Hi!
Willow is out of the office so it’s me, Quinn, and sorry, no, this isn’t your regularly scheduled newsletter, because, let’s get real, no one wants a B- version of It’s Called Science.
Anyways — I’m taking over, and I have two items for you, and they’re related:
The first thing
Our BFFs at Run for Something — specifically, their Civics division — have launched a brand new non-partisan campaign to get young people to run for local office. It’s called The Next 100 Days.
(The campaign is through their 501(c)(3), which is explicitly and strictly non-partisan, so I’d really like some flowers for not already breaking the rules. thx.)
Anyways — here’s what it is, straight from RFS:
It’s for folks who are tired of the nonsense and ready to change their communities for the better.
In the first 100 days of this administration, our leaders have unleashed harmful, reckless policies that are devastating communities across the country.
To fight back and lead us forward, we need ordinary people to take the extraordinary step of running for office.
Don’t worry, we got you. We’ll give you the tools, training, and support to learn what it takes to run for office.
You can find out more about it here — or just forward this email to a young person in your life who would make a hell of a city council person, school board member, etc.
The moment is absolutely now, and every local office counts — just ask your local teachers, librarians, or Planned Parenthood office.
Don’t believe me?
The second thing
Maybe you love Star Wars or maybe you absolutely hate it.
But either way, Andor is like nothing else before it. Sure, the whole saga has always generally been about beating back fascism, but Andor is unlike all the rest because (at least so far) there isn’t a lightsaber in sight. No Force.
Andor
Look, should you watch it? For sure. But if you don’t have time or interest, please at least take two minutes and read this TIMELY and wonderful piece from Nerdist on Hope Without The Force: How Andor Rewrites Rebellion.
“Andor doesn’t just sideline the Jedi, it reframes the entire rebellion without them.
There’s no Force and no Midichlorians. No elegant solutions from a more civilized age. Just people. Flawed, desperate, courageous people, who decide that enough is enough.
The result is the most grounded, morally complex, and weirdly hopeful take on resistance the franchise has ever given us.
Andor isn’t just, “What if Star Wars was prestige TV?”
It’s a reevaluation of who actually fought the Empire and a reminder that revolutions are won by the people who show up, not the ones meditating about it.“
Read that, and then think about The First Thing, above — and what you can do in The Next 100 Days to turn this ship around, right at home, right in your town.
There are no Jedis coming to save us. It’s up to us, ordinary people, who’ve had enough, no matter your skills or lack of resources.
One last thing
One day, immediately after the events of Andor, in a galaxy far, far away, the tragic hero Jyn Erso will tell a gathered few that “rebellions are built on hope”.
And she’s not wrong.
But as Emily Johnston said right here on Earth (the only planet we have to fight for):
“Our job is not to feel hope — that’s optional. Our job is to be hope, and to make space for the chance of a different future.”
That’s it. That’s the whole thing. That’s what a reckoning sounds like.
Sign up, forward this, and/or donate to The Next 100 Days: National Run for Office Campaign right here.
— Quinn