HariCuts

Just 6 days to go till Election Day in the election of our lifetimes, and this week I bring you THREE very special guests: fellow badass phone bank trainers Nancy, Nimat, and Sherrie. We dive into the joys and travails of training phone bank callers, and so this is a "behind the scenes" episode filled with trainer-talk on the art and science of crafting effective and engaging training sessions for equipping people with the skills and confidence needed to make phone calls to swing-state voters. We explore some of the challenges of designing training for complex auto-dialer systems like ThruTalk, persisting with surprisingly tech-challenged people who themselves surprise us with their own persistence, negotiating difficult conversations with hosts and with "backseat trainer" participants, and reflect on how we have each learned and grown as trainers during these past several weeks. I also share a special announcement about my upcoming trip to Wisconsin next week to serve as a trained election observer for the Wisconsin Democrats on election night! Stay tuned, stay human, stay dangerous.

2 weeks to go till Election Day in the election of our lifetimes, and this week I bring you the #BTS episode, stories from being behind the scenes with the WisDems virtually as I become a rapid response "supervolunteer" with them. Also featuring a surprise mystery letter from a voter in Wisconsin that arrived in my mailbox yesterday! So come with me as we dive into the world of organizing digitally, finding virtual community on Slack channels with other trained rapid response volunteers, inspiring stories of everyday people from around the country going above and beyond, and the impressive and innovative efforts of the WisDem field organizers in recruiting and training almost 2000 poll observers all through virtual Zoom sessions. And, to close with a heartfelt and powerful message from an elderly voter who wrote to me personally, but whose words I read out loud to share with all of you who are also working your hearts out to defeat Trump in the election of our lives. On y va.

3 weeks to go, and COVID is back in the news, reminding us that the election of our lifetimes is taking place in the middle of the most deadly global pandemic of our lifetimes. Battleground states such as Wisconsin, where I'm volunteering, are facing a rapid surge in COVID cases with real implications for in-person voting that begins next week. And meanwhile Trump continues to spread rampant misinformation and lies about COVID as he apparently is miraculously cured from the disease himself. So, in that context, in this episode I dive into actual science, data, and facts around COVID. I summarize the key ways the virus affects the body, explaining the surprising range of symptoms and the many ways it kills people, and describe why COVID is much more lethal than the flu. I also dive into data dashboards and provide guidance on which key statistics to pay attention to as cases surge with the onset of the winter flu season. Based on the science and data, I summarize the facts that we know about precautions we can take, responses to possible exposure, treatment and recovery insights, and why herd immunity is not only a bad idea, it is just flat out unethical in killing millions of people, and may not even work. All of this leads me to draw 4 main conclusions: (1) Buckle up: don't let your guard down, practice basic precautions such as wearing a mask, social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face, avoiding indoor spaces and crowds, etc. (2) Buck up: Stay resilient, don't set a timeline for when you think things will be "normal", because (3) Brace yourself: things will get worse before they get better, and many areas of the world are likely to go back into a lockdown over the next few months, and so (4) Be: BE informed and aware, BE part of our societal 'immune response system' to the dangerous 'viral' spread of misinformation and lies. Cheery topic! On y va...

Week 4, the week that feels like a year -- during which Trump gets covid, and the stupidest apocalypse gets even stupider. In this episode I share a little bit about what my week looks like, as a phone bank volunteer, as a worker with a full-time day job, as a single dad, and as someone isolated and alone during this pandemic, while the President of the United States makes getting sick with this dangerous virus into a reality show all about himself. I also share my own reflections and analysis of this particular moment in history, and the feelings of being abused by a narcissist at a national level. Cheery stuff! On y va, stay dangerous...

Just 5 weeks to go, and the day after the first presidential debate, I pivot from the trauma and depression of watching that orange ... thing ... assault basic human decency, and I instead focus this episode on the basic human decency of everyday people who are getting involved in this election. In this episode I introduce Linda and Frank, two inspiring Wisconsinites whom I talked with on the phone during my phonebanking. I also introduce friends and coworkers who stepped up just this past week to get involved alongside me: Sherrie, Mark, Kevin, Michelle, Darrell, Louvere, Kyle, Mike, and so many others. And just this past week, we scaled up our Wisconsin phone banks to now have 7 phone banks per week, up from what were just 2 phone banks four weeks ago when I interviewed Steve. We couldn't do this without two amazing fellow trainers, Nancy and Nimat, who stepped up this past week to ramp up on the training materials I put together. And just this past week, four other women stepped up to start two new phone banks with us: Janet and Shehla from the interfaith SalaamShalom Sisterhood of Jewish and Muslim women, and Annie and Jen who started a phone bank on Annie's birthday. And so many other folks who are callers in these phone banks. And it's all these people, coming together, old, young, tech-savvy or tech-weary or tech-challenged, across religions and races and genders, that gives me motivation and inspiration after yesterday's debate. So... on y va, 5 weeks to go, and we go, together.

