What We Can Do: Write Postcards to Restore Fair Elections in Virginia

In case you haven’t heard, Virginia has a proposed Constitutional Amendment to be voted on in their April 21 special election.  It’s in response to Trump’s claim that he’s “entitled” to more Republican seats. 

Photo Credit Here

Governor Abigail Spanberger does an excellent job explaining it in this video.  (The video is short and definitely worth watching.)

Postcards to Swing States has a postcard campaign going on now to urge people to vote yes on April 21^st.  You can order the postcards in batches of 100 and are expected to mail them between April 7^th and 14^th. 

I’ve signed up to send 200 of the postcards because I think having this measure in place will help safeguard the midterm elections.  

What We Can Do: Postcards to Swing States

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I like to think of myself as a “put your money where your mouth is” person.  I find social media justice warriors and people who make a lot of noise but never seem to actually do anything to be extremely annoying.   

I don’t care how great a writer you are; no Facebook, Blogger, Instagram, or TikTok post is going to fix what is wrong in our country right now. 

Publicly declaring your stance seems like a logical first step, but I don’t think it should be the only thing we do.  I never meant for my post last week to be all that I did.  It was part rant and part declaration of where I stand. 

I’ve spent the past week trying to decide what I’m going to do.  My blog is so small, I’m not even sure it’s accurate to call it a platform, but it’s what I have, so I’m going to use it.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by how bad things are right now.  I think most people are exhausted and already feel pulled in a million different directions.  That can lead to paralysis and make it feel like things are so bad that it doesn’t matter if we do anything or not. 

I suspect that’s how evil wins: by exhausting and demoralizing the decent people who are trying to fight for what’s good and kind. 

Fortunately, there are so many people out there who haven’t given up and are continuing to fight to uphold basic human decency.  The bravery and dedication of some of the people in the ICE terrorized cities is inspiring. 

Not all of us are in a position to attend protests.  Not everyone can be as vocal and visible in how they resist.  But I firmly believe that we can all do something.  To that end, I’m committing to making Wednesday the day that I share something we can do. 

In all likelihood, they will be tiny, quiet things, but hopefully, that’s better than nothing.

This week, I would like to share Postcards to Swing States with you.  They currently have one campaign going on, which is News Boosting Postcards.  Per their website, these postcards are to “help combat disinformation and make sure voters in states with key elections in 2026 learn how harmful the Trump/GOP agenda is for them. We’ll send you free postcards, voter lists and instructions. You’ll provide the stamps and have until April to write the postcards.”

They provide the postcards (free of charge), scripts, and addresses, and you’re responsible for writing and mailing them on the appropriate date.  You can order them in increments of 100, and there’s an option to choose to send them to Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, or where most needed.

I ordered 500 and chose to send them where most needed.  It was very tempting to choose North Carolina since that’s where I live, but I feel like the people running this have a lot more experience than I do, and therefore, a much better idea of where they’ll do the most good. 

I only recently ordered mine, so I haven’t received them yet, but I’ll keep you updated on when I get them and how it goes.  

Thursday 13: A Lot of Randomness

Today’s Thursday 13 is going to be all over the place.

1.    Mortimer had an emergency visit (fortunately to our regular vet’s office) on Friday due to eating plastic.  Fortunately, after x-rays to confirm there wasn’t an obstruction, fluids and an anti-nausea shot did the trick. 

2.    Unfortunately, I doubt this did anything to curb his obsession with eating plastic.

3.    We mailed out a total of 152 protest postcards on Saturday.

4.    We had severe storms and a moderate risk of tornadoes late Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.  Pre-Helene, we wouldn’t have been very concerned, but almost everyone here gets nervous about storms now. 

5.    Because our house doesn’t have any rooms without exterior walls, we deemed our bedroom closet the best place to shelter in case of a tornado.  We didn’t want to have to round up five cats in the middle of the night with a tornado imminent, so we opted to lock all five cats in the bedroom with us.

6.    Catching and containing five cats is a big job! 

7.    Fortunately, there were no tornados, and we didn’t have to shelter in the closet.  We had a lot of rain, but no flooding or damage.  Unfortunately, we didn’t sleep well at all.  Caroline’s facial expression sums up the night well.

8.    Other than that storm, we’ve still been enjoying mostly sunny weather.

9.    The daffodils along the back fence have bloomed.

10. The daffodils next to the carport are at their peak.

11. The forsythia is just starting to get a few blooms.

12. There are a lot more flowers on the bush in the front yard.

13. And the hyacinth is still blooming,

 

How was your week?  

Thursday 13: Flowers, Protest Postcards, the DMV, and Cats (Of Course)

Today’s Thursday 13 is going to be all over the place.

1.    Let’s start with a cat picture.  Mortimer is warming up to Theodore, and I was able to get some pictures of them hanging out together. 

2.    I had to go to the DMV to renew my driver’s license this week.  It took about five and a half hours.  A little over five hours of that was waiting.  The good news is that I should be able to renew online the next time, so it should be around 15 years before I have to go in person again.

3.    The DMV line and waiting room definitely seem to bring out people’s true natures.  Most people were very pleasant and kind of made friends with their waiting companions.  A few people, though, were just awful.  They complained about everything, berated the employees (who were really nice and doing their best), and complained about people taking lunch breaks.  Complaining that something takes a long time is never going to speed it up! 

4.    We had more nice weather this week, so the flowers are still blooming.  The hyacinth still looks great.

5.    More of the daffodils are blooming. 

6.    These are the ones next to the carport that were just buds last week.

7.    I don’t know what it’s called, but the bush with the tiny white flowers is starting to bloom.

8.    Here’s a close-up of the flowers.

9.    If you know what it’s called, please let me know in the comments. 

10. On Saturday, we got together with some friends at a local coffee shop to write protest postcards.

11. If you’re not familiar, they’re postcards to be mailed to the White House on the 15^th to express our displeasure with the current administration.  They’re also being sent to state representatives if applicable.  Unfortunately, ours are in lockstep with this administration.  We wrote a lot of postcards.

12. I realize that some bloggers view Blogger as a politics-free zone, and I like that idea.  However, I think there comes a time when not choosing (and declaring) a side makes you complicit.  I’m not going to turn into a political blogger, but I do want to be clear that I am not okay with what is happening in our country right now.  I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind, and I know I’m not powerful or important enough to make any real difference, but I can’t just be quiet, either.  Liz wrote a great post about feeling this way. 

13. I’ll end on a more positive note with this picture of Theodore in a basket.

 

How was your week?