everything about Tesla is designed for people who think they’re Batman in their heads

It’s been a week. A shooting, a convention, a running mate, a president with COVID, an ominous election — and then Bob Newhart died, too. This hour, a look at how to find hope in dark times. Noah Baerman Azar Nafisi Benjamin Perry Gene Seymour trib.al/ur9ULiT

As Benjamin Perry writes, "Queer students in my small town saw neighbors who were willing to fight for their ability to thrive. Trans rights aren’t a 'big-city' issue; they’re woven into the fabric of every community." teenvogue.com/story/trans-te…

This is happening all over midcoast Maine. My parents' town is a little south of this district — this past year, the local Dems rallied to defeat a school board candidate who was in a raging lather because her (homeschooled) kid once saw a Pride flag in public.

This is what we need to be doing everywhere. The change you want to see in this country isn’t going to happen at the top. It’s going to happen here. At the local level. You change the world by changing where you are.

What an absolutely inspiring organizing story—uncompromising solidarity with trans youth rights backed by independent mass politics wins in rural Maine. So many lessons to take from this.

The question isn’t whether a dying beast will, in fact, die. The question is how many people will it take with it? How many wars will it start? How many lives and lands will it destroy? How much more will we let it take from the world?

Honored to write with Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis and the ministers of Middle Church for RNS: “Voting is not about anointing a savior but doing the hard work of building a society where love and life can flourish.” religionnews.com/2024/07/31/tru…

UPDATE: The school board voted last night to reinstate protections for trans students 😭😭😭 This is what is possible when communities come together and seize power from people who use it for harm—we can make sure every child knows they are safe, welcome, and loved.