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- Havdalah #30: Abolition, Revelation, & Again Truly Please VOTE
Havdalah #30: Abolition, Revelation, & Again Truly Please VOTE
25 Tishrei, 5785 / October 26, 2024
White Rose RI
October 26, 2024
Shavua tov, neighbors, and happy Halloween!
This is the month when I am at my most powerful and irritating. I have been sending photos of red leaves to all of my friends and acquaintances (and the White Rose RI group chat), using every excuse to get into costume, immersing myself in horror stories, and eating aaall the candy at work.
Admittedly, I do most of those things year-round, but this month it’s special.
I’ll concede, I’m clinging very hard to my love of the season to avoid thinking about what comes after. And what’s come before. And also what’s currently happening. Frankly, it’s easier to think about horror as a genre than as a (very real) experience. I like thinking about Autumn and spookiness and treats a lot more.
But, as Katherine pointed out last year, it’s impossible to truly evade the truth of Allhallowtide: it all comes back to death. And in the moments of quiet and stillness, it’s death that’s sitting with me. It’s death that refuses to leave. It’s death that waits. Underneath the red leaves — and red whatever else — is the same dust.
This issue, Katherine is finally releasing my favorite of her poems, and if the horror in that somehow isn’t existential enough for you, there’s always Fash Watch. We’ve also got a fundraiser in our Mutual Aid section and a forum in What’s On, both of which I’d especially like to direct your attention to.
I’m spending this Halloween seesawing between mania and mourning, but maybe that’s what it’s always been about. I’m just observing the holiday as I’m meant to.
Bella ciao.
AMOR Forum on Detention Abolition Legislation
When: Tuesday, October 29, 6:30pm-7:30pm
Where: Zoom
Across the country, states are passing legislation to close private prisons and remove ICE detention from public facilities. Join AMOR for a Forum on Detention Abolition Legislation. Learn about legislation to Shut Down the Wyatt Detention Center this upcoming legislative session.
RI General Election
The RI general election is November 5th. We encourage you to make a plan to vote! You can look up your voter registration, polling location, and early voting information online: RI Voter Info
A few notes on the ballot questions from local organizations:
AMOR, the ACLU, and other organizations encourage you to REJECT QUESTION 1 to protect the remaining rights of Rhode Islanders from the influence of special interest groups.
“We stand opposed to the proposed constitutional convention because it would allow for outside influences and money to impact the Rhode Island constitution and propose amendments that would be harmful to civil rights and civil liberties. In fact, Rhode Island held the last state constitutional convention in the nation in 1986, and among the constitutional amendments put to the voters were measures that restricted the right to bail and expanded the people who could not vote due to criminal convictions. In fact, the major constitutional amendment that arose was a proposal declaring that life begins at conception. Decisions like these should be made through legislative processes that have more public oversight.
Constitutional conventions are expensive (an estimated $5 million). We know that money would be better spent making our state more democratic for everyone, instead of investing in a process that would further inscribe the interests of big money into the infrastructure of our state.
We know that when people understand the consequences of convening a Constitutional Convention they oppose it.”
The Tomaquag Team is asking for your support for Question 5!
“A ‘Yes’ vote on Question 5 will allow Rhode Island to issue $10 million in bonds to improve arts facilities and historic preservation efforts statewide, benefiting cultural organizations like the Tomaquag Museum.
Your ‘Yes’ vote will have a meaningful impact on our community's cultural vitality and economic prosperity.”
Continuing Actions for Palestine
Jewish Voice for Peace Weekly Flyering
When: Every Wednesday, 5:00pm-6:00pm
Where: Providence Train Station, 100 Gaspee Street, Providence, RI 02903
JVP RI invites all to join them in their efforts to spread the word about their work and simple actions people can take to demand an end to the genocide in Palestine. They meet on the Statehouse side of the train station.
Weekly Kaddish
When: Every Sunday, 1:00pm-1:30pm
Where: Michael Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge, Providence, RI 02903
Jewish Voice for Peace RI and allies will be hosting a weekly gathering on Sundays to recite the Mourners Kaddish and communally grieve the Palestinians murdered by the Israeli military. You need not be Jewish to attend; all are welcome to participate.
Power Half-Hours for Gaza
When: every day, Monday through Friday, 3:00pm EST
Where: online
Jewish Voice for Peace is holding Power Half-Hours for Gaza every day — join us as we channel our fury and sorrow into collective action to stop genocide.
