Good News from the Resistance: Is your anxiety increasing to levels you haven’t experienced since the days before the 2016 election? Does the Little Calming Voice in your head tell you to stop obsessively checking the newsfeeds on your phone, while the Crazy-Making Voice whispers, “but the world may have just ended and I should know.”? Have you renewed your relationship with Ben & Jerry? Take a deep breath and hold it, lift your shoulders to your ears, now drop them and exhale.
Here’s why we’re anxious: Thanks to the sustained antics of our Mean Clown-in-Chief, political coverage is out-of-control. We read the same Bad News all day. Hyperbolic Bad News headlines beget clicks, clicks beget revenue, revenue begets more Bad News. You get the drift.
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge fan of the press. (Full disclosure: Your deliverer of Good News is a former investigative journalist). I truly, deeply, madly want the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, The Atlantic (publications that have seen massive surges in on-line subscriptions since the Mean Clown took office) to keep doing what they’re doing, because Lord (and all Higher Beings) knows that the press is currently the only check on our Liar-in-Chief. But do they really need to keep sending the same damn Chicken Little-esque emails over and over again?
And we won’t even get into how the Dems are using emails scarier than any Trump Halloween mask to raise money. (Okay, just one example, recently sent by Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA): POLLS SHOW: If voter turnout is low, Republicans hold the House by one seat! Guess what happens when you click to read those polls? You land directly on the ActBlue page that provides the choice of donating between $10-1,000). No wonder we’re tense.
Good News seekers, it’s time for a bit of self-protective behavior. Here’s the plan: Let’s go on a media diet, and try to reduce our news consumption by 10-20%, at least between now and the midterms. I, for one, could stand to lose a few media outlets. And I bet you could, too.
Now let’s pull up our Big Girl and Big Boy pants and get to work. We have a House to flip! In the meantime, here’s some Good News to put a smile on your winning face while you use your newly found media-free time to make those calls and knock on doors:
- Be amazed that the U.S. Embassy in Australia apologized for the Cat Cookie Monster
- Take your dog to NYC to pee on this statue
- Be inspired by these Harvard University W.E.B. Dubois award-winners
- Cringe when you learn about DonaldDaters
- Know who said No! to performing at the Super Bowl
- Eat this pizza
- Thank Lyft for giving free rides to the polls
- Be in awe of these girls who survived Boko Haram
- Listen to this rocking, inspiring song, and Get Your Ass Out to Vote
- Take Action: Do you know a lawyer? If so, send them this video. Help needed at the polls!
Sign Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.
WE 
THIS CAT COOKIE MONSTER
And we want to thank the person who hit send on this invitation.
WE WHEN OUR DOGS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS OUR FEELINGS
NYC artists came up with yet another fabulous idea. Your dog will thank you.
WE THAT HARVARD HAD SUCH GOOD TASTE
From the start, the audience was told, “Keep in mind, young folk, these are not glitzy celebrities, they are exemplars of excellence.” Seventeen standing ovations later, it was clear the audience agreed.
WE IMAGINING THE PROFILES ON A DATING SITE FOR TRUMP SUPPORTERS
And we are amused by their incompetence.
WE RIHANNA FOR SAYING NO!
.. and we wish more politicians had a backbone as strong as hers.
WE THIS D.C. PIZZA JOINT
There’s never been a better excuse for eating a pie. It’ll hard to decide between the Abrams or the Ocasio-Cortez.
WE LYFT’S FREE RIDES
A Latino advocacy group is partnering with Lyft to get people to the polls in Kansas – where the polling places are (intentionally?) hard to get to.
WE THESE BOKO HARAM SURVIVORS
Four years ago they were abducted by Boko Haram. Now they’re in NYC meeting with U.N. officials and members of Congress.
WE WHEN YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT TO VOTE
Jennifer Lewis of Black-ish fame inspires us to vote with a song.
WE TAKING ACTION: LAWYERS NEEDED AT POLLS
Voter suppression is real. Calling all lawyers! Calling all lawyers!
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