civics

Civic Diary: Everyday Stuff

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First up, my monthly civic geek roundup. Where am I?

  • First, still doing the local political group. Trying to do more, frankly, but we’ve had trouble coordinating. I do have my posting down to a system.
  • My usual calling and annoying my elected officials of course. Been a bit off on that, but overall keeping at it.
  • I’ve vaguely scheduled a plan to get more into doing Op-Eds and writing newspapers/news sites. There’s a class I can take and a book I found.

Now this month’s thought is on the fact that one big contribution you can make beyond your activism is keeping Shit Running.

This is a massive, MASSIVE, missed part of politics and society in general. Society requires the actions of so many of us, every day, to keep going. It requires driving your kid to school, helping a friend with a resume, cleaning up at your apartment complex, giving a friend a ride. A huge amount of a functional society is Everyday Stuff.

Do not shit on everyday stuff. Everyday stuff keeps things running. Everyday stuff creates ties between people. Everyday stuff is the foundation of so much that we can forget it. Doing it can remind us as well as keeping the whole shebang of society running.

One of the greatest failures in America, of our current crazy, conspiracy-theory-soaked, hating-our-fellow-Americans politics is people forget everday stuff. People are disconnected from action and reaction, from their neighbors, from real human concerns – and their politics are often a mixture of paranoia and abstraction and unawareness. There’s no visceral element except, perhaps, anger.

Ever have one of those friends or family members that seems spun off into their own world? You get the idea. They’re not only lost, they’re often not Getting Stuff Done (or as a much Stuff). They’re abstracted, disconnected – and easily manipulated.

One of my recent experiences – among many – has been having a friend in Puerto Rico. Trying to figure how to help them. Trying to keep in touch. You want hard reality, it’s right there.

So it’s up to all of us to Get Shit Done and keep society going. On top of all our other involvements.

  • Steve

 

Civic Geek: Grinding On

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Keeping up on the Civic Geekery here – or what I’m doing to be more of a citizen.  Posting this, of course, to inspire people.

One thing I found is that you can get “Samey” with what you do – I noted last time I got a bit disconnected.  So what I’ve done here is take a look at one group I’m helping and say “we’re kinda in a rut, what can I do?”  To get a meeting together.  Remember when being active, you can engage and improve – it is being civicly engaged, it’s being activist.

I also mentioned my disengagement and I found some of that is me.  Do not automate your political involvement and take your heart out of it, learn to connect with people.  I was feeling poorly but dragged myself to a political meeting, and it felt great.  To stay civic stay in touch with people.

Another thing I’ve done is worked to deliver news to my different political organizations – which is a bit challenging as you don’t want to be “that person” who just posts stuff.  So I set a limit of one a day or so maximum, if it promotes activism.

Finally, one big thing I’ve done is follow the news of activism more closely – don’t just do your thing, see what others are doing.  Post-Trump I’m amazed to see how many people got active but also how many people were active – you really never see the huge network that supports our society until you look.

I have fell off of my news following and really need to fix that – focused more nationally and missed a lot of local stuff.  It’s always important to stay local.

Still don’t quite feel I’ve got my civic mojo working, but I think it’s because I’m being pulled in many directions – and doing a lot.  Is my convention speaking civic engagement?  My work to have cross-club dinners?  It is, but I think figuring what’s important is hard.  However as I’m big on building community these things do matter.

Now a few resources to help you:

 

– Steve

Civic Diary 2/13/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Still haven’t stopped these, though man they need to be more commonly updated.  I got hit with some nasty illness (we have multiple colds here) and apparently got sick twice.  So the last few weeks weren’t fun.

Political Groups And Activist Groups

I’m now helping with social media for a political group in the area – it’s a sort of “test” ground for me and my other ideas, because . . .

Don’t think you can just go to an activist group and say “give me something.”  A lot of them have hierarchies, legal requirements, etc. you have to follow.  I learned that the hard way, so now I’m working my way up.  Still I get to do some good and am going to use this to introduce a few new ideas and cool things.

The great part of being part of an established group is reach.  Nothing like being able to do something to affect a few hundred to a few thousand people.

I’m looking into involvement with my city and possible a few other groups.  I think all you can really do is just keep trying them out until something clicks for you.

TAKEAWAY: Pick at least one activist group to join, but remember it may take time to get a position.  Help anyway.

Do It Yourself

So one of my acquaintances up and created a political group for friends on Facebook where we coordinate.  Might want to give that a go too!

TAKEAWAY: Try a social media group for friends and politics.

Regular Activity

To help me out I’m doing the following

  1. I have a Google Alert for all representatives on the state and federal level, so once a day find out what they’re up to.
  2. I keep my usual news feeds.
  3. Out of that I find what I want to call them on – usually daily or every other day to tell them what they did right and wrong and make specific demands.
  4. This helps you keep up on local information anyway – I’ve had a few surprises, most of them pleasant.

How’s it working?  Not entirely sure as I’m one person, and there’s many voices, but my Congressman’s office now calls me by name when I call before I speak.  So I’m making an impression.

I’ve also decided that https://grabyourwallet.org/ is worth following and am calling companies carrying Trump merchandise.  Very inappropriate and an area of ethical concern – especially as of late.

TAKEAWAY: Set up news/alert feeds to tell you who/what to call on each day.

Documentation

I’ve been updating my civic guide and do need to post it now that I no longer feel terrible.  It’s been pretty helpful!

That’s what I’m up to.  What about you?

– Steve