Last fall, I'd had enough. 🤬 It started long before the fall, but that was the tipping point (though my frustration continues).

I am fed up with the misinformation and disinformation. I have seen enough of flooding the zone with sh*t at the national level that fills (and poisons) the void of limited to no local media in our communities. I am sick of the increasingly repugnant, divisive vitriol and hatred.

I loathe that political partisanship waits in the wings of any casual conversation, threatening to create unnecessary discomfort when we disagree. It doesn’t have to be so toxic.

If people in Washington want to hate each other, that's on them. But I prefer that type of 'ick' not permeate among my neighbors and the parents of my kids' classmates and teammates.

I’ve had enough of the horrific information pouring out of national politics about where our country is headed. I’m tired of feeling powerless to do anything about it. Reading the news is exhausting and sometimes frightening. In the case of this administration, fear is a feature, not a bug.

I’m determined not to let their diseases infect my community. Give me all the vaccines that protect against contagious crap. I’ll take a hard pass on the grifting wellness scams that promise to heal all the ills if I sign up for their MLM and drink their untested green Kool-Aid.

I don't have much power to fix what happens in Washington, but I can impact what happens in my neck of the woods. So last fall, I set out to do just that in a small way that matched my skills and interests. I started a hyperlocal media outlet.

I’ll be damned if I can’t help build a stronger sense of community in my small town to bolster local resiliency in the face of institutional demise in Washington.

keeping tabs on local civic activities

Fostering a healthier and more resilient community involves many moving parts. But at its core, you have to know what's going on—where to look, how to get involved, and what to pay attention to. I don't know about you, but getting to evening civic events (like city council and school board meetings) feels wildly out of scope for most people in my social circles.

Our kids have one bagillion evening activities. My friends and I are mastering ninja-level calendar management skills to get them to practice, feed them, and make sure they brush their teeth twice a day. Why is bedtime such a battle?! 🙄

Most of us find it challenging to squeeze in slow, tedious township meetings between taxi drop-offs. Keeping tabs on what's happening at City Hall, community organizations, the school board, the local Chamber of Commerce, and other similar civically minded institutions feels next to impossible.

So... I took it upon myself to be a collector of stories and a messenger in my town.

I love to write. I enjoy gathering, digesting, and explaining information in a more relatable way. Where I live, we have minimal local media (which is not a judgment of its quality, only the lack of quantity).

We need more voices and choices, so I threw my name into the mix and started a hyperlocal community newsletter combining local news, delightful updates and features, upcoming events, and (occasionally) a deeper conversation about a topic relevant to our town. If we can't talk about the hard stuff sometimes, including with people who disagree with us, we're hopeless to create a more resilient and robust foundation for a strong community.

camaraderie through collapse

It's all collapsing. If we want to survive to the other side of whatever collapse looks like, we need good relationships with our neighbors (including and maybe especially that weird dude down the street with wildly different skill sets and interests than ours).

Since starting that newsletter six months ago, I've built relationships with people plugged into my town’s civic and social happenings. I've attended a handful of (but not all) municipal and school board meetings, learned more about the community-focused Facebook groups, and started to develop relationships with people who can help me keep an eye on the things happening in our community that neighbors might want to know about.

let’s build together

I'm not an expert; I'm figuring it out as I go. I would love for you to join me!

Let’s create a cohort of community builders who want to unite neighbors in their towns. We won't all be writers, so you may not be starting the community-focused newsletter in your city. But there’s something for everyone!

We need community event hosts, municipal meeting attendees, non-profit board trustees, art council organizers, sports league coordinators, sustainable energy experts, farmers' market ambassadors, social safety net advocates, local business champions, and more. We even need some elected officials (will you run for something?!). 🗳️

We need connectors, creators, and collaborators of all stripes to flood the zone with beauty, grace, abundance, goodness, and truth to crowd out the sh*t. Are you up for the rewarding challenge?

If you're on the other side of this screen thinking 'OMG. Yes! That's me.’ Welcome to the club!

