NEWSLETTER #14: Singing In the Rain
April 25, 2025
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The Audacity Newsletter #14: Singing in the Rain
Sure, it'll be raining hard, but times are hard. What an opportunity to show that we're even harder.
Newsletter #14: April 24, 2025
Contents:
1. Saturday at Noon: You Must Go Because It's Raining
2. Bring Food! AIO Food Pantry Collection at the Saturday Event
3. More Events A-Coming
4. Working Group Needs
1. Saturday at Noon: Go Because It's Raining
We're meeting for a demonstration in Rockland tomorrow: Saturday April 26, at Noon. The forecast calls for rain. Robinsunne said to me yesterday, "make sure that you tell everyone to visualize sunshine!" What should you do?
Well, you should go, of course, not DESPITE but BECAUSE of the rain. It's called a demonstration because we're demonstrating something. When we show up in the rain having dampened socks but not dampened spirits, we demonstrate that we are not a fair weather movement; we are committed; we will not stop.
And we must not stop coming. We must not stop coming because while it is mildly irksome to stand outside when it raining...
People who have been convicted of no crime are being sent to concentration camps in El Salvador where they will face torture, degradation, and possibly worse.
Children are going hungry as food rots.
Pregnant women are dying at twice the rate in states that have banned abortion, compared to states where it's legal... and the difference is widening.
Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested today at her courthouse in Wisconsin when she showed a man and his lawyer the way to a back door, after she found out ICE agents were waiting for the man at the front door. For taking on the role of the nuns in the second act of the Sound of Music. Republican members of Congress are cheering.
The list of the condemned is growing, and you're going to let a little rain stop you?
Of course, if you're physically challenged in some way, I get it. Otherwise, we're Mainers. We know how to dress for the elements. But you can bring an umbrella and a rain jacket. To help out a bit more, we're putting up not one but two canopies. Maybe you can bring one more and we can have a canopy city!
2. Bring Food, Hygiene Supplies, and Home Goods to Donate to AIO
Besides, we've got cool stuff going on:
We will record video for YouTube to show our determination, with anybody who wants to respond to the open question: Why Are You Standing Out In The Rain? We will share a compilation of your answers online.
We're doing our first trial run of making little fish as part of our Organize! fish project.
We are collecting food, hygiene products and household stuff to deliver to the AIO food pantry down the street, after AIO has revealed that the Trump administration is throttling deliveries of food to food banks across Maine. AIO says they are especially looking for the following:
Spices
Baking ingredients
Condiments
Salad Dressing
Jelly
Mac & cheese
Canned Soup
Baby, Toddler and Adult Diapers
Pull-ups and Baby Wipes
Baby Food
Laundry detergent
Deodorant
Cleaning supplies
Soap
Toothbrushes
Shampoo & Conditioner
Look for a marked large cardboard box next to where we'll have our free political buttons, under one of the canopies.
3. More Events A-Coming!
Remember when people said "where's the activism?" We don't have that problem any more! Here are some more upcoming events. Be sure to note our big day of Saturday May 3 -- a Mass Meeting and a Demonstration to follow.
Resistance Faire Tabling/Presentation/Performance Application Deadline!
Resistance Faire takes place Saturday, May 10 (firm: 1-5 pm)
Place: Unitarian Universalist Church of Belfast: 37 Miller Street
Application Deadline to staff an information table, make a presentation, or mount a performance is Sunday, April 27
Share your Idea at https://forms.gle/zvy7mAPW7FGcAiYG7
This free, joyous event will allow Belfast and Midcoast community members to come together, learn about and share ways to advance justice in their communities, plug into existing work, enjoy local food and music, and join spaces for emergent change-making in real time.
Please use this form to register to lead a workshop and/or table at the Resistance Faire. The registration form will close on April 27, 2025 at noon, but submitting earlier is better to ensure a slot.
