Dear John,

Happy Earth Day! I hope your weekend is off to a good start. I will be daydreaming about all the blooming flowers these April showers will bring.

Grab your headphones for this week’s News Digest. We especially recommend the hopeful and inspiring podcast on climate action and deep canvassing (a.k.a. one-on-one conversations rooted in compassionate curiosity). Let me know how you’re doing and what you’re reading.

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, and listening to this week:

1. Participatory Budgeting
This New York Times piece asks what it would look like if the public made decisions about public funds. Check out this piece on participatory budgeting.
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2. 2022 Election
The unofficial podcast of the week is an interview with communications pro Anat Shenker-Osorio and Sean McElwee: Can Democrats turn their 2022 around? (Spoiler: Yes, they can.)
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3. Gubernatorial Race
The GOP will nominate its candidate for Governor on May 14. Get caught up on who’s vying to run against Governor Walz in November.
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4. Elections Explained
ICYMI: the Minnesota Reformer launched a new series explaining the ins-and-outs of elections administration. (There is at least one GOP candidate for Secretary of State who seems to be confused about who counts the ballots.)
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5. Community Care
“As author and activist Mariame Kaba said about being safe, ‘I don’t believe I can possess safety because I don’t think safety is a thing. I think safety is a relation.” In the face of anti-Asian violence, read how organizers are thinking about safety and community care.
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6. Podcast
“Prison abolition is about making a world composed of everything we are denied when ‘security’ is presented as the solution to all ills.” From my coworker Jessie, check out this podcast with Ruth Wilson Gilmore about abolition, the climate crisis, and what must be done.
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7. Climate Action Conversations
This podcast tells the story of a small city in British Columbia successfully launching a deep canvass program. Residents had thousands of conversations about climate solutions, building local support for renewable energy.
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8. Social Media
“Historically, civilizations have relied on shared blood, gods, and enemies to counteract the tendency to split apart as they grow.” I recommend this lengthy piece in The Atlantic about social media, democracies, and Why the Last 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.
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9. Film
I mentioned the new multiverse film Everything Everywhere All at Once a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve seen it, loved it, and have friends seeing it a second and third time. Read the film’s review in Vanity Fair and if you have New York Times articles left, I recommend this piece on how the movie helps heal intergenerational trauma.
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10. Uranus, etc.
NASA’s releasing its long-term plans. Visits to Uranus and a watery moon orbiting Saturn is on the list.
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That’s a wrap. Have a great weekend.

- Kenza Hadj-Moussa

Paid for by TakeAction Minnesota

TakeAction Minnesota
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Saint Paul, MN 55114
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