One Astronomer's Noise…

Hey, all, how are you feeling? We just had a national election that was basically a bitchslap to Trump 2.0. Pretty great right?

Maybe you’re excited to see change. Maybe you’re cautiously hopeful, but seriously doubt that elected Democrats are really going to stand up to authoritarianism and make the changes we want to see. But you’re probably somewhere in between (or tangential to those in some other direction I don’t see!) This is as good a time as any to dig into how you can be a part of this moment and help MAKE the changes you want to see.

Want to get started and skip the whole back story? Go Here. (If only recipe blogs all did this.)

I would say my first real activist “awakening” came in 2014, when I decided, after years of reading about racial inequalities, to drive over the river to Ferguson, Missouri, and take part in the protests against the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer. When I go back and read the blog post I wrote afterwards, I cringe. But… there is value in seeing where I came from as someone who was politically a mess of contradictions and confusion up to and at that point.

Going back further, I was always interested in justice, and I got a lot of that from the teachings of my mother. She used to say to me, “it’s too bad you missed the 60s. You would have fit right in, been on the front lines of those protests.” I was intrigued by the Occupy protests that began in 2011, but watched from the sidelines.

Seeing the movement in action on the ground in Ferguson changed me, especially when I compared it to the media portrayals that were wildly incongruent with my experience there. For several years after that, as I began my job as a full time professor in New Hampshire, I did what all good nerds do… I read. Well, I was a nerd who was too attached to social media at the time, so that meant articles, blogs, and purposely following folks on Twitter (RIP) who had a different life experience from me. I went to every DEI-themed teaching workshop I could get my hands on, since classroom teaching had become my main occupation. I spoke up around the institution when I thought I could, and when I couldn’t, my amazing tenured colleagues passed my messages along anonymously. I connected with students who were struggling with a society that wasn’t fully welcoming of their identity, especially the LGBTQ folks who, it turns out, helped ME come out of the closet.

I don’t know if any of that is really activism, since what I did was sporadic, in bursts, and often quietly by myself. When Trump was elected president the first time, I joined newsletters and local Facebook groups. I marched on Washington. I protested with locals. But, I never found solid footing in something where I felt I was truly making a difference.

By the time the COVID pandemic hit and Black Lives Matter had a huge moment, I was already jaded enough to be like, where were you folks all this time? I joined the push anyway. As I got tenure, I loaded up on committees, formal and informal, working to address racism, homophobia, and transphobia on campus. Well… or so I thought. Some of the work was good. A lot of it felt… directionless. Atomized. Or over-bureaucratized. We made some progress, yes. But, as someone who realistically spent most of their time grading, prepping lessons, and answering emails, I had no real focus to align my values of justice and equity to my actions. After Biden was elected, I admit, I completely dropped larger scale politics from my radar. (Any difference I did make, I hope, was in my classrooms, and I intend to continue that after my sabbatical.)

Then, the 2024 election came. I was head-down, completely ignoring the world outside my job in my first semester as department chair. The enormity of the moment didn’t really hit me until I’d handed in final grades and taken a breath and OMG this administration is COMING like a thousand ton weight. And then I got to be department chair of a small physics department at a small institution WHILE science and higher education were being ripped apart and other things happened that directly affected my family outside of work. It was… bad. Like, end up in urgent care with a severe panic attack bad. Like, burnout so bad I could barely think bad.

I never stopped reading articles and following people who were doing the work. I was convinced that acting locally was my best option, but I continued to bounce around different groups. It’s only recently that I’ve settled into a pattern with a regular group who shares my values and who seems stable and organized enough for an anxious wreck like me to find a place. The work I do is behind the scenes, quiet, and aligned to my strengths as a listener, a teacher, and a researcher.

Furthermore, I finally opened up a fucking book. For years I couldn’t face reading books with my scattered attention span, and in the off-chance I could, it was something fantastical and funny, like the entire Discworld series. I’ve been on sabbatical this semester, and that has not only given me space to recover from burnout for the first time in my whole gorram academic career, but the space to think, process, and engage with written work so that I can learn like I am a full time student again. These works, some of which I’ll list below, have helped me to see the fuller picture, both back in time and out in space around the country and even the globe. It’s helped me find my place, but, more importantly, it’s helped me find hope. Now, I see my small actions as a part of the bigger whole, on a long-term struggle towards justice and equity that will never end as long as humans are in existence. I can take action, trusting that somewhere along the line I’ve created a ripple that’ll expand far beyond where I can see, perhaps changing the course of a life one day. Maybe even just making it a good day for someone who needs it. Now, I have a purpose.

