Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Please stop asking me to do these things this work.

Send you a link to a specific post

If we are talking about it and *I* say, ‘hey you should read this post’ then it is reasonable to ask me to send it to you. If we are talking about it and *you* say ‘hey, I’d like to read this post’ then it is not reasonable to ask me to send it to you. Why? You can access the post yourself.

I do not work for you. I am not your archivist, your librarian, or your servant. I have things to do with my time, such as creating blog content and sharing it through social media tools. I do not have time to selectively send each post to everyone who might be interested. There’s no town crier here.

What I do have is a ‘subscribe’ option where you will get a copy of each blog post hot off the presses. You can decide which to read and which to skip. I’ll never know. And yes I do put some effort into maintaining that feature on my blog, so you are welcome. Look in the right hand column for that option.

And if you choose not to use that feature, my URL is really simple pghlesbian.com. The most recent ten posts are on the front page. There is a search feature, categories, tags, and archives to find what you need.

Help you find resources to deal with our bizarre Presidency

Nope, nope, no. I know it is a bonkers situation with the shock and awe of Executive Orders and actions coupled with our collective jaws on the ground. I know it is scary and frightening. And I know finding good information takes a lot of work and effort, confirming sources, double checking facts, etc.

But … that’s the costs of navigating this Presidency. We elected him – don’t tell me you didn’t because whatever you did to not elect him did not work – and just like in that election, we have a choice to make. We can opt out, turn away, disengage, find something else to distract us, and let the chips fall where they may. Watch the economy drop, people lose jobs and healthcare, extremist Christianity take over our nation.

Or we can do the actual work to make things better. You can do that. You can find credible sources and make a point to stay informed on the issues most important to you. There are websites like Feedly that collect all the latest content into one app on your phone. Most social media platforms allow you to make a list or a feed of folx you think post good content, including news and politics. Every media outlet has a website. There are countless news stations. Newspapers. Magazines.

Of course it is a lot. But it is a lot for me, too. Why do you expect me to do your heavy lifting for you? Because I’m a lesbian? A blogger? A person you trust? I bet you could say that about every Trump voter in your network.

Are you asking your Trump friends to navigate this cruel new world for you?

Because when you tell me that your friend voted for Trump and you don’t know what to say to them, you think I should be the one to help you? The queer disabled blogger whose experience of oppression under this regime is a living trauma? Are you kidding me?

I’m here trying to survive. I want to help my community, but that does not mean you get to shift your accountability for Trump 2.0 to me. It doesn’t mean I have some special skills to wade through the information and build you a plan. It doesn’t mean you get to ask me to dive into my trauma to help you figure it out.

You can try to escape it, but the truth is that you have to do the work to resist fascism. There’s no shortcut.

Fill yourself in.

Don’t listen to half a news story or click past a headline and ask me to fill you in. Fill yourself in. Scroll back, click back, use your browser history to find that source and read it through.

Learn how your government works, the difference between an Executive Order and a law. Tell me the names of your representatives whom you regularly call – make the time – to weigh in on life altering decisions. Get on the Zoom call to find out what to do, make the time.

I am harsh because I am already tired. People who shouldn’t be asked me to do these things, are. They aren’t asking my opinions, my thoughts, my understanding. They are asking me to do their work so they can be informed and avoid overwhelm. It is rare that they actually contribute to the work.

And I’m already over it. My suggestion is to subscribe to the blog and follow me on social media. Don’t ask me to do extra work for you solo. Want to suggest I look into a specific topic? Great. That’s contributing to the blog. But asking me to do your work is definitely not okay.

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Here are some simple, but hard things to do.

• Call your representatives – all of them. Call regularly. Calls have far more impact than email, postcards, letters, etc. If your call protects anyone’s civil right – a trans kid, an immigrant kid whose parents are undocumented, someone on Medicaid, a voter without a drivers license, a person who needs an abortion, etc – will you feel okay about sending an email instead? Simple, but hard.
• Get involved with a group like Indivisible. Sign up for their newsletters, log in to the Zoom calls, sign up to volunteer. Can be another group. But don’t get together with likeminded friends to complain about it. Don’t beat your head against a wall trying to get your BIL to see the light. Force yourself into new habits and new uncomfortable spaces where you can learn from people who know what they are doing. Simple, but hard.
• Pay attention to local news. Watch the 5 or 6 PM broadcast (or the others.) Read local papers like The Trib, the New Pittsburgh Courier, Pittsburgh Union Progress, City Paper, etc. I don’t care if you dislike the ads and the relentless optimism and the lack of worldly perspective – these are the outlets who will tell you what is happening in regional school districts. And we need all eyes on them. Find the FB groups, the NextDoor threads. This is simple, but hard.

Please stop holding out for a hero. Be the hero who gives up 90 minutes a day to watch the news, make a few calls, and attend video meetings. 90 minutes a day is a lot. But in four years, will those cumulative 90 minutes mean you know you resisted hard or will they be filled with things that do not matter when Project 2025 comes for your family member?

What will you do when now that they have come for your neighbors?