If you're thinking "Ugh. I know we need that, but it feels hard. Could I do it?" Yes, you can. Start small, and welcome to the club! 💛

Let's make this a space to share ideas, best practices, successes, and lessons learned—there is no need to reinvent the wheel and repeat mistakes when we can learn together and from each other.

investing in corporate monarchy

Our President is a transactional clown willing to sell our country to the highest bidder. The billionaires are happy to scrounge a few million from their couch cushions (that's probably what JD was doing) to ‘Open Sesame’ to their wildest wishes and Lord-of-the-Rings-inspired dreams of making America a corporate monarchy run by and for them. (I wish I were exaggerating, but I'm not. More on that in the future.)

Fronting a few million now to eventually put the entirety of the US government to work for their benefit is an outstanding return on investment! It sucks for the rest of us.

This makes it even more necessary to invest in local relationships and community infrastructure that will insulate us from demise when society is sucked for every last ounce of bloody profit available to corporate overlords.

The rest of the politicians in Washington (minus a few brave souls) are resting on their laurels to wait it out. Maybe they think time heals all wounds. Who's gonna tell them that doesn't apply here? 👀

While the old Washington guard toil, the PayPal mafia and their cronies - are we calling them the DOGE Kids?? - are working day and night to defund and dismantle every shred of functional government (to then “prove” that government doesn’t work).1​

I guess our politicians hope the rest of us see the light or something(?) and do whatever they aren't brave enough to do to rescue the country from the brink of fascist fallout.

it’s up to us; action over despair

So… yep, it's up to us.

It might feel unfair, annoying, exhausting, confusing, or overwhelming. Those feelings are valid. That’s their playbook; it’s on purpose.

It’s also why we need each other. We're out of alternatives. If not us, then who? Isn't this worth preserving?!

ways to build stronger connections and community locally

I don’t have a complete list of how we can be community builders. Every community is unique, so no “complete” or definitive list exists. But here are a few ideas to start brainstorming what might suit your interests, skills, and community needs.

• Write a local newsletter to bolster local media.
• Create or join a local arts/business/farmers/etc., council to connect, support, and advocate for the interests of that group in the community.
• Join a non-profit board and advocate for the organization in the community.
• Host a book club (bonus points if it sparks hard conversations).
• Start or join a community events organization (such as a residents association, community collaborative, etc.) that hosts events for people to spend time together and build bonds.
• Start or help run a community gifting group so neighbors can reduce waste, share abundance, and build relationships by helping each other out.
• Be part of a local political organization that helps find and prepare strong candidates for local elections (with a focus on good faith civic engagement, not dark division and unethical tactics).

share your tips, ideas, and dreams

Let's start a conversation! Share what you do in your communities to help build bridges, create community, and mend broken bonds. What have you tried or what would you love to try but haven't gotten around to starting yet? Maybe someone else is a few steps ahead and can be a guide.

I’ll go first.

local community newsletter

I write my hyperlocal newsletter to remind my community about all the delightful people, spaces, and places we share. I hope it sparks conversations, clarifies misinformation, and helps us better understand each other to reach friendly disagreements of opinion instead of enduring visceral disputes of misinformed rage.

I hope it encourages my neighbors to swap our stuff on Buy Nothing and shop at local businesses instead of sending money to profit mongers like Amazon, Shein, and Temu. Ugh, gross. I love reminding my neighbors about non-profit galas, fun art events, farmers’ markets, seasonal scone flavors at the local bakery, and more.

library board trustee

I have been on the board of my local library for several years. During this time, I’ve learned a great deal about what a library does in a community and how the community and municipal government operate around it.

indie used/new bookshop

Our town doesn’t have an independent bookshop, but I desperately want one. I’m determined to manifest it. 🥰 I don’t have the bandwidth to start or manage it, but I’m telling everyone I know about my dreamy little haven in case someone else is waiting for permission and/or knows how to make it happen.

your turn to answer (👇🏼 in the comments)

What else can we do? What's working for you? Or what would you love to try to rebuild local resiliency and make our communities more robust centers of abundance and compassion?