That’s why the title of this post is what it is… I’ve been here, but I am still and always will be a learner within this movement. We all are, for no one person has the answer. That, after all, leads to authoritarianism. Or, as Octavia Butler once said, “…there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers–at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

Why am I sharing this story? It’s because I have no idea what to tell you, reader, where you should go from here. I can, however, share my story and the resources that I’ve been using to find my place in a bigger movement that finally aligns my values with my actions in a way that is sustainable for me and effective in some small ways. The added up small effects from all of us will make a big difference. It already has.

Resources

Alright, so here are the resources that I recommend to get you started, restarted, or re-energized in this moment. These won’t necessarily be about any specific issue but a broader movement to make the world a place where everyone truly has the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That’s my “big tent.”

Starting small

Overwhelmed? Start with little actions that add up.

• Do Something, by What The Fuck Just Happened Today? – Voting resources are currently at the top of the page as I write this, but scroll on down to “Do One Thing Today.” This lists 5-minute actions you can do right now, like calling a congressperson with a short script or finding events near you. If that’s not enough, keep scrolling to the list of “Beyond the Basics.” Note, a lot of this is focused on electoral politics.
• What can I do to fight authoritarianism? by Choose Democracy – Electoral politics is just ONE part of civic engagement. Here, you can find whole lists and guides to things like creating an affinity group or getting involved in a particular area, like labor. I particularly like their framing of four different categorizations of activities that’ll help you play to your strengths.
• Some Actions That Are Not Protesting or Voting – Compiled and updated by Mariame Kaba, this list will expand your idea of what actions can be taken.
  • Relatedly, her workbook One Million Experiments is a great way to self-reflect and “helps you to connect the personal to the political.”

Reading Up

Short Reads

Several readings got me going back in early to mid 2025 when I was freaking out and despairing. They still resonate with me today.

• Exhausted by the news? Here are 6 strategies to stay informed without getting overwhelmed − or misled by misinformation – The news cycle feels pretty good at this moment. It won’t stay that way. Here’s how to keep it together and not get sucked into doomscrolling while still knowing what’s going on.
• How To Be a Fighter When You Feel Like a Punching Bag – One of the first things by Kelly Hayes to lock onto my heart, this will help you get in touch with the communities that will help you thrive. GET OUT AND MEET PEOPLE. This is me, a self-professed introvert, telling you that it helps to get to know your local community organizers and activists. You never know what connections you’ll make.
• On the Power of Small Acts of Noncompliance – I started out by suggesting you start small. This is why.
• If you can’t take in anymore, there’s a reason – Going back to 2021, this gets you to ask specific questions that’ll get you on track while also tuning out the social media outrage machine.

Books

• Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba – This is honestly where I should have started a few years ago. This book provides advice from the authors’ many years of experience and the experiences of their peers. Concrete examples illustrate the broader themes. This book was pivotal for me because it finally helped me nail down how I want to move and act in the world to align my activities with my values. This will help you find your people.
• Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit – This book came out in 2016, and so her historical examples of how movements make real change were incredibly helpful for me as someone who was just barely getting my footing back then. This will remind you of the importance of small, sustained actions and of making justice work just a part of your normal life.

There are many more on my shelf still “to-read,” so if you have good suggestions, please comment below!

Podcasts, Newsletters, etc

I’m writing this at a moment in time. These are some of the resources that I have my eyes on to keep up with what’s happening in the long term movement.

• Organizing My Thoughts (newsletter) including Movement Memos (podcast) by Kelly Hayes
• Unbreaking (newsletter with website) – documenting what is happening with the goal of eventual repair
• Meeting the Moment (newsletter) – by Liz Neeley, with a focus on science and higher education
• For my local folks in New Hampshire – Kent Street Coalition‘s weekly newsletter is a GREAT place to start to find local groups and actions

This is not an exhaustive list, just the most useful tools that I have used so far to integrate myself into the work that is so crucial right now.

Now go and pick a thing. Get involved! Your contribution matters.