Recent searches
Search options
At book club last night (highly recommend Serviceberry) I had two realizations that feel important: 
1/n
1) bridging ideas (library economies) are super important to helping people move toward change
https://brightgreenfutures.substack.com/p/episode-25-library-economies-and
2) we had a discussion about “making friends with the neighbors” vs. “making your friends into your neighbors (co-housing, buying out the neighborhood etc)” (latter is a real trend people yearn for; former is something we struggle with).
My neighborhood has many conservatives. My take: you’re not going to “make friends” w/ conservative neighbors without a lot of (probably fruitless) emotional labor on your side.
I see a lot of advocacy for this & I think it’s actually not the right approach...
3/n
@susankayequinn
I, , ,
errrr
not sure where to go with this.
our neighborhood is a sort-a village, ie, older than the govs that regulate it.
def leans 'conservative'
they 'know' us
'come-heres'
not
'from-heres'
our hippy ways, prayer flags, etc
not a secret
lots of 'over the fence' barter goes on here
we've got chickens, eggs, maple syrup, etc
neighbors make lawn art,chop firewood, veggies in season, share gossip, etc
we all live here
&
we're all we've got
zoned R1, nobody GAF
@susankayequinn
@
*all* media
every single bit
is hell-bent on driving wedges into places like this
but only with partial success
riding my bike home after dark
I see all the TVs, blasting living space with fox news
I also see the local guy with a pickuptruck plow (with no plates) on the tail of his plowing
&
I have to press him to take a $20 (for fuel)
before he'll take it
@cpm if you've *already* got community with your conservative neighbors, that's great — I'm speaking to the current pressure being put on people to "reach out" and connect with conservative neighbors, as if it's their job to bridge the divide.
@susankayequinn
it is
esp now
certainly so
our 'consevative' neighbors are being force-fed poison with a firehose, & they can barely keep up with it
*some* are starting to choke on it
fingers X'd
more will
folks are just folks
@cpm IMO this falls in the category of "if you're in a position to do something, do it"
if you have a conservative parent who will *listen to you* then TALK...
if you have a neighbor who is poisoned by FoxNews but you share a hobby and have influence then *use that*
I have a friend who has a Trumper neighbor whose relative got deported... that's an opportunity to have a *discussion* and my friend def took advantage of that
But not this vague "it's your job to fix these people" no it is not
nope, not my job
if I knew who's job it was?
Love to hear from them.
in my lived experience?
tell'n others how to live, what to think, etc, is pretty much a 'did-not-finish' right out the starting gate
(she/her) @susankayequinn@wandering.shop@cpm Right
Which is why I side-eye a lot of these supposed pushes... it seems like an intentional effort to waste a bunch of time/energy to keep people from doing things that will actually work
@susankayequinn
yeah
I don't want to read too much into it, but (however?)
I think (I hope?) that the hard reality of click-tivism, slack-tivism just doesn't carry weight.
Being out here, in the world, engaged to the point we are able, otoh, does broaden horizons
might not 'change' minds, for-what-that's-worth, but may help give folks some reason to pause, & maybe(?) even think.
otoh?
folks who openly/ferverently want us all dead?
yeah
uh
no.
but they are more rare than many would imagine