program mentioned in Hometown Habitats.

We're bringing these guys back

 

• We contact the National Wildlife Federation, and they love the idea of JCAN-MA bringing this to the Northeast.
• The president of JCAN-MA and I scramble to find people to partner with. Some people stay, some people leave, some more people come in.
• We organize three book groups about related topics. People don't come in good numbers (mental note: it is easier for people to watch a film than to read a book), but we read Nature's Best Hope by Doug Tallamy, and I have a better idea of what we need to talk about in a Sacred Grounds session (even if I'm not totally in love with the book, and even less so after I'm reminded of what Ibram Kendi has to say about E.O. Wilson in Stamped From The Beginning).
  
• We spend a lot of emails and Zoom calls trying to figure out the best way to divide the information up, as well as who can present. We settle on two programs, Why and How.
• I get a little crazed over nailing down a date because I want to start publicizing ASAP.
  
• We settle on a date and start emailing and posting.
• Meadowmaking for Biodiversity reaches out to us, and turns out they've been doing this work in our area for about six years. They happily agree to help present at both sessions.
  
• We realize we're competing with people for attendance because of another Jewish climate festival at the end of January.
• I warn people that numbers might be low, but they're fine going forward anyway.
• I'm trying to nail speakers for our conference in April in the midst of this.
• I'm also setting up a presentation for said late January Jewish climate festival.
• We have a tech rehearsal, and I start to think we're going to be okay.
• The brilliant person who works on all of our tech, among other things, helps shape promotional slides.
• We work up to three hours before the event. I come to the realization that almost all organizing equals admin, plus charisma. Therefore, in my case, all admin.
• I know we're prepared, and I feel a sense of calm, if not elation.
• The session begins! We have a lot of people. I'm an utter goofball, and so glad that I have speakers who know what they're talking about.
• Success! But...will they come to session two?

I skipped over the items that were not part of the direct path to these sessions, but there's more work, some of which I might lay out in another post about other projects. Oh yeah, during all of this, I'm also homeschooling my sons for the last year and trying to finish the series I started working on four years ago, as well as keep track of my elderly mother and autistic sister to the best of my ability. For some reason, I keep getting sick (not with COVID-19) and I'm not getting as much exercise as I would like.

I think it would be easier to donate money.