In and Out of the Bubble

Like many of you, life has been kind of rough since January 20.  I've been filled with a lot of anger and grief and fear.  I've struggled with these emotions and feared waking up many days to see what 45 has tweeted or signed overnight.  I've watched my attempts at activism be crushed under the foot of blind partisanship.  I've spent hours railing and struggling with utter hopelessness, something which people who know me well is not my natural state. 

On top of that, I am a public high school teacher.  I teach literature -- Shakespeare and Angelou and Cervantes and Ibsen and more.  I coach a speech team of 19 outgoing, bright, talented kids.  I direct our school's drama program which is in the process of launching its spring musical.  I have a very busy life.  And a couple weeks ago, I reached a point where I felt like something had to give.  I had piles of papers to grade, a team to coach, Regional competition to host, and a musical to direct, yet I was spending hours checking Twitter and the New York Times to see what was going on in DC.  I couldn't keep that up.

So I made a choice to, as I call it, step into the bubble.  For roughly a week, I limited the news as much as I could.  I stayed away from Twitter.  I only gave myself a small time frame to read the Times.  I avoided NPR and only watched the news in the morning as I was getting ready for work.  That allowed me to focus on work the way that I needed to, but it didn't take away the emotions.  Not when I saw that Betsy DeVos had been confirmed by the Senate after a 50-50 tie was broken by VP Pence.  Not when I saw that 45 was impugning our federal court systems because a judge dared put the Constitution before his hate-filled agenda.  Not when Elizabeth Warren was silenced by her male peers for questioning the qualifications of a cabinet nominee.  Not when I saw 45 and his rabid posse attack a business for dropping his daughter's shoddy product line.  No, friends, I come out of the bubble even angrier and scared. 

My question to you -- and I do want to engage in a dialogue as much as possible despite the fact that I only have maybe three followers here -- is what do we do with this anger and fear?  When I discuss this with friends, I know I'm preaching to the choir.  I avoid expressing things too much on Twitter or Facebook because of my job and because I'm not interested in baiting trolls.  Both of my Senators are Democrats, so contacting them about votes is again likely to be a case of asking them to do something they already plan to do.  (Shout out to my fab new Senator, the kick ass Senator Tammy Duckworth!!)  Same with my congressperson, the awesome Cheri Bustos.  I've given money to causes that will further the things I believe in -- Emily's List, Human Rights Campaign.  I've donated money to the Bustos campaign.  I bought lipstick from Nordstrom's. 

Now that we're out of the bubble, what do we do now?  Discuss......