Save Democracy Town Hall
Monday, April 28
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Waldo Theater, Waldoboro
Brought to you by our friends at Lincoln County Indivisible. On Monday, April 28th, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, there will be a Save Democracy Town Hall in the Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro. Historian Benjamin Carter Hett will open the meeting. He has written books on German History and the Nazi rise to power, including The Death of Democracy. Senator Susan Collins has been invited to participate, although so far has not accepted. Attendees will read personal statements describing how the policies and actions of the current administration are impacting them. The statements will be delivered to Senators Collins and King, and Representatives Pingree and Golden. Email Jan John at janjohn1us@yahoo.com to reserve your free ticket.
Rockland Pride Kick-Off Party
Monday, April 28, 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Steelhouse Basement, 639 Main Street, Rockland
Pride month is coming, and it is so important for us to make a showing this year. So get yourself to the kick-off party, where we can get started with the organizing. All are welcome! Please bring food to share.
Email rocklandmainepride@gmail.com for more information.
Flatbread Benefit Concert for the Penobscot Nation Food Pantry on Indian Island
Tuesday, April 29
4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
at Flatbread in Rockport (399 Commercial Street)
Grab a bite to eat and enjoy musicians Gabe Zacchai, Will Neils, and Aaron Englander as they play a unique blend of American music at the Flatbread Pizza joint on Route 1 in Rockport on Tues. April 29 from 4-7 pm. For every large pizza you buy (either to pick up or eat in the restaurant), the Flatbread folks will donate $3.50 to the Penobscot Nation Food Pantry. For every small pizza, Flatbread will donate $1.75. Together, we hope these dollars and cents will add up to a meaningful difference.
Dance Party Working Group Meeting
Wednesday, April 30, 3 PM
137 Main Street, Warren
Imagine we throw a dance party and invite everyone -- donations appreciated! It's a fundraiser, we'll have educational tables for when they just can't boogie no more, and that makes an opportunity for us to grow in budget and in new members. Plus, you know, we'll have fun. (Remember "fun?")
Portland May Day Event
Thursday, May 1, 2025 3:30 PM - 6:30 PM
35 Bedford Street, Portland, ME
Stop the billionaire takeover! On May Day, Thurs, May 1st at 3:30 in Portland, we're walking out of our jobs to rally with 100+ labor unions and social justice organizations across the country to stand up for working people, end the racist attacks, and stop Trump and Musk’s billionaire cronies. Gather outside the McGoldrick Center on the USM Portland campus (35 Bedford Street).
On this historic day to honor workers, we are all working people, and we stand together against the billionaires who are violently targeting our communities and neighbors, destroying livelihoods, gutting public resources, and driving up costs just to pad their own pockets. More info at https://www.mobilize.us/surj/event/776818/. Contact laura@laurasquinn.com for more details or carpooling.
Orono May Day Demonstration
Thursday, May 1, 2025 6 PM - 7 PM
Orono Village Green, Next to the Orono Public Library
"This May Day," say organizers of this rally, "workers and allies will turn the page." In Eastern Maine, the University of Maine Graduate Workers Union is fighting for a fair first contract. Labor organizations and Mainers of all stripes will join in action in support of the Grad Workers’ fight and then discuss the work to build union power and worker democracy.
The Audacity Mass Meeting
Saturday, May 3, 10 AM - 11:30 AM
345 Broadway, Rockland (UU Church)
More about this next week, but here's a chance for us to get together and plan. The Outreach working group will talk about setting up conversation circles. We'll consider how to handle the continued non-communication from Senator King and Senator Collins on Town Halls. We're going to refocus on questions of how to approach actiism in a time of danger and a time when we must make a public stand.
The Audacity Demonstration in Chapman Park
Saturday, May 3, Noon-1
Corner of Park & Main, Rockland
Its going to rain tomorrow, which means we must have glorious weather the next week. Show up in numbers. Bring a drum. Bring your dudgeon. Bring 5 friends.
4. Working Group Needs
Quick Notes:
The Visual Art working group needs someone to step up to serve as a communication wrangler, and someone else to be a representative to the coordinating circle.
On a related note, Emily Jenks is looking for someone with screen printing equipment.
If you can help out with these needs, email contact@audacitycat.com.
I'll see you in the rain tomorrow!
- James Cook, Facilitator, The Audacity
