a follow up :: February 6, 2026

“Even so we knew all the time that…some day the landmarks would emerge again, and we held to the memory of them; we reminded ourselves and our friends of them; we delighted to find them, in miniature, in individual relations…Those landmarks that had made us a part of society we discovered to be certain elements of fellowship that we came to value for ourselves and for others - all others; and we looked for human beings everywhere and for fellowship.”

~Wm Stafford, Down In My Heart: Peace Witness In Wartime

Just a couple of days ago I was walking around campus with a friend after our film class discussing what the Italian director Michaelangelo Antonioni might have been trying to say in his 1960 film, La Notte. The film, made in the shadow of Mussolini’s fascism, looks at the rather ordinary struggles of a married couple, but it puts this struggle in the context of the larger cultural shifts happening in 1960’s Italy. While my friend and I walked, we were only a few miles from where, the previous Saturday, ICE agents had gassed peaceful protestors — including children and families — and I thought about this, the way that upheaval and resistance happen on the same plane as the minutiae of our lives and somehow, we are required to do both. It’s a lot for a body and mind to process.

I am not naturally the type to lead a rally or seek out large gatherings. I seek out conversation and intimacy, ground-level kinds of assistance. I think we need both the large and loud as well as the small and quiet if we are going to rescue this country back from the terror of the Trump administration and the people who support it (or address any of the other myriad crises we are facing.) So yes, there is an urgent need for speaking up, braving the real threat of tear gas or militia-haunted voting lines. But it is equally vital that we engage in continual small actions that build fellowship and promote human connection: like film discussions, quitting the consumption cycle, visiting lonely parents, sending money, making meals for people, reading books to educate ourselves on issues, and making and experience art. I will be doing many of these things. But almost none of them will make it into this space. We live in a time when performing substitutes for action. Daily, we discover that people present themselves as one thing while secretly supporting and engaging in the worst kinds of behaviors. Anyone can post words and pictures and pretend to care. At the end of the day, only we can know if we are actually interested in justice and willing to change our lives to make it happen. Only we know the particular opportunities and needs that we are suited to meet. So I say, go do all kinds of good work, whatever is before you to do, my friends. Love the hell out of people. You don’t need to keep the receipts.

Some things I am reading and thinking right now:

~ One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This // Omar El Akkad I am lucky enough to get to hear El Akkad speak semi-regularly at literary events around town and appreciate his work so much. In this book, which won the National Book Award, he confronts the passivity with which Americans have responded to the Palestinian genocide.

~Reflections on how writers can respond in dark times What is the place of restorative narratives in a time of crisis? Modern literature loves a cynical, bare-all story, and I think those can be vital, but maybe we are in need of something else right now too.

~ Is your social life missing something? Ezra Klein hosts Priya Parker to talk about hospitality, gathering, and making time for community. I love this episode SO MUCH. Practical tips for real people on how to make gathering doable. I’ve also ordered the book. We are engulfed by artificiality. Making face-to-face connections is an act of resistance by itself.

~ Softening the Clenched Fist A longtime reader and friend posted this from Krista Tippet in the comments of the last post. “one of the most powerful ways we can be present to our world’s pain is with a countercultural tenderness.”

~Vermiglio Speaking of Italian films. This award-winning stunner from Maura Delpero stayed with me for days. It’s incredibly quiet and spare, the kind of film that is more like a piece of art than entertainment. I love stories about the lives of women and this one has so many gorgeous domestic and costume details too.

~Held // Anne Michaels. 2024 Booker Prize winner. From Michaels’ herself : “Every day writing this book I asked myself: in these urgent times, what voice might be small enough to be heard; what do we need now. We measure history by events and actions, but this book wants to assert a different measure for history, the real and powerful effect of our inner lives – what we believe, what we value, what we love, what we aspire to.” This is a great example of restorative narrative. I loved this book. Michaels is a poet first, and it shows in the way she crafts the novel. Less about plot, more about ideas. I am going to read it again with a pencil in hand.

~You Have To Be Human - Freya India is a Gen Z writer that frequently writes about the effects of technology on people her age. She’s a sensitive and wise voice we should be listening to. “Stand up for good art and good ideas and good choices! I’m so bored of hearing that’s valid! and you do you! not just from AI bots but from people, human beings, those who have blunted themselves and their beliefs.”

~Stand With Minnesota - All kinds of links for donations that support everything from legal rights to help with pets who have been left behind by detained immigrant families. Look for the helpers and support them!

That’s all for now. Guard your peace, friends. Turn it off, turn it down, make space for your body.

Much love.

Tonia