Ceasefire Today Toolkit
This toolkit has a variety of links, including call scripts, groups accepting donations, phone banks, petitions, and more
News Coverage
As always, especially when getting news from social media, be aware of who is sharing information and why they’re doing it.
Al Jazeera Coverage of the War on Gaza has continued to be a reliable source
Mondoweiss has also provided excellent context and deep dive pieces.
Lunch & Learn: From Columbus to Indigenous
When: Monday, October 28, 12:00pm-1:00pm
Where: Zoom
Columbus Day has been a national holiday since 1937. However, recent years have seen increasing changes within communities to move from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Why the movement for change? This presentation is an exploration of the origins of Columbus Day, the controversy surrounding the holiday, and the movement for change. Tomaquag Museum provides the facts, you decide what feels right for you.
Electoral Process Discussions
When: Wednesday, November 6, 4:00pm
Where: Willett Free Library, 45 Ferry Road, Saunderstown, RI 02874
This is a course on the electoral process in the United States, and will be an opportunity to learn about it through fact based, apolitical discussion.
11/6 - Post Election Discussion
Court Debt Fund Fundraiser
When: Friday, November 15, 8:00pm-12:00am
Where: Art by Ariel Cruz, 249 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860
DARE’s grassroots fundraised court debt fund is running low and they need your help to bring it back up! Join them for a night of fundraising to support individuals struggling with court debt. Let's come together to make a difference in our community! There will be a raffle of a 70-inch Smart TV for $10 a ticket and smaller raffle items for $1 a ticket. Dinner will be provided. Entertainment by DJ Kenny.
Free Parking across from the venue.
No ticket sales at the door. Please purchase your Court Debt Fund Fundraiser Tickets in advance.
Revelation 20:13
Katherine (she / her)
The sea gave up its dead today.
The eldest first, prokaryotes and their children microbes,
— Fish and whale, trilobite and shark
Each age of the world born again in drowned glory
All the creatures that have perished in the salt sea
Turned to stone or food or oil.
Each one was spat onto the shore
And trudged to its appointed place.
Each one predator and prey in turn
And blameless as both.
But others came too, less innocent, more accusing.
The Sea Peoples, fleeing death and bringing it in their wake.
Stolen slaves, still chained, iron rusting on their wrists.
Pirates and their victims, with blood and gold in their teeth.
Refugees, with papers in their pockets and diamonds in their hems.
Submariners, dead of starvation, forgotten while they waited for orders from the silent world their keys had made.
Awaiting judgment, they stand:
The unburied dead, given unto the waters,
In multitudes uncounted, rank upon rank
On a glass beach under a black sky
With water in their mouths and salt on their skin
And far off infernos reflecting in their drowned eyes.
Needle Drop: “London Calling”, The Clash
News Round-Up: Local
Westerly School Committee forum reveals some stark partisan divides (Steve Ahlquist, October 20, 2024)
Jewish students at Brown face possible discipline for sleeping in a religious structure (Olivia Ebertz for The Public’s Radio, October 22, 2024)
Tiverton School Committee members speak out against hateful anti-trans rhetoric (Steve Ahlquist, October 24, 2024)
News Round-Up: Inter/National
Israel Preps for Strike on Iran, Top Secret Leak Reveals (Ken Klippenstein, October 19, 2024)
Preparing for Election Day Threats Amid Rising Right-Wing Violence (Kelly Hayes in Organizing My Thoughts, October 24, 2024)
Deep Dives & Op-Eds
I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is (Charlie Warzel for The Atlantic, October 10, 2024)
Keeping Each Other Alive: Mental Health and Collective Survival (Kelly Hayes in Organizing My Thoughts, October 13, 2024)
Prisons Have Become Finishing Schools for the Alt-Right (Ali Winston for Type Investigations and Vanity Fair, October 15, 2024)
The Ghosts of John Tanton (Abrahm Lustgarten for ProPublica, October 19, 2024)
We deserve it (Luke O’Neil in Welcome to Hell World, October 22, 2024)
Pod Recs: It Could Happen Here, Weird Little Guys, & Behind the Bastards
Hurricane Conspiracy Theories (It Could Happen Here, October 14, 2024)
Burning Hate: Tyler Dykes (Weird Little Guys, October 17, 2024)
The History of American Masculinity Grifters [Part One] (Behind the Bastards, October 22, 2024)
The History of American Masculinity Grifters [Part Two] (Behind the Bastards, October 24, 2024)
