It’s been a heartbreaking few days. I was and am completely devastated by Hillary Clinton’s loss. In the wake of such a complete and utter disaster, it can be difficult to know what to do.
I started by grieving. I woke up Wednesday and sobbed harder than I have in a very long time. It was a time to mourn – mourning for women, the LGBT community, immigrants, Muslim people, disabled folks and anyone that is not a stright, white man; mourning for the future; mourning for Hillary herself. I spent the majority of the day this way. Then I got angry. I couldn’t believe the ignorance of so many. I felt, I’m sure like many of you, and I blamed men, third party voters, the 53% of white women voters and many more people that cast their vote for a racist, mysoginist, xenophobic monster.
And that’s when I decided that I could not sit and grieve forever. I had to channel my grief and anger into something good.
Inspired by Hillary’s speech Wednesday morning – “Never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it ” – I decided to put those words into stitches. Sure, some feminist embroidery isn’t much, but it soothes my soul and hopefully – once I open an Etsy shop with these pieces – the souls of others.
But most importantly, I’m inspired to help. It can be a difficult thing to know where to start in the wake of such defeat, but a good place to start is by donating to a good cause. There are dozens of lists out there of organizations worthy of your time and money – here’s one to start. I encourage all of you to research these causes and give to an organization that means something to you. I just set up a monthly contribution to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, and I already feel about 10% better.
These are very small steps, of course, but they are steps forward nonetheless. To all of you awesome feminists, progresive warriors and woke baes out there, take care of yourselves, get angry and take action.
