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Between Stories Part III: Collective Knowledge Sharing
13 - Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.~ Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century.
Over the past several weeks I’ve publicly explored the notion of being “between stories” an idea I first heard about in Ruha Benjamin’s Imagination: A Manifesto, as she referenced the work of philosopher Thomas Berry. Berry said,
“We are in between stories. The Old Story--the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it--is not functioning properly, and we have not learned the New Story. The Old Story sustained us for a long time. It shaped our emotional attitudes, provided us with life purpose, energized action. It consecrated suffering, integrated knowledge, guided education.” (1)
One can say a lot about that Old Story Berry speaks of, who it benefited and who and what it subjugated. And that it needed to go a long time ago.
All of this got me to thinking about how the same is true for the Old Story of America’s Democracy. And that this liminal space of chaos and fear exists because the New Story of democracy has not yet emerged. And that we don’t need to -- indeed cannot -- sit idly by thinking that a Democracy committed to the wellbeing of all will simply arise out of passive hope and wishful thinking. Democracy, being a human-made thing, requires us humans to create its New Story.
Many who heard this were eager to respond to the suggestion of creating American Democracy’s New Story, and they asked, “How do we go about doing that?” I initially offered an admittedly less than comprehensive list of Practices and Actions. Less than comprehensive because this needs to be a collective exercise in which we each contribute, fill in gaps of wisdom and knowledge, because no one holds it all, and then support one another in the practice and action of bringing the New Story into being.
It is with that in mind that practices and actions suggested by members and friends of the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship are offered here in response to my promise to collect their suggestions for what has been feeding their hearts, minds, and actions these days.
And this, too, is not a comprehensive list. But it can surely get the act of bringing a New Story into being started, and perhaps also jump-start some new ideas. Just remember: none of it works if you do nothing about it.
PRACTICES FOR HEART, SOUL, MIND
Spend time in nature
Losing myself in a good book from the Public Library.
Tara Brach - Buddhist Teacher
David Whyte’s Three Sunday Series or any of his books of poetry
Books for Heart, Soul, and Mind
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End - Atul Gawand
Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life's Purpose - Martha Beck
The Firebrand and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott (Pauli Murray & Eleanor Roosevelt)
In the Buddha’s Words - Bikkhu Bodhi
Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart - Brian D. McLaren
The Universal Christ - Richard Rohr
YOGA Ancient Heritage, Tomorrow's Vision by Indu Arora
READING
ACLU Magazine
Time Magazine
The New York Times
Washington Post
https://www.electoral-vote.com/
Electoral Vote Predictor, which tracks political polls for U.S. federal elections state by state. Also includes a blog.
On Substack:
Chris Geidner at Law Dork - Supreme Court, law, politics
Engaged Durhamites for Democracy
Erin Reed, Erin in the Morning, transgender and LGBTQ+ info,
Heather Cox Richardson - Letters From An American
Jessica Craven - Chop Wood Carry Water
This weekday newsletter gives you easy, effective political actions to take to stave off despair, effect positive change and elect more true public servants.
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, focuses on legal matters
Judd Legum - Popular Information
Dogged investigative journalist, particularly interested in following the money, but also breaks interesting stories and keeps on them (like book bans).
Katelyn Jetelina -- Your Local Epidemiologist
Wants to create a new story around how public health people communicate. Has met with people with very different points of view to try to find common ground. Committed to respectfully listening and learning.
Qasim Rashid- Let’s Address This - Human rights
Robert Hubbell - Today's Edition Newsletter
A reflection on today’s news through the lens of hope.
https://www.erininthemorning.com
Chris Geidner at Law Dork, https://www.lawdork.com/
Qasim Rashid- Let’s Address This, https://www.qasimrashid.com/
BOOKS
Abundance - Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Money, Lies, and God by Katherine Stewart
White Rural Rage - Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman
LISTEN
Bruce Springsteen - My City of Ruins (Manchester, England, May 14, 2025 [Official Live Video]) https://youtu.be/gO3r2T7D9Lw?si=1Ua-Af-IrrimhHUH
View: Several Young Content Creators on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@HasanAbi/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@SecondThought/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@noahsamsen/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@chris_kunzler
Action
Mobilize is a great site to check and sign up for local advocacy events
Bull City Indivisible holds meetings and posts about them through their Substack
www.5calls.org
Links you to your reps' phone numbers and lists issues with scripts. Pick the issue for that day.
Climate Action Now
https://www.climateactionnow.com/
Download the app to take quick actions to contact key political leaders with brief scripted templates on daily climate projects. (once it is set up you can take several actions in just a few minutes. They also provide updates and inspiring reads to learn about successes and challenges.
Action is the antidote to despair! That's why we created the Climate Action Now app and the Climate Action Now website - to make it easy and rewarding for you to take action that can make a difference.
Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/
Expert commentary from a 30-year veteran of US politics. Here at Hopium we work on strategies to defeat MAGA, tell our story more effectively, and ensure freedom and democracy prevail. Expect sharp analysis, live events, and all sorts of Hopium!
You can sign up for an email summary several times a week.(scroll to the bottom of the homepage to subscribe to email updates)
Links to podcasts and interviews with progressive, political activists and politicians.
There is a main sub stack page which gets updated almost daily.
Environmental Voter Project
https://www.environmentalvoter.org/
EVP identifies millions of non-voting environmentalists and turns them into consistent voters.
David Pakman is the main liberal podcaster I follow. I also follow The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
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Again, this is not a comprehensive list! But may it get you informed enough to feel compelled to take action.
Special thanks to: Susan Baylies, Judith Bergman, Nancy Couts, Julie Edmonds, Beth Harvat, Juanita Johnson, Sunny Ladd, Caron Lanouette, Clint McSherry, Barb Sheline, John Shoemaker, Evelyn Studer, and Helen Wolfson for their contributions.
Palms together,
Rev. Jacqueline
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