64 Days Until President Trump
What now?
I’ve been dealing with this horrible election the way that I deal with most serious things in my life: by writing about it. I’ve been more prolific since that Night of the Long Knives than I’ve been in quite some time. But I’ve also been flailing about, undirected: writing out my thoughts and feelings in an effort to make sense of them and use the process of writing to figure out how I feel. That part is pretty normal. Posting them publicly is something I've often been more hesitant about, because, well... I like to try to keep things polished. Raw is not my style.
Writing my way through problems works for me, but it’s by no means any guarantee of genius, or even anything marginally amusing. I’m starting to feel like it’s a bit irresponsible: there’s enough crap out there as it is, so why pollute the internet even further with stuff that’s not particularly original or deep? I’ve told myself that writing is my way of taking action: adding my voice to the chorus of scared, angry people in the hopes that maybe I provide some small spark of inspiration to somebody else who is doing real things.
Just a bard
Image Credit: Starecat
Writing is one of those things I feel especially good at: in the world of roleplaying games, it’s where I’ve dumped my skill points. I could be volunteering at Planned Parenthood or designing webpages (something I’m also not bad at) for local nonprofits. I could be working with others to fight back against Trumpism, rather than banging away solo behind a keyboard.
We’ve got this myth of rugged individualism in America, where the Great Man (it’s almost always a man) can do Great Things if only he’s given room to work. Howard Roark suffers and suffers and suffers, but he’s just so damn great at being great at his Thing that eventually everything works out for him despite the fact that he’s a sociopathic sex offender. Hell, we just elected one of those to the Presidency, so chalk another one up for the myth.
And sure, maybe if you stand back and give me enough time and room, I’ll put out some pretty great writing as well - and do it without raping anybody!
But we don’t have infinite time and room. We’re in the thick of it right now. In the metaphor of Dungeons and Dragons, the party is being slaughtered around us, and standing in the back with a lute - or a keyboard - is not going to inspire our way out of a TPK.
Image Credit: Tabletop Gaming News
Gather the party… or join one
It’s time to band together and fight for what we believe in… and there are plenty of groups that are already banded, and have way more levels in Freedom Fighter than I do.
My loose idea, at this point, is to hook up with one or more such groups and narrate my journey as I go. With any luck I can provide some ideas for anybody else who’s out there and is looking to do the same. Maybe I can help you avoid any pitfalls that I find on the way.
Think of it as a nerdy travelogue of someone who doesn't know what he's doing, faking it until he makes it. Here's hoping I don't wind up in Iran by mistake.
Given what Trump has said, I hope that's true for the country as well.
More from the road. To adventure!
Democracy or bust!