Mid April Newsletter

Hi John,

Please check out our upcoming events, including our April General Meeting on Sunday, April 27th.

May 1st as “May Day” is quickly coming into the common vernacular as a day to celebrate the working class. Also known as International Workers’ Day, this day highlights and celebrates the working class contributions to ... well, everything! May 1st is also May Day to celebrate the midpoint between Spring solstice and the June summer equinox. But not to be outdone, “mayday” is the seemingly universal phrase for an emergency.

As of May 1st, this regime will have been in control for 101 days. This first 100 days if often a benchmark for a President to assess what they promised and what they actually did. Well, we know what’s been done... so what is to come?

As we think about May 1st as our own day of significance, for labor and nature, for history and folklore, the phrase “mayday” seems more appropriate than the other May Days. However, we can’t get lost in the emergency and forget to find solidarity in each other and in the precious time we have together, and on this planet.

Here are some ways to be in solidarity this May Day:

• May Day Fest, April 26, 7:00 PM:

  Join Worcester DSA at Electric Haze, 26 Milburry Street Worcester for a festival with live music, speakers, and organizing resources.

  www.worcesterdsa.org

• March & Rally - Bye Bye L3Harris, May 1, 4:30 PM: 

  Join Demilitarize Western Mass to protest weapons manufacturer L3Harris.

  Meet at 50 Prince Street, Northampton.

  March will begin at 5:30 PM, length 1 mile. Meet at City Hall at 6:15 PM if marching is a barrier.

• One Struggle, One Fight: Worker’s Rights, May 1, 5:00 PM: 

  Join a coalition in Springfield to march and rally for workers’ rights.

  5pm - Gather at Springfield Post Office, 1883 Main Street, then march to the City Hall.

All DSA-hosted events and RSVPs can be found listed HERE on LINKTREE

• April General Meeting - Sunday, April 27 - 11:00 AM-1:00 PM: (Zoom) Our April General Meeting will include updates from Steering Committee and our active campaigns and working groups, a listening session with an organizer with Save Notch Forest, and a Discussion about Who, What When, Where, Why Us?. RSVP required.

• 2SLGBTQIA+ Meeting - Monday, April 28 - 6:00 PM-8:00 PM: (In person) Meet us at Steeple City Social (5 Eagle Street, North Adams) to support a local queer-owned business, plan for Pride events, and be in solidarity with each other. No RSVP required.

• Potluck & Movie Night - Tuesday, May 6 - 6:00 PM: (In person) Downtown Pittsfield. Bring a sharable dish and laugh with us as we watch Palestinian-American comedian Sammy Obeid's "Martyrs in a Safe Space", streaming on YouTube. Run time 42 min. RSVP required.

• MOVE Bombing 40th Anniversary Film Screening, Tuesday May 13 - 6:30 PM: (In person, Downtown Pittsfield). In honor of the 40th anniversary of this event, we will be watching “Let the Fire Burn”. Run time 1h 28m.  RSVP required.

  RP for exact loation

I have been struggling with managing my time and
attention recently. Maybe you’ve felt it too? The air of
urgency that every task, message, and email has
attached? The way you can’t focus too long before
seeing what new horror has unfolded? Maybe you’ve
also been juggling important tasks that both have a
finite and infinite end dates?

Recently I have been employing a matrix to help focus
on both short term and long term tasks, not to be
“more productive” but to actually get shit done while
the world burns. I have also set aside, as much as
possible, specific hours for reading mass Signal group
chats and doing this work.

This work is not short term. We will smother the flames
of resistance if we never make space for some air to
get in. This is the time to practice new skills, set new
boundaries, and work to focus on what is urgent, and
learn what is manufactured chaos to distract us.

While some of these things are indeed tools of
capitalism, let’s learn to wield them for the revolution.

With rugged hope,

Heidi