Springville Action - 5/11/25 #17

Public media, marketplace of ideas: at risk

Author

Springville Action
May 11, 2025

Inspiration 🦄

It’s hard to find anything for this section today. All online content is overflowing with Mother’s Day wishes, despite existing in a country whose policies actively work to hurt women, moms and families. One place to find inspiration are abortion funds. What a weird thing to talk about on Mother’s Day … or not. Abortion funds give women financial support to access abortion - a medical procedure that is less dangerous than pregnancy - and have the agency to determine when and how they have children. We can expect to see legal abortion options end or effectively end in the next few years. The Supreme Court will not protect women’s bodily autonomy. State legislatures - can’t be trusted on this point. The medical and pharmaceutical industries will not hold the line. And then we’ll all get to know someone who died because they were desperate enough to have an unsterile, unsafe abortion. Maybe someone in your family. Maybe you.

Nightmare Fuel

This administration fired the highly qualified Librarian of Congress. The reason: “There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the children’s library.” Note how they wrote “Carla” instead of “Dr.” because the cruelty is the point.

Newsflash: the Library of Congress gets a copy of every book published in the U.S. What this decision likely means is that we’ll see a literal censorship of what books and materials will be archived in our nation’s official library. Could we see book burnings in the Rose Garden during a Trump administration? What a wild idea. We could.

This aligns with firings at the copyright office. Anything to control qui bono - or who benefits. Just utter abject nonsense and if you’re feeling angry about it - good. Feel those feelings and channel them into positive action for the love of everything.

 

To do ✅ 

📖 Something to read: Your local NPR station, which for us is BPTM (aka WBFO), independent media and local weekly papers. Systemic forces are working to crush them out of existence. Reading, subscribing and sharing their content is sustaining for them. NPR’s national network doesn’t get it right all the time, but better than the state media of Fox News, News Nation and OAN.

📻 Something to listen to: It Could Happen Here podcast

👭 Something to do: WNY Women’s March. Sat., 5/17. Car pools are forming. Reach out in Springville to catch a ride.

News 📺

Brush up on your American legal history and review habeas corpus. Temu Goebbels (Steven Miller) floated the idea of suspending this fundamental American legal concept, effectively ending the right of due process for any people in the U.S. Super scary stuff for people who paid attention in high school social studies or who have read the U.S. Constitution.

Now, it’s the NEA’s turn. It was inevitable. Of course, the Trump administration would get around to cutting federal funding for arts organizations, with the intention of eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts altogether.

It’s been tried before, but this time, with the help of a limp, acquiescent Congress, it might happen.

The administration looks to be building up to it, by terminating NEA grants to organizations like Western New York’s Just Buffalo Literary Center – whose acclaimed Babel series has lost funding – as well as the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Buffalo String Works and Torn Space Theater. The reasons for termination clearly state that only certain content can be supported.

…

Most, if not all, of these grants had already been awarded, keep in mind. They were written, budgeted, submitted and judged by panels of experts. In many cases, the projects the funds were intended to support have already taken place – like many granting agencies, NEA works through reimbursement.

In its emails to would-be recipients, the NEA stated, in part, “The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.” … “Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.”

And then we have a curiously haphazard grab bag of priorities, among them “elevate historically Black colleges and universities,” “support Tribal communities,” “make America healthy again” and support the economic development of Asian American communities.

Since many of the rescinded grants were in support of artists of color, it’s fine to be skeptical about the sincerity of these requirements, which do seem to encourage diversity, as long as it’s not “diversity, equity and inclusion.” Don’t try to make it make sense.

Events

🧶 Crafters/Fiber Artists - lots of opportunities to come together! Concord Library, first Sat. of the month, 1-3; Concord Mercantile, second Sat. of the month, 10-1; Art’s Cafe, Wednesdays, 5:30pm. You’ll see your people.

5/17, 2pm - WNY Women’s March, LaFayette Square in Buffalo (near the library).

5/17, 10am-5pm - Candidate Boot Camp with the Erie County Federation of Democratic Women, ECDC, WNY Federation of Democratic Women and Eleanor’s Legacy. 701 Seneca Street, Buffalo.

NEW 5/19, Unheard Voices, the Fight for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s Way of Life at the Buffalo History Museum

5/24, 10am - Pop Warner Trail Clean Up, meet at the Springville Depot

5/27, 5:30pm - Rally for Democracy in East Aurora at the Library. Bring signs (respectful, but creative) and noisemakers if you wish.

5/28, 6-9pm: Nonpartisan Community Conversation. What federal policies do we want to talk about? Meet up at the Ellicottville Town Center (near arboretum) to discuss federal policy impacts and potential action plans to present to congressional representatives.

5/31, 10 am - NYS Citizens Preparedness Corps, Concord Senior Center. Free. Register.

6/7 (correction from previous newsletter - it’s on Saturday!), afternoon and evening - Springville Art Crawl. The place to be for an unofficial start to Springville’s summer.

6/14 - No Kings action. Details about a Buffalo event will be included here when known.

[remainder of content repeats (mostly) from last email]

To Do ✅

😷 Medical checkups. Get a printout of your vaccination record and check with your doctor about recommended vaccines, including MMR, based on your age and other risk factors.

🐝 Citizen Scientists, Unite! Download the Inaturalist app on your phone; upload pictures of nature (animals, plants, trees) for identification and help out the environmental community.

📰 Letter to the Editor. Pick a topic, drill down to 1 key message and write your heart out. There are local people who will help zazz up your letter and get it ready for publication. Email [email protected].

📱 5 Calls - Download the app to your phone; enter your ZIP code; follow the prompts to call U.S. Senators and your local Congressional rep. EXTRA CREDIT - ask your local elected officials what the impact of general federal nonsense will have on local projects, and what they are doing to protect your community.

📮 Postcards - Explore the Postcards for Democrats web site and support Democratic candidates in swing states. Organize for Action is local and working on Virginia races. Email [email protected] to get connected with that group.

😊 Meet a Neighbor: How well do you know your neighbors? Start small but make a point to find one new acquaintance in your area this week!

🗳️ Go to a government meeting. These are open to the public and people rarely attend. See your government at work and pay attention to the decisions they’re making.

At a loss for what to do?

Are you sick of hearing “there’s nothing I can do about everything that’s happening”? There’s plenty you can do - big or small, just try to do SOMETHING each day.

  • Public Displays of Connection

    • Guerilla Gardening and Yarn Bombs! There is a slightly subversive and very fun tactic of guerilla gardening and placing handmade knit pieces in public places. Be creative.

    • Plant a garden or support a local CSA

    • Plant a homemade lawn sign - it doesn’t have to be political - paint a one word message like “Hope", ”Love,” “Peace.”

    • Maintain little free libraries or start your own

  • Basic Needs

    • Donate blood

    • Learn first aid and basic medical skills

    • Participate in local Buy Nothing groups

    • Donate to Little Free Pantries or your local food pantry

    • Participate in a seed exchange, like the one at Hulbert Library in the Town of Concord

  • Organized Volunteering

  • Neighbor Support

    • Help people with phone calls and forms - like Social Security, health appointments and insurance paperwork

    • Give neighbors rides, assist with basic needs

    • Provide a meal to a struggling family or neighbor - see lasagnalove

    • Offer babysitting or respite care - especially during meetings

    • Teach a skill or coordinate a training - sewing, gardening, cooking, car repair, how to fix a toilet or bike.

Misc.

Content welcome: Initially this newsletter was going to be sent weekly. Now it's sending as soon as it feels like there is enough content to let it fly - probably 2x/week. Your contributions are welcome. Email [email protected].

This newsletter will always be free, but if you like what you're reading and can find it in your budget, kick a few bucks to support your local food pantry, an abortion fund, or an elected official who has demonstrated common sense and decency.

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