Hey, you -- yeah, YOU, reading this right now and listening to this episode... this is your call to adventure, get involved, join me in making an impact on the election of our lifetimes. Yes, we only have 6 weeks to go, and this is the week when RBG passed away. The stakes just got that much higher, the motivating tensions got that much tenser, and I am getting pushy with friends and coworkers. In this episode, I feature a conversation with Ben, a leader and co-organizer of Wisconsin phonebanks with Swing Left Greater Boston. We reflect on phonebanking, and the community of volunteers that are getting involved at this crucial turning point in the story. So, on y va, let us push onward together.

7 weeks to go till the election of our lifetimes! This week I interview Rebecca, a fellow phone bank trainer and a mom, activist, and social change educator. We get to know a bit more of her story and motivating tensions driving her involvement in making an impact on the election. We dive into the world of being a peace marshall for street protests, electoral activism, and taking the long view on whatever happens 50 days from now. On y va!

8 weeks to go to the election of our lifetimes, and this week I dive into the world of being a poll worker. I bring you behind the scenes of a small precinct at a polling station in the Central Massachusetts town of Auburn, during the Massachusetts state primary election on Tuesday, September 1. Come with me on the journey of a 16-hour day working the polls... On y va!

Featuring my first guest interview: Steve, an organizer of phonebank calls into Wisconsin. It's Tue, Sept 1, and exactly 9 weeks to go till the election of our lifetimes. This week we get into the world of phonebanking, and we get to see a bit of the behind-the-scenes life of an everyday volunteer and organizer, Steve. And we get into the events of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and how the emotions of this week weigh on our minds as we think about Gramsci's maxim of "optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect." Steve gives us an inspiring view of the arc of history, and how he sees his role as simply helping to move it along a little. And that's the "Long View" that keeps me going this week. On y va, stay human, stay tuned, stay dangerous. [Music credit: "The Long View" by Purple Planet Music, provided royalty-free.]

It's the election of our lifetimes, and certainly the most consequential election of my life. We will all be telling stories about this election for decades to come -- but what are the stories we are crafting in the weeks leading up to this election? What are the stories of us everyday people, like you and me, looking to make a difference in this election? I am not an expert or a celebrity with any influence, so what can I do as just an everyday person to impact something so big, with such high stakes, as the election of our lifetimes? As Gramsci said, it's not about "pessimism of the will and optimism of the intellect" but about reversing those, it's about "optimism of the will and pessimism of the intellect." In that spirit, here are everyday stories, of volunteers like me, and stories from my own experiences each week in making calls as a phonebank trainer and being a poll worker.

Each week, I'll share a few short stories from that week's efforts, from my own perspective as just an everyday volunteer. I'll also interview other volunteers whom I'm meeting in these next few weeks. Hopefully these stories and interviews give you a sense of the cadence and rhythm of stories over the next 10 weeks, counting down week by week. And, hopefully, as a "2020" retrospective/oral history of the plot twists and motivating tensions we are about to experience ahead.

The background music for this series of episodes is the song "The Long View", royalty-free and shared freely by Purple Planet Music. Along those lines, join me, in taking the 'long view' to Election 2020.

A bridge episode in which I reflect on a historic and eventful month of June, including Juneteenth, and reflect on some of the stories that come together in the broader story of making sure that Black Lives Matter. I dive into the story of the 2009 arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and walk through the official police report as an example of systematic storytelling that dehumanizes Black lives. A lot has changed since 2009, but we are at a moment when we are all called to find ways to join our stories together to change the systems that dismiss Black lives. How can storytelling help us in not just telling but making stories that matter, so that we are not just spectators but we are actively crafting turning points at this critical moment in history?