- Havdalah
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- Havdalah #45: Clowns, Kings, & Latin
Good evening, everyone,
It has been quite a week for the Trump administration, hasn’t it?
I try my best not to revel in the suffering of others, but I have to admit I experienced some delicious Schadenfreude reading about Elon’s hissy fit on Twitter after cutting government spending finally came back to bite him in the EV mandate. Maybe money can’t buy everything.
Hell hath no fury like a billionaire mega-donor scorned.
Part four of James’s series on Shakespeare’s Roman play is still in production, so we have a very educational rant from Kat today about what, in my experience hearing her talk about Catholicism, appears to be her Roman Empire: the Latin Mass.
Get outside, wear sunscreen, and smell the roses: June only comes once a year.
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu,
Jackie (she / her)
PS: We’d like to hear from you! Let us know how we’re doing!
Workers and Renters: Providence General Assembly
When: Saturday, June 7, 12:00pm and every other Saturday
Where: 134 Mathewson Street, Providence, RI 02903
From their Instagram:
Worried about Trump?
Want to defend our communities?
Want a world that works for everyone?
Come to the Providence General Assembly!
Spanish, ASL interpretation and childcare available upon email request
Masking requested and masks will be provided
Direct questions to [email protected]
JVP-RI 24 Hour Solidarity Fast for Gaza
When: Saturday, June 7, 7:30pm through Sunday, June 8, 7:00pm
Where: the Pedestrian Bridge, at James, Bridge Street, Providence, RI 02903 (6/7); India Point Park, 225 India Street, Providence, RI 02903 (6/8)
June 9 will mark 100 days since the Israeli government has blocked nearly all aid into Gaza. With the active support of the U.S., they have escalated the genocide in new and horrifying ways and it is up to us, as people of conscience, to bring attention to this new phase of the genocide.
People will gather on Saturday, June 7 at 7:30pm at the Providence Pedestrian Bridge for an opening ceremony and to launch their fast. They will reconvene starting at 11:00am on Sunday, June 8 at India Point Park for a day of programming including teach ins, art making, ritual, and more. They will end the fast together Sunday night at sundown.
They are also fundraising for the Middle East Children's Alliance. MECA is one of the only organizations who is on the ground feeding people in Gaza. Pledge to fast and/or donate to the Middle East Children's Alliance at the link below!
Schedule:
Saturday, 7:30pm: Opening ceremony
Sunday, 11:00am-7:00pm: Programming including teach-ins, ritual, art making, and more
Sunday, 7:00pm: Closing ceremony
JVP-RI Member Orientation and Information Session
When: Wednesday, June 11, 6:30pm-8:00pm
Where: Red Ink Library, 130 Cypress Street, Providence, RI 02906
In this meeting, JVP-RI will share a bit about their history and the work they’ve been doing since October 7, 2023 to end the genocide in Gaza. They’ll also review their core beliefs and principals, and share ways that you can become more deeply involved in our work.
The event is free, but JVP-RI are asking folks to register and reserve a space and so they have a sense of how many people will be there.
West Warwick Public Library Passport Appointments
When: Saturday, June 14, starting at 12:00pm
Where: West Warwick Civic Center, 100 Factory Street, West Warwick, RI 02893
Need a passport? The West Warwick Public Library is offering free appointments for folks to apply for a passport at West Warwick Pride.
Call 401-828-3750 for more information and to book an appointment
General Information on the Passport Application Process Page
Kick Out the Clowns Protest: End the Greatest Shit Show on Earth
When: Saturday, June 14, 12:00pm-4:00pm
Where: Two Mile Corner, 528 West Main Road, Routes 138 and 114 Intersection, Middletown, RI 02871
June 14 is our chance to reflect the absurdity of the MAGA regime and the clowns who lead it. To meet this moment, Women’s March will host community circuses nationwide — bold, creative actions that mirror the chaos MAGA has sown across the country. Together, they’ll set a national record for the most circuses held in a single day while they simultaneously refuse to celebrate a petty clown who desperately wants to be seen as strong. They won’t stop until they build the country we all deserve.
Their grassroots street circuses turn satire into resistance and reclaim the big tent for democracy.
Again, please do not register for a protest.
No Kings Nationwide Protest: Day of Defiance
When: Saturday, June 14, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Where:
Providence: Rhode Island State House, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02903
Warren: United States Postal Service, 53 Child Street, Warren, RI 02885
Middletown: Two Mile Corner, East Main Road & West Main Road, Middletown, RI 02842
Swansea: 573 G.A.R. Route 6, Swansea, MA 02777
Attleboro: Fiske Square, Downtown Attleboro, 1 Park Street, Attleboro, MA 02703
Fall River: Public sidewalks and grassy areas at the intersection of William S Canning Boulevard and Newton Street, 550 William S Canning Boulevard, Fall River, MA 02721
Join others to say NO THRONES, NO CROWNS, NO KINGS
NO KINGS is a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allies.
