This Is What Democracy Looks Like

 

The title of this post is from my very favorite protest march rallying cry, when organizers with bullhorns chant THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE to the throngs of people assembled. Chokes me up every time.

On Saturday, democracy looked a lot like me and Jack sweatily knocking on doors to ask our neighbors to vote for the Harris/Walz ticket and Senator Tammy Baldwin. It was a really fun canvass because we had strong Democrats on our list along with the usual roster of friendly— but not always faithful— voters. 

That’s something to note if you have never canvassed before: you won’t be walking into any hostile situations— you are only knocking on your own’s party’s doors. Usually the people you are talking to haven’t voted in a while or maybe don’t always vote in midterms. Having strong Dems also on the list was a treat —so many excited voters instead of just polite but nonplussed people.

 Door knocking is more about getting out the vote, typically, than about changing hearts and minds. You just talk, drop some campaign literature, and leave. Remind people to make a plan to vote as you walk down their front path. Then you enter a few details into your canvassing app and knock on the next door. It’s a pleasant way to pass a lovely couple of hours.

I prefer a Saturday morning shift because a good chunk of your list will probably be at the grocery store or at a soccer game, and you can just leave a pamphlet under their welcome mat and move on. I like to be able to balance a few houses of conversations with a few houses of dropping and running, you know?

I had one super awkward encounter with a younger many who said he was not voting because the system is too corrupt and he wants to watch it burn. I was like Oh, I see. Do you think you’re persuadable on any issue? And he said no. Just flatly. NO. I said I like to talk to people because I am really committed to voting for a candidate who has a clear plan to make the country better, and he said MAYBE I WILL WRITE IN BERNIE.

Oh! And! I knocked on a door answered by a guy who looked familiar. I said I was with our neighborhood action group and asked him if he had a plan to vote, and he said in a really stilted manner, “I am looking forward to participating in the process.” I walked down his front path thinking those were some weird vibes, and then I clocked the state rep sign in his yard and realized HE WAS THE GUY ON THE SIGN. For a minute I felt bad for not recognizing him, but who recognizes their state rep on the street?

Honestly, I would not recognize my US Senator Tammy Baldwin if I bumped into her on the street or at the grocery store. That’s what’s so cool about volunteering during election season— you realize that politicians are just regular people who live in your communities and wear slacks with big white sneakers.

But of course I knew who she was when I met her at the action group’s headquarters, and she kicked off our canvass. SO COOL!

Summer Foods: What's Working and What's Not + A WI ICE CREAM TOUR

Oh, food. So delicious. So vital. SUCH A GIANT PAIN IN THE NECK. Today, I am thinking about what my family is eating: what’s working, what’s not, and what’s AWESOME. 

Not Working:

*Eating stuff at the pool. YOU GUYS. Constant garbage food to the tune of $50/trip IS NOT WORKING FOR ME. But also! It is all on me to make sure we have food around 5:30 WHEN WE HAPPEN TO BE AT THE POOL. So far, convenience and ennui has won out, but! I just downloaded my banking app, and I think checking my balances more frequently will motivate me to STOP SPENDING ALL MY FUN MONEY ON GARBAGE FOOD.

*Shopping on rote so the cabinets are full of 3 open boxes of the same food. Do your kids do this too? Just open a new box even though there is a PERFECTLY FINE half-eaten box ALREADY ON THE SAME SHELF? I think I need to wait until things run out to buy more. Novel idea, huh? It’s easy when you only order groceries for pick up to just shop your standard weekly cart, but it’s also pretty wasteful.

Working:

*Abandoning formal menu plans to have easy meals in-stock for at-will consumption. Loving lately: make-your-own mini naaan pizzas; omelets and pancakes and fruit; spaghetti with sautéed shrimp and peppers; grilled brie and apple sandwiches; burgers and bagged salad (we are really branching out burger-wise. Ben and I love Impossible frozen burgers from Costco as well as the Kirkland salmon burgers— neither of us is eating meat right now, and we’re loving it. Still doing cheese, eggs, milk, and fish, though), tacos of course (kids still like beef, but I really like Kirkland frozen cod fillets with Trader Joe’s chili lime seasoning); veggie and hummus wraps with fruit and veggies and dip.

