EEDA Newsletter Vol 5, Res 23: Post-Election Resources, Self-Care App, and How to Winter
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends. We had planned a road trip to southern California two days after the election to see loved ones that we hadn’t seen in quite some time. Not only was it great to see folks and spend time with them (and their kids, and their pets) but it was also great to be in the car for hours on end because that means I wasn’t constantly doomscrolling. We weren’t completely unplugged, but we kept busy and present and that was incredibly helpful in keeping us from spiraling.
This week's EEDA Pod episode is titled, “Post-Election Thoughts & Advice.” I check in about initial feelings after the election and offer a few bits of advice on where to focus your energy first.
You can find our show, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also support the show on Patreon.
It’s resource week and I’m throwing a lot at you so let’s get to it!
Resource 1: What Do We Do Now (relevant repost from April 2023) via Logan Grendel
There are many people who don’t know what to do after the recent elections, especially folks on the left who thought that voting was the solution to all our problems. Many of these people are not in marginalized groups that have always been doing this work. If you are one of these people, I suggest you watch this 3-minute video by Logan Grendel. It’s time to do more than depend on the systems that have repeatedly failed the most vulnerable of us (as they were designed to do).
Resource 2: Ten Free Ebooks for Getting Free via Haymarket Books
Details at the link
Resource 3: Free Ebooks from AK Press
AK Press is “Worker-run. Collectively-managed. Anarchist publishing and distribution since 1990.”
Resource 4: The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance via WIRED
An article worth look at
Resource 5: Greater Los Angeles Mutual Aid Directory via Mutual Aid LA
We no longer live in L.A., but you might!
Resource 6: Everyone is Telling Me to Organise: What Can That Look Like and Why is It Important? Via Wednesday Holmes on IG
Mikaela Loach commented that this carousel of illustrations is more akin to building community which can be part of organizing but is not organizing itself. I tend to agree. Still, I appreciate this resource and folks gotta start somewhere if they haven’t started yet.
Resource 7: Resource Thread via Prisonculture on Bluesky
This thread has a bunch of great resources for the folks who “need to do a bit more reading, thinking and considering before jumping into action.”
If you can’t access the list, here are some of the links it includes:
Let's Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers; Build Community and Make Change! by Shannon Lynn Downey (backordered on Bookshop but there are a few copies on Thriftbooks)
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (backordered on Bookshop but there are a few on Thriftbooks) (also, I am reading this right now)
Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn by Omkari L. Williams. I’ve spoken and written about this book on every platform I have, including here.
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
Letters to Young Organizers: Loving Missives Across Time and Space (zine)
Reading Groups for Organizers (Note: there is a December 5th intro session to learn about 2025 groups you can join)
Resource 8: Don’t Call the Police: Community-based alternatives to police in your city
Includes links to resources by city (and sometimes county).
Resource 9: Finch Care App
Full disclosure: I have not used this. It looks like there’s a free version and a paid version. It’s part tamagotchi, part habitica, and ideally aligns with your healthy habits and self-care needs.
Resource 10: How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz, PhD
Any discussion of winter and mindset (like this book) usually includes a discussion of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), an actual diagnosis found in the DSM-5 and a term that is often too widely and casually applied. People seem to love to pathologize their winter blues yet there’s a difference between winter blues and actual seasonal affective disorder.
Dr. Kari Leibowitz has a PhD in Social Psychology from Stanford University. She grew up near the Jersey Shore, where summer is life and like many people around her, she always hated winter growing up. She decided that in graduate school she would study winter’s negative effects on people’s mental health. Where best to go other than above the Arctic Circle? She went to Tromsø, Norway, assuming that the rate of seasonal affective disorder would be really high in a place where the sun doesn’t rise a couple months out of the year. When she got there, she was shocked to find just the opposite. This made her pivot her research to the idea of a “wintertime mindset.” From Svalbard to Japan to Minnesota to Edmonton, she found communities and cultures of people who embrace winter, even looking forward to winter with enthusiasm.
While so much of the embracing of winter in these places depends on things like community and infrastructure, Dr. Leibowitz shares the ways in which we can make small changes in our own lives to make winter more enjoyable or at least, bearable. And no, she does not recommend light therapy though she does talk about light therapy and how it requires daily use for a certain amount of time when you wake up and it’s definitely not a cure-all.
Reading this book has made me even more excited for winter than I already am. I’m planning baked goods and rainy-day reads but also occasionally renting a sauna or hot tub at a local spot. I also ordered myself a proper thick hoodie because much of enjoying being out in the winter is dependent upon actually dressing correctly for the weather. I learned so much and I absolutely loved this incredibly engaging read.
Recent & Current Reads
Inclusion of a book in this section is not necessarily a recommendation and these books won’t necessarily be added to my Bookshop. Links are affiliate links.
Recently Read:
A Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne
Currently Reading:
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (backordered on Bookshop but there are a few on Thriftbooks)
African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World by Roger D. Abrahams (sorry, can’t find it on Bookshop. My copy is from 1985. Found some on Thriftbooks, though not my exact copy)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
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