civic geek

Civic Diary 2/13/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Still haven’t stopped these, though man they need to be more commonly updated.  I got hit with some nasty illness (we have multiple colds here) and apparently got sick twice.  So the last few weeks weren’t fun.

Political Groups And Activist Groups

I’m now helping with social media for a political group in the area – it’s a sort of “test” ground for me and my other ideas, because . . .

Don’t think you can just go to an activist group and say “give me something.”  A lot of them have hierarchies, legal requirements, etc. you have to follow.  I learned that the hard way, so now I’m working my way up.  Still I get to do some good and am going to use this to introduce a few new ideas and cool things.

The great part of being part of an established group is reach.  Nothing like being able to do something to affect a few hundred to a few thousand people.

I’m looking into involvement with my city and possible a few other groups.  I think all you can really do is just keep trying them out until something clicks for you.

TAKEAWAY: Pick at least one activist group to join, but remember it may take time to get a position.  Help anyway.

Do It Yourself

So one of my acquaintances up and created a political group for friends on Facebook where we coordinate.  Might want to give that a go too!

TAKEAWAY: Try a social media group for friends and politics.

Regular Activity

To help me out I’m doing the following

  1. I have a Google Alert for all representatives on the state and federal level, so once a day find out what they’re up to.
  2. I keep my usual news feeds.
  3. Out of that I find what I want to call them on – usually daily or every other day to tell them what they did right and wrong and make specific demands.
  4. This helps you keep up on local information anyway – I’ve had a few surprises, most of them pleasant.

How’s it working?  Not entirely sure as I’m one person, and there’s many voices, but my Congressman’s office now calls me by name when I call before I speak.  So I’m making an impression.

I’ve also decided that https://grabyourwallet.org/ is worth following and am calling companies carrying Trump merchandise.  Very inappropriate and an area of ethical concern – especially as of late.

TAKEAWAY: Set up news/alert feeds to tell you who/what to call on each day.

Documentation

I’ve been updating my civic guide and do need to post it now that I no longer feel terrible.  It’s been pretty helpful!

That’s what I’m up to.  What about you?

– Steve

Civic Diary: 9/5/2016

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Been awhile on one of these hasn’t it?  Nope, haven’t forgotten, but it’s been a crazy few weeks.  Work, book launch, friends had problems, more work,a class.  It honestly got on top of me.

This also means my civic engagement has been low – right when I wanted to get more involved, after going through some pretty crazy adventures finding out just how I could be.

No excuses, I had to prioritize and was exhausted.  But there’s lessons in this.

Civic Diary Lessons: Priority.

I actually am a pretty planned guy- shocking, I know.  I usually have plans, however rough, about 12-15 months out.  My months also include general plans (do X on Y days).  So how did all of this get on top of me to the point where I’m just now getting to my GOTV plans?

Simple.  I didn’t really plan.

When you’re organized you can decide to do something but not look ahead on everything else.  You’ve got a plan right?  It’s not hard to introduce one new thing?

Actually, it is.  It’s easy to say “a few hours here or there” or “I’m not doing anything that Saturday” and miss the much larger context.  Could you be interrupted?  Will you have the energy to do your “new thing?”  What will your psychological state be?

When you got a plan, you don’t just swap something in.  You don’t think you’re so organized you can make time.  You make a new plan.

Sure I had one – a vauge one – but it wasn’t enough.  It wasn’t paced.  It didn’t acknowledge realities.

It’s probably as I’m experimenting with larger civic engagement.  But lesson learned – civic engagement is something that I need to do as part of the rest of my plans.  Set aside time, know my limits.  Do more when I can, less when other things call.

A good lesson for you too.  Also, maybe start small – I think I overdid it.

Other Activities On The Civic Front

So where am I otherwise:

  1. I found you can do GOTV online.  Planning to do that, and maybe a meetup later.
  2. Longer-term still looking at being involved in communications.  But that is for – yes – an actual plan.  As in I can figure it out after the Election.
  3. News-wise the news media has been erratic to dismal this election, so I’ve taken a bigger interest in media watchdogs.  Signed up for some action alerts to help me stay on top of things.
  4. I haven’t written my reps on much lately.  I’m setting my alert on that to weekly.
  5. Donate.  Because seriously, money matters.

 

That’s it for me.  Hopefully I’ll have more useful insights next week now that I’m getting back in the swing of things.

– Steve

Civic Diary 8/8/2016

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Another brutal week – busy at work and got sick on top of that.  The illness meant . . . I ended up missing that big political meeting I’d been looking forward to.  But still keeping at it.  So here’s what’s been up.

  • Once I realized I was ill, I signed up for a GOTV event I’d been looking at anyway, and informed one of my contacts about my situation.  The event I signed up for is at a political headquarters I’ve visited anyway, so it gives me some foundation.  I found it by simply paying attention to my political emails and finding my candidate (Hillary, as you may guess) was having a GOTV event.  Never discount candidate sites.
  • There’s also a local club I’m part of, so I’ll try to work that into my regular schedule.
  • I’m rolling the GOTV event into another social event as I found someone I know was going anyway.  That’s something I never considered, and now the idea opens up a lot of possibilities – it’s probably more fun and builds better connections.
  • I’ve donated of course.  Money always helps, of course.
  • Still haven’t written my reps lately, which I noticed is a bad habit I’m getting into – I read the news but I respond less.  Maybe you can get too busy looking at the news and too little responsiveness.
  • As for the news, just damn, there’s so much to keep track of lately.  I’m going to need to dial it back on my news obsession.

 

– Steve