*Online grocery shopping: worth overstocking accidentally time-wise.

*ONLY EATING WHEN I AM HUNGRY AND STOPPING WHEN I AM FULL. Wild, huh?

REALLY, REALLY WORKING

A totally ludicrous WI ice cream tour we went on for the 4th of July. We hit 4 WI-only ice cream parlors (two of the served the same kind of WI-made ice cream, but this could not be helped because 2 original originals we planned to hit were closed for the 4th) and sampled house specialities at each place. SO FUN— and we made a note to go back to one when we weren’t so full (I could only eat 3 dill pickle cheese curds and a few bites of Dorothy’s s'mores sundae in Beaver Dam, and this was tragic).

Stop 1:

Notes: YES pineapple on banana splits! WHERE do you find frozen strawberries in syrup these days? YES to pop rocks on sundaes, and WHY don’t all ice cream parlors make their own fudge?

Stop 2:

Notes: YES to the homemade candy— bonus that Minnie found a piece shaped like an airplane. Delicious coffee and popcorn. We did not LOVE the superhero ice cream and prefer superhuman from Chocolate Shoppe in Madison.

Stop 3: 

Notes: Must return! When I am hungry! SO DELICIOUS. The s’mores sundae was peeeeerfect.

Stop 4: AN OLD FAVE

Notes: The “sampler” is just 4 huge scoops in the same cup— beware what you blend together. Also, the triple cheese grilled cheese is the best food ever.

Teaching outfit 10/27:

(A TJ Maxx dress I bought before JACK was born that is black and white giraffe print)

Teaching outfit 11/27:

(Casual because I was proctoring an exam and that's it)

That one time I actually listened to the tornado sirens

Anyone who has read this blog for a hot second knows that I am an anxious person. I just rescheduled a post about how our lack of a dance schedule for summer is making me twitchy, for example. I RUN ANXIOUS. (Acupuncture todaaaaaaaaaaay thank goodness).

Something I am not anxious about? Storms. 

Sure, I do not like to drive in them and would prefer not to have to take shelter in, say, a walk-in cooler in a Walgreen’s back room (which is something the weather man actually advised people who were out and about last night to do), but once my people and I are all at home, I am not worried. I never even go in my basement when the sirens go off. Instead, I watch the radar and reserve real storm prep for tornadoes that are actually in my neighborhood. And? Spoiler: THEY ARE NEVER IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

Except for last night.

I LOVED THAT TREE YOU GUYS.

This weather alert made me lol:

But Ben’s response was THE BEST:

The kids were CHAMPS. Except one kid  **cough cough** COOPER **cough cough** who was upstairs eating a snack just before we lost power for real (after 3 flickers that made us know power loss was imminent and wish we were the kind of people who had flashlights in the house) AND LEFT THE FRIDGE OPEN.

We introduced Minnie to Zingo, and she is a FAN

But then! We had to move from the random toy room part of the downstairs that has windows and sliding doors to an interior closet area because ACUTAL TORNADO IN OUR AREA, and Minnie decided she hated storms because it’s weird to be hanging out in a closet. With your whole family.

Still she Zingoed on.

Bedtime with no power was… like camping? No one washed themselves (quick hands, face, teeth), and everyone was eventually just super bored and fell asleep. Minnie kept telling me she could not sleep, but I played a lullaby playlist on my phone and gave her my book light (note to self: charge book light— and maybe get some flashlights? OR A GENERATOR), and she literally starting snoring as she was complaining about not being able to sleep. (She slept in Ben’s bed and snored all night long like a little white noise machine).

I woke up to power mostly on (had to reset some breakers) and this absolute bummer of an email

Also, I am very worried about my peonies underneath this portion of a different tree

Aaaaand I am not super stoked about going out to look at Harry’s car parked in the driveway durning massive hail or, you know, the roof.

But! Things could have been SO MUCH WORSE! These storms were terrible, and we were so lucky. We got local news through our CBS station via the Paramount+ app, and our newly ordered weather radio (besides making a terrible high pitched alert that sounded like a firework beginning to detonate and making everyone super duper tense) was a champ as well. Also, it arrived JUST AS the first severe weather alerts came rolling in— phew!!