They’ve cracked down on free speech
Detained people for their political views
Threatened to deport American citizens
And defied the courts all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire allies.
🚨On Saturday, June 14, people are taking to the sidewalks all across the nation.
Join others on June 14th to say NO THRONES, NO CROWNS, NO KINGS. Check out nokings.org for more information.
Again, please do not register for a protest.
CARI June Community Meeting
When: Wednesday, June 18, 7:00pm
Where: Hamilton House, 276 Angell Street, Providence RI 02906
This (in-person) meeting will feature a presentation from Amanda Barker (Green Energy Consumers Alliance) on the current status of clean technology incentives and programs and their future under Trump.
ACLU Rights Explainers
When: Up now
Where: Online
The ACLU just released two updated versions of their explainers about your rights when interacting with immigration agents (ICE) or the police. They have them available in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Haitian Creole, French, Swahili, Dari, Pashto, and Khmer.
Read and save this material – regardless of your own immigration status – and send to friends and family! Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page to download PDFs that you can print, plus the ACLU posted on all their social media platforms (@riaclu) if you want to save and share online.
If you have a specific way to distribute larger numbers of the paper copies, please email the RI ACLU at [email protected] or call them at 401-831-7171. They have a limited supply printed, but will provide as many as they are able.
The Womxn Project’s Bodily Freedom Forever Index
When: Up now, updated every Tuesday
Where: Online
The Womxn Project has put together an index of politicians in RI, showing how candidates did in the 2024 election compared to their stance on bodily freedom. TWP will post weekly reports on Tuesdays, highlighting some of their findings from the BFFI.
They’re also welcoming people to come join them as they organize in each district, creating small hubs. With volunteers, they will keep building a more transparent political landscape with data-informed action and strategy. Check them out if you want to get involved!
Tomaquag Museum Lunch and Learn: “Our Communion Day” Illuminating the Legacy of Tribal Churches
When: Monday, June 23, 12:00pm
Where: Online (Zoom)
Join the Tomaquag Museum for their Lunch and Learn virtual program led by Kimonee M. Burke (Narragansett). She will discuss the legacy of Tribal Churches and their significance in Indigenous communities. Don't miss this opportunity for learning and engaging discussion!
Community Needs Pantry at the West Warwick Public Library
The West Warwick Public Library has a take what you need, give what you can community needs pantry near the front entrance. Please stop by to take something or to donate. The pantry is most in need of pasta, pasta sauce, shelf stable milk (all kinds), cereal, oatmeal, peanut / nut butter, and toilet paper.
Where: 1043 Main Street, West Warwick, RI 02893
Health and Safety Bill
Bill Number: H5171 Sub A as Amended
Summary: H5171 Sub A as Amended extends the sunset provision of the pilot program to prevent drug overdoses through the establishment of harm reduction centers for two (2) years to March 1, 2028.
Our Position: FOR / IN SUPPORT OF
Current Status:
The Senate passed H5171 Sub A as Amended in concurrence (5/29)
The bill was signed by the Governor (6/6)
\o/ 🙌
“Tax the Rich” Bill
Bill Number: S0329
Summary: S0329 creates an additional tax rate of 3% on taxable income over $625,000. Applies to tax years 2026 and thereafter but not retroactively. This legislation would raise taxes on the wealthiest Rhode Islanders to fund necessary government initiatives.
Our Position: FOR / IN SUPPORT OF
Current Status:
Committee recommended the measure to be held for further study (5/29)
Boooooo 👎
Latin in the Catholic Mass
Katherine (she / her)
So. If you are Catholic, or Catholic adjacent, you may have noticed that the use of Latin in the Mass is a bit fraught. A bit controversial. Has some overtones. If you haven’t noticed, or don’t need to care about this sort of a thing, bless you, I wish we could all live like that.
(Obligatory expertise disclaimer: the following is my understanding of this nonsense in an English speaking, American context. I believe at least some of it holds also for European Catholicism; I would hope that non-English speaking congregations in America have enough sense to avoid it, but I can’t say that for sure.)
For a bit of backstory, the Latin language and Roman Catholicism has a long history:
It’s the official language of the Vatican, though mostly by historical accident: the center of the Catholic Church is in Rome. If the center of gravity of the church had moved to Constantinople when Rome fell, the official language would likely be Greek. Latin is not considered any sort of sacred or divinely inspired language (neither is the King James Bible, thanks).
Official church and Vatican documents are written in Latin (including the Pope’s twitter!).
Historically, a lot of theology was written in Latin.
Until the Vatican II Council (concluded in 1965), the majority of the Mass service was in Latin. Now, it is entirely in the vernacular.
It was a big thing, to take Latin out of the Mass during Vatican II. It was part of a reorientation (ha) of the church, a deliberate choice to bring the laity into the Mass, to make the congregation a proper part of the service. For the first time since the average person actually spoke Latin, people could walk into their local church and understand the prayers the priest was saying. It was an earthquake in popular Catholicism, and one I thoroughly support.
But nowadays, it seems like everywhere you look there’s Latin creeping back into American (Anglo) Catholicism. It’s in the prayers, with single lines and then entire chunks in Latin, untranslated and unfamiliar, the priests hoping the congregation can swap in their mind in real time miserere nobis for “have mercy on us” and that they know how Dei is pronounced in ecclesiastical Latin. And that’s not even touching on the Tridentine Mass, where the whole damn thing is in Latin, pre-Vatican II style.
I will admit a weakness for the occasional Latin verse of a Christmas carol, but I do not understand untranslated Latin. Shockingly, neither do I instinctively know how to pronounce it, and I do not enjoy having to play linguistics pattern matching when I should be praying in church.
But aside from my dislike of it on it’s own terms, it’s a fucking dog whistle for tradcaths and I am not here for that. I am not here for giving in to that retrograde, schismatic, anti-Vatican II, Society of Pius X, hyper conservative, put women back in veils, the Mass into Latin, and priests back on the (figurative) altar. I am not here for even the ambiguous, possible implicit giving of ground to their nonsense by having a single prayer in Latin.
(Sidebar, for those free of the knowledge of Catholic Church politics: there’s a host of hyper conservative and arguably schismatic Catholics, generally called tradcaths, who reject modernity and the reforms of Vatican II. These reforms include, but are not limited to: Mass in the vernacular, not Latin; ecumenicalism; a refutation of antisemitism; a focus on the laity and a concurrent diminishment of the role of the ordained clergy in the Church; a recognition of a right to religious freedom. Fuck that noise.)
Latin used to be the language of the service of the Mass; it was (and still is) the language that official Vatican documents were written in; theoretically (though not in actuality) all priests could speak it. In theory, it provided a connectivity to the past of the church, and a universality to the current church. What it actually achieved, however, was often very different: isolating and infantilizing the congregation, because they were neither expected to understand or participate in the worship in Latin.
I think it’s time we put Latin on the shelf for a generation or two. Doesn’t matter if you just like it for the aesthetics, or if the priest actually understands it, it has too many overtones to not be a dog whistle for all kinds of politics. Some things are more important than aesthetics, and pushing away this hyper conservative, anti-Vatican II, retrograde conspiratorial wave is one of them.
We’re Catholics; we’re used to giving stuff up. Just think of it as a long term Lenten fast.
Needle Drop: “Electric Blue”, The Cranberries
News Round-Up: Local
Southeast Asian Community and allies rally for Nich Chourng, abducted by ICE and held at the Wyatt Detention Facility (Steve Ahlquist & Philip Eil for RIFuture.news, May 30, 2025)
Massachusetts Town Rallies to Demand ICE Release Local High School Student (Jake Johnson for Common Dreams & Truthout, June 2, 2025)
ICE holding immigrants in ‘abysmal’ conditions at Burlington office building, lawyers say (Miriam Wasser for WBUR, June 5, 2025)
Chariho School Committee Policy Subcommittee votes to rescind its masking policy (Steve Ahlquist in RIFuture.news, June 6, 2025)
News Round-Up: National
The NYPD Wants to Be Able to Keep Arresting Journalists Unimpeded (Nick Pinto for Hell Gate, May 9, 2025)
Bronx high school student showed up for a routine immigration court date. ICE was waiting. (Michael Elsen-Rooney for Chalkbeat New York, May 26, 2025)
Minneapolis to Feds: “Get the Fuck Out”: How People in the Twin Cities Responded to a Federal Raid (‘An antagonist in the back of the crowd’ for CrimethInc, June 4, 2025)
Trans woman in Philadelphia suffers burns after police say children threw acid on her (Rodrigo Torrejón for The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 5, 2025)
Op-Eds
Another way out: Fighting back against inaction (William C. Anderson for Prism, June 3, 2025)
When There’s Too Much Friction in the Air (Margaret Killjoy in Birds Before the Storm, June 4, 2025)
Pod Recs: It Could Happen Here, Movement Memos, & Weird Little Guys
Rendition by Private Jet (It Could Happen Here, May 28, 2025)
Awareness-Raising Protests Won’t Threaten the Richest, Most Well-Armed People on Earth (Movement Memos, May 29, 2025)
State Created Danger (Weird Little Guys, May 29, 2025)
What’s Happening in Immigration Court (It Could Happen Here, May 29, 2025)
The FDA Wants to Take Away Your Covid Vaccine, ft. Dr. Kaveh Hoda (It Could Happen Here, June 2, 2025)
Governing Fertility: How Pronatalist Policies Kill (It Could Happen Here, June 5, 2025)
Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #19 (It Could Happen Here, June 6, 2025)
