We have news from Worker Power, where we recently funded a student so they could attend the Worker Power Leadership School. It looks like Worker Power will be sharing their weekly newsletter with us over the 4 weeks of Leadership School.
This is a helpful reminder to me that good things have been happening this week, which will pay off in the fall and for years ahead, even we have been mostly focused on the drama of these past few weeks.
If you guys are interested, I thought I would share some of the information with you each week. Let me know in the comments?
With 4 weeks of school, I imagine we will get 4 of these. One of the students from this year’s school will be leading the team we will funding for 3 weeks in the fall. We don’t know who our team leader will be in the fall, but won’t it be fun if it turns out to be one of the students that is featured here?
Excerpts from the newletter
Welcome to Field Notes, our newsletter highlighting students and faculty of the second Worker Power Leadership School, a month-long program dedicated to training the next generation of progressive leaders who will run winning campaigns for working people. This week, we have a faculty spotlight from Daniel, our senior program developer, who explains the inspiration for the program, and a student spotlight from Marissa. Finally, Sarah, a program participant coming from United Auto Workers Region 6, shares some of her experiences at the doors with voters.
Senior Program Developer: Daniel
Daniel is a history PhD student, a teacher, and a union organizer at Yale University. He is also a veteran canvasser and canvass leader in Worker Power’s voter engagement programs in Arizona and Georgia. Now Daniel is putting all of those experiences to work in developing the Worker Power Leadership School curriculum. This curriculum, inspired by the labor colleges of the 1920s and 1930s, benefits from Daniel’s historian’s eye and organizer’s passion.
“Many of the activists who defined the American labor movement and Civil Rights movements during the New Deal era and the 1960s employed strategies born in discussions with peers and mentors at labor colleges and movement schools. We at Worker Power feel that now is the time to create a similar space for a new generation of labor and civil rights leaders.”
While recruiting students for the program, Daniel and his team have focused on bringing together a diverse group of students with a demonstrated passion for social justice. The cohort we have gathered this summer brings a broad spectrum of perspectives and experiences to the table, creating a unique and powerful learning environment. Regardless of their educational background, all students have the opportunity to learn from renowned professors from across the country and immediately apply their learning to effect change in their home communities as leaders of urgent organizing and electoral campaigns.
“I hope that students come away from the school with a better understanding of how the world came to be organized as it is: what forces of oppression we are fighting against, how they work, and the opportunities available to combat the reactionary forces that are advancing a very dark vision of America’s future. We are creating an environment where a new cadre of leaders can propose and begin to build a new and more inclusive vision for our future.”
Student Spotlight: Marissa
Marissa brings to the Worker Power Leadership School a wealth of experience uplifting her community. She began canvassing in Minnesota in 2011. As a young mom, Marissa would bring her infant daughter in the stroller while talking to voters about community issues, such as connecting residents facing foreclosure to financial aid. A natural people person, Marissa effortlessly connects to her classmates and voters at the door, but it wasn’t always that way.
“I haven’t always been vulnerable because it wasn’t safe. Everyone [at the Worker Power Leadership School] is taught to share their stories in a powerful way, to tell them in a way where we feel empowered, not powerless. At the School, I don’t feel as though I’m looked at differently for my experiences or treated like there’s something wrong with me because of the challenges I’ve faced.”
Voices from the Doors: Sarah
What we’re doing here is challenging, but it’s also life-changing. We’re asking people disengaged from politics to think about what their community needs and make a change for themselves and their families. It’s easy to decide not to care, and we’re having these conversations to show it’s worth it to care.
We can imagine a better future and work towards it together.
The work we do on Balloon Juice with our fundraising efforts – supporting great groups like this who share our goals for the future – is a big part of what helps keep me grounded when the road gets rocky. Maybe I’m not the only one who feels that way? I hope not, anyway.
i plan to start sharing updates from the organizations we have been funding. You can find this post and the future Reports from the Field by clicking on 2024 Activism in the top menu bar of Balloon Juice – and you’ll find it in the hamburger menu on mobile.
(Mostly) Open Thread.
WereBear
Great stuff, WaterGirl. Appreciating all this blog does.
It seems to me that’s a great curriculum for anyone to have a working knowledge of.
And I ended with a preposition because Winston Churchill said I could.
Hungry Joe
My Postcards to Swing States — daily update
Yesterday: 11
Running total: 30
TxTiger
@watergirl – Yes, please continue to feature these updates! This is great information and I would like to continue learning about and from the Worker Power Leadership School. I did not know the history of labor colleges, for example, and am glad to know this idea is being raised up again. I also hope to see sample conversations that Marissa and Sarah have engaged in when talking to people in their communities. Thanks!
WereBear
Oh, dear, I already blew my Kindle points, but this looks really good:
The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism by Joe Conason
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for this newsletter post! There is power in our union.
delphinium
@Hungry Joe: Awesome-keep up the good work!
I’ve been writing with Postcards to Voters but want to sign up with Postcards to Swing States as well once they clear out the backlog.
H.E.Wolf
@Hungry Joe:
Thank you for keeping us posted! It motivates me to write also.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: If you like it, maybe you can do a book report guest post for us. :-)
WereBear
@WereBear: My Everand app has it as an audio book.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: Oh, gladly, I have access to the audiobook now.
Eolirin
Thank you for these posts WG.
Steve LaBonne
Thanks for introducing me to this organization. This is the kind of stuff that gives me hope for the future.
pika
Thank you as always (and it can never be said frequently enough), WG
WaterGirl
@WereBear: Oh, yay!
I think it would be interesting to have the report whether you think the book is good, or not.
zhena gogolia
@Hungry Joe: Mine haven’t come yet.
WaterGirl
Seems like we could all use some inspiration these days.
Anyone else have any other good inspirational political reading to suggest?
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Speaking of postcards, the postcard stamps have been arriving at my house.
I have already sent 200 stamps off to Josie.
If any other BJ peeps (regulars) are writing more postcards than you can comfortably afford stamps for, you can drop me an email message.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: He’s an established writer who gives a good interview, so I’m looking forward to it.
SuzieC
Always happy to hear from grassroots activists rather than the liars and sellouts of the media.
laura
Person to person gets the goods. A weekly report would be refreshing, and welcome.
WereBear
Here’s a thought from Joe Conason, the author, about Trump wanting to become Putin. This was a discussion that moved to 2024 and was not in the book.
About how all these corporate titans are backing Trump. Who would take their money just like Putin did in Russia.
Josie
@WaterGirl: Many thanks to WaterGirl for coordinating this. I am up to 50 post cards and plan to do more this afternoon. I am so pumped now that I know I will have stamps for them.
ETA: Also, thanks to the good Samaritan who donated the stamps.
zhena gogolia
@WereBear: No, and they haven’t read any Russian history — even recent Russian history.
ETA: They’ll get the memo, but it will be too late.
Josie
@zhena gogolia: Is there a book you would recommend on Russian history that would include recent events?
Cheryl from Maryland
Donated $50.00 to Four Directions – Montana so us jackals can meet the remaining funding goals. Also donated $81.00 to President Biden’s re-election fund. MyTown is JoeTown!
Tenar Arha
@WereBear: Maybe from your library 😉
I was kinda eyeing the one by John Ganz called When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s. I don’t remember paying much attention to politics until the end of the 90’s, so it would be a refresher.
WereBear
Strange times. I am voluntarily watching Rick Wilson’s show on the RNC. Which he is calling an epic disaster of campaigning.
Words leave him as he shows a clip of Hunk Hogan ripping off his shirt and yelling “Trumpmania!” And then I laughed, because he said, “Don’t tell me this isn’t a cult.”
And now he’s talking about how the RNC took Grindr down from all the people in search of love.
Well, Republican love. Do not want.
zhena gogolia
@Josie: I’m not aware of anything that covers really recent events. I think you just have to go to journalism for that.
Masha Gessen’s book on Putin is the one most people recommend, but it’s not up-to-the-minute.
Josie
@zhena gogolia: OK, thanks. I’ll take a look at it.
WereBear
@Tenar Arha: I haven’t read that one, but he is a good author.
It’s such a big subject that focusing on a smaller point in time is a good way to get into it.
zhena gogolia
@Josie: I did a little googling, but I’m kind of wary of books by people who aren’t Russianists.
I don’t know what kind of an archive Meduza has, but they’re a good news source.
WereBear
Enough time has passed that I think a considerable proportion of people who voted for Trump in 2016 are not the same people they are in 2024. Because then he was a “successful businessman” with a “reality show” and they could not tell the difference.
Now, they know him better. And can better make up their own minds.
The same group-think that got them into this can help them get out. They are going to seek out Never Trumper content of some kind, to help them make a bridge across this decision.
Josie
@zhena gogolia:
Good to know. With foreign news, you so often don’t know whom to trust.
WaterGirl
@Josie:
Of course, I know it’s even worse with foreign news, but I couldn’t help myself. :-)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WereBear: Trump is a celebrity, not a politician, those things only have shelf lives of five seasons. This is like season twelve of The God King Show.
It’s also because Trump is a celebrity why so many people think Trump faked it in that poll Anne showed.
Josie
@WaterGirl: True, but I know which ones to trust here–Propublica. There may be others, but I’m not aware of them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WereBear: Russia society is rigged for a God King for life leader.
Even a disastrous war followed by long civil war a revolution and then a violent series of purges and second war that almost ended in a near disaster that were the fault of two God King’s idiocy in row couldn’t change that.
Joy in FL
I will appreciate a Field Notes update when their newsletter comes out.
WaterGirl, Thank You.
ssdd
A heads-up from Beau, Ohio is cutting 160,000 (allegedly) inactive voters from the rolls. If you’re in Ohio, you might want to check your registration asap.
https://youtu.be/bWRWCv3W1gY?si=_bxK0nHSt9Uwnvl3
BeautifulPlumage
A general shout-out of Thank You” to all of the FPs on this blog. I appreciate all the time and effort put into your posts. I’m sorry that you also have to do moderation in the comments right now, too.
And thank you to jackals bringing their honestthoughts & expertise & photos & snark. I’m sorry so many threads are being sealion’d recently. You all help keep me sane.
WereBear
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Exactly, they hadn’t yet developed the culture to support it.
And now we know how fragile that is.
SuzieC
@WereBear: I would love to think that a substantial number of them would love to get out. But Trump received approximately 12 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
July 20th the anniversary of the first detonation of a nuclear device.
Mousebumples
I lied about being off the grid. This post title in my feed reader intrigued me and was a great read. (so I broke my short lived Juicer break) Thanks for sharing, WaterGirl!
And thanks to everyone who’s postcarding, canvassing, phone banking, etc. When Dems vote, we win!
I’m debating if some sort of postcards “leader board” could be good. Not that it’s a competition, but I love seeing Hungry Joe’s running tally – and I wish I’d been keeping track!
There’s probably some internet form, self reporting option I could find, if that’s of interest to anyone.
And I’m sure WaterGirl will be posting up postcard photos when we get to the regularly scheduled activism threads.
What else are people doing to GOTV? I’m guessing we have a wide variety of activity preferences, and maybe a Front Pager could post up some of those stories? (eg how you got started doing X, why you like it, how it helps, etc.)
I think I’ve seen HE Wolf talking about data entry (and postcards), Nelle with her neighborhood chats, Omnes canvassing. I think we have election lawyers, poll workers, candidates, and more.
I’m glad to have you all on Team Do The Work with me!
Uncle Cosmo
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Um, no, The Trinity test occured on July 16, 1945. You could have looked it up but I guess that was too much trouble.
WaterGirl
@ssdd: @Mousebumples:
Post up about Ohio.
Mousebumples
@WaterGirl: thanks!
H.E.Wolf
I just found the Worker Power Institute’s instagram feed. Looks as if there might be some good stuff there.
https://www.instagram.com/workerpowerinstitute/
H.E.Wolf
It is a very satisfying team to be on! And it seems to be growing, which is wonderful. The more the merrier! All are welcome.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Part of the problem here is there more then a few people who are looking for any old excuse to start screaming at someone over the pettyist of things. But pie quickly solves that issue.
frosty
WG – I’d like to see updates like this so keep them coming. The people they highlighted are amazing. I’m SUCH a non-people person; I love to see that they’re good at organizing and doing the work.
WaterGirl
@frosty: Thanks for the feedback! Looks like there is enough interest that I will put up a post whenever I get the updates.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Cheryl from Maryland: Thanks for the reminder! Off to go do both today!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@WaterGirl: please do! Its great to see.
Nancy
@frosty:
Me, too.WG, yes please
WaterGirl
@Josie: I can tell you who your stamp benefactor is if you want to know. :-)
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Thank you so much for these efforts. Helping organizations like these are critical. I participate in a liberal ‘Faith sharing’ group that can get demoralized. I’ve mentioned your efforts as an example of how not to be. Having someone to filter and focus our energies and contributions is a godsend.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
How does one participate in this school? Is it an online venture or is there a physical location somewhere?
WaterGirl
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: It’s a physical school, a month long in-residence Leadership School.