Jennifer Riggan

This. Exactly. The legal battles are being fought. But it won’t be enough.

If we act like everything is normal, we go into denial, evade, get complacent, and don’t do the hard work that is needed to survive, protect and resist. 3/3

This is the paradox we’re living in. This is the paradox we need to adjust to, psychologically and socially. don’t have some normal, we become exhausted, panicked, or catatonic, and carry our festering wounds around with us. 2/3

It’s important to have normal times where you watch tv, hang with friends and family, make dinner, walk the dog, take out the trash, talk about the weather and watch the big game. It is also important not to lose sight of the fact that nothing is normal and we’re in the middle of a coup. 1/3

A reminder that it is not your responsible as a citizen to obsess over the news or emotionally collapse from imagining the suffering. It IS your responsibility make yourself as strong as you can (whatever that looks like for you) and to DO whatever you are capable of to resist and protect.

Elon Musk’s team has gotten access to the Treasury Department’s payments system.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave reps of DOGE full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

This is going to be a fight on many fronts. But there will be moments when we all need to drop everything, cancel plans, take risks, and come together. (3/3)

We ALSO need to focus on the big picture, recognize that democracy is being dismantled, checks and balances are removed daily, and there may not be a 2028 election.
SO take all the advice. ALSO read about how democracies are destroyed, join organizing groups, and prepare yourself to disrupt. (2/3)

There’s a lot of great advice going around about pacing ourselves, and focusing on a few issues rather than taking it all in, and working locally in your own communities. This is good advice now as it was in 2016. BUT this is also different than the last time. (1/3)

I wish there was an easy way to make a starter pack of everyone I knew from other social media who has moved over here….

When an authoritarian regime consolidates power, it is deeply unsettling. The fabric of reality is shaken. It makes it hard to remain standing. That’s what you may be experiencing right now.

A screenshot of a Politico Pro Breaking News Alert headline. The headline reads, "Trump administration orders sweeping freeze of all federal aid." The subhead explains that the freeze, ordered by President Trump's budget office, suspends all federal financial assistance, potentially halting payments to states and U.S. households relying on aid such as SNAP food assistance. A memo cited claims that Social Security and Medicare will not be affected. The memo includes a statement criticizing the use of federal resources for "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies," calling it a misuse of taxpayer dollars. Three people verified the memo's authenticity.

Pay. Attention. To. This AND CALL YOUR REPS.

U.S. puts virtually all foreign aid on 90-day hold, issues 'stop-work' order Following Trump's Monday freeze on foreign aid, a subsequent memo calls for for a stop-work order for current grants and contracts.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

For all of you starting a new semester today, may you approach it with ease, curiosity, and compassion for yourself and everyone involved. Sidle up to it, like you would a wild animal you don’t want to startle.

I’ve come to love teaching this way. Just started last semester. But I’ve also been struck by how much students struggle with it. The trauma—around writing in particular and education in general—that they bring into the classroom is astounding.

Wait, you don’t have to peel them in a garlic press? You might have just changed my life. (Says the foodie who is also lazy/ short on time.)

What makes a “yes” first sentence?

I’d love advice about how to make Bluesky more conversational.

Surviving the Next Four Years A practical guide for coping with and getting through Trump 2.0

Preparing for the next four years. Here is a practical guide for coping with and getting through Trump 2.0.

I have three reading goals this year:
1) more work by African authors.
2) more work that isn’t on any list.
3) read as many of the books on my shelf that I haven’t read as I can.
I also have plans for some re-reads.
What are your 2025 reading plans?

Stop scrolling right now. Go pick up a book. Read a random sentence from a random page. How did it change your life just now? Please share.

I had a dream that I was trying to find my room at some sort of outdoor conference. People kept trying get me off course, and I had to hide many times. When I finally arrived, my “room” was a cocoon shaped closet with no space to move.
What is this telling me?
What are your dreams telling you?

After a winter break during which I did very little and barely left the house, I’m feeling,oddly, both well rested and tired.

Borders are scars in the otherwise breathtakingly beautiful landscape.

Where is this? Just curious.

I’m going to start viewing myself through the lens of my residual self image rather than the lens I imagine the world views me through. I imagine myself still in my early 40s: energetic, fit, youthful, at the height of my intellectual powers. Where does your residual self image take you?

If there was ever a time for radical authenticity, it’s now.

Why?