Welcome to our New Monthly Newsletter

Every January, my staff and I have a retreat where we intentionally take time to reflect on the previous year, plan out the following year, and set goals for ourselves and our office. This January, our planning session was a little more difficult than it had been in previous years because we kept coming up against a feeling of uncertainty and unease.

The uncertainty of early January quickly ramped up into the chaos we’re in now. We found ourselves doing what most of you are probably doing– sending news alerts to one another, sharing resources on how to navigate these waters, and having more conversations about what we could do to meet this moment.

Because the moment that we’re in requires each and every one of us to think about our power, and how we can use it to help people who are suffering. So much of this chaos is coming out of Washington DC, and I don’t have much influence there. But I am incredibly privileged to be a sitting State Senator– and I do have more influence here at home and in Harrisburg. I’m constantly reevaluating how to be most effective.

Those conversations about where we can be most effective led to the idea for this newsletter: Finding Community in Chaos. We get tremendous feedback on our weekly newsletter and the resources and information that we share. While we will continue with our traditional newsletter, we’re adding this one to the mix.

This is our first try, and like all new things, it’s a little scary for us. But we know that the way to fix isolation, loneliness, hatred, fear, and greed is through community. So we’re going to help build it. This newsletter is for you, and it will change and adapt as we all move forward together. So if you have thoughts, comments, or suggestions on things you like or don’t like, please share them with us.

My office is here to help and is a safe place for everyone. If you're scared, need help, or don't know where to go, please call us and we'll do the best we can to help or connect you with local services. My Ross Township office phone number is 412-364-0469; my Natrona Heights office phone number is 724-224-2131; my email address is [email protected].

 

Take Care

My office has gotten thousands of calls and emails over the past two months from people who are angry, scared, and sad about the chaos coming out of Washington, DC and how it is going to affect them and their families. I don’t blame them. I feel the same way.

One of the things I’m trying to remember is that taking care of my own mental health, and checking in on my friends and neighbors, is an act of love. Whether that’s taking 5 minutes to yourself after a hard conversation, limiting your screen time and going to bed early, or just drinking a glass of water or cup of tea, taking care of your physical and mental health is important. You can find a list of self-care resources and ideas here.

Checking in on your friends, family, and neighbors is also a radical act of community building. Take a minute of your day to connect with someone. Take a walk through your neighborhood and say hi to a new neighbor. These connections are what community is built on.

You can also find and build community in your local third spaces like your library, place of worship, coffee shop, and more. We have amazing local libraries in District 38 that host regular events for community members of all ages and interests. Check out your local library calendar for events that interest you and join in. You can also get involved by joining a local board or commission and helping shape the future of your neighborhood. Eating together or sharing a game or craft is a great way to build community. This week, my staff joined the Muslim Association of Pittsburgh for an evening of food and conversation at their Interfaith Iftar and I got an introductory lesson in MahJong from members of the Adat Shalom congregation.

Here are just a few things that my staff and I are doing to find community and take care of ourselves. We’d love to hear what you’re doing– share your actions with us at [email protected].

1. Allowing myself to cry and feel vulnerable. I don’t have to be strong all of the time.
2. I feel like we are in a total tangle. Every single thing we do is through our phones and it is really frustrating when tech companies are taking over our government with their money. Any amount of time I spend off of a screen, at the gym, taking a walk with a friend, or even just cleaning, takes away their power. I guess that is a small thing but it does feel like I’m living my values more.
3. I have been boycotting a big box store that I shopped at a lot after they dropped their DEI policies. It brings me joy to know I have some little amount of power in what I spend. Take a look at www.opensecrets.org to better understand what companies are donating to politicians and issues, plus how industries influence policy through lobbying.
4. I’ve been rewatching older TV shows. There’s something comforting about revisiting old stories and old characters in a time when things are uncertain.
5. Swimming and moving my body regularly.
6. Staying informed by prioritizing news sources that analyze patterns, not just focus on individual events.
7. Learning new things– take a class at the local community college, try a new craft, read about a new topic!
8. Taking time to connect with my spouse at night. Our days are crazy and full of work, family, and everything else. If we don’t prioritize time to check in and focus on just spending time together, it’s easy to get too busy and distracted. Even if it’s 5 minutes, it makes a difference.
9. Disconnecting from social media.
10. I’m scheduling my cook book club gatherings, volunteering with my community garden, spending time reading books from my local library instead of on social media apps, and finding grocery deals that save food from being wasted from on the FlashFood app.
11. Spending more time reading for fun and making an effort to declutter spaces in my house.

Bystander Intervention

As we build community, we’re inevitably going to face difficult conversations. While it’s OK to disagree, it is not ok to disrespect one another or spread hate speech. But it’s also hard to know what to do in the moment– how to speak up and defend your friends and disarm the situation.

Right to Be, a non-profit committed to ending harassment in all its forms, is a great resource for how to be an effective bystander. We’ve used their free bystander training in my office to be better equipped to handle these situations. 

You can read more about their training and sign up to take a free class yourself at: https://righttobe.org/guides/bystander-intervention-training/.

We hope you found this newsletter helpful. If you have thoughts or questions, please contact us at 412-364-0469 (Ross Township), 724-224-2131 (Natrona Heights), or by email at [email protected].

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Senator Lindsey Williams