I’m far from the only person on the American Left entranced again by Bob Dylan on the heels of the heavily-nominated Timothée Chalamet biopic. Dylan’s early records have been in heavy rotation on streaming services and vinyl in the Hillscout office and the themes of early counter-culture and anti-fascist sentiment still ring true more than sixty years since Dylan first published them.

Talkin’ World War III Blues
Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody’s having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves walkin’ around with no one else
Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can’t be all right all of the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that
I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours
I said that

My first political involvement came at the heart of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and my very first concert was watching Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan play Ray Winder Field, a minor league ballpark in Little Rock, Arkansas. Even then, it was clear these Dylan songs were timeless and evoked something of a collective American resistance to authoritarianism and marching along to the beat of demagogues and bullies. Beyoncé herself cited that last line about dreams in the release of her self-titled 2013 album, Beyoncé. The poetry of resilience and resistance is timeless.

I’ve been sitting with this urge to wade into the fray like so many others have, but also compelled to find a way to maintain a healthy balance of self-care and mental well-being in this second round of Trump-led onslaughts on individual liberty, civil rights, and the common good. Here are a few ways that I’ve found in the last month to keep both personal peace and responding to the collective moment in check.

1. Seek your ancestors and learn what you can from their generations of struggle that led you to this place. Unlock the power in knowing your family’s story. For me, that’s meant digging into genealogy and the history of movement and professions my family undertook. Seek communion with your elders and listen when they have lessons to offer. It’s reasonable to accept we are in difficult times, but also the product of generations of folks who had it much worse and placed us in this moment. I also recognize the privilege in being able to research my ancestors, and know not everyone has that ability due to historic erasure and violently disrupted lineage.
2. Get out into nature and touch grass as often as possible. We are surrounded by natural beauty, green spaces, parks, and wild beauty. Nature is calming not just for its quiet rhythms but also the beauty in regeneration and renewal.
3. Find resolve in music as resistance. Art has always been a refuge for the oppressed and a target for the oppressor. Seek calm in music but also find inspiration for persistence.
4. Nourish yourself and make sure you’re literally feeding mind, spirit, and body to be in its strongest and most resilient form for the challenges ahead. I’ve been reading more and moving more as escapes from living inside my telephone.
5. Choose your battles carefully. There are many different conflicts ongoing in a time like this and you are unable to take on every fight. Allocate time and budget and attention each week and try to stick to those boundaries when entering the fray professionally, financially, or emotionally. 

So, what about that obligation to stay connected and not check out? Here are a few moves this week.

There are some fairly basic actions you can add to your citizenship routine to make a difference and stay connected to the policy-making being done in your name. I am mostly engaged with state-level politics because these are the lawmakers I can look in the eye in Little Rock or in my community.

First, I’d recommend signing up for the email updates from all the legislators who do one in your region. I subscribe to each of the Democratic state legislators’ newsletters in my county, which are available here: 

• Senator Greg Leding’s newsletter 
• Representative Diana Gonzales Worthen’s email list 
• Representative Denise Garner’s email list 
• Representative Nicole Clowney’s contact page 
• Representative David Whitaker’s email list 

A dirty Democratic inside baseball fact: it’s also important to contact friendly legislators to let them know how you stand on pretty common-sense issues, because I’ve heard more than once from a Democratic legislator who took a walk on a hard vote just to curry favor with Republicans “well, I didn’t hear from anyone who cared about that.” 

There are some good things happening in the Arkansas legislature, despite the balance of noteworthy bills advancing regressive and caustic policies. The state Senate passed a bill last week to afford every K-12 student, regardless of economic status, a free breakfast at school. This is a win for child hunger and the bill is expected to pass the House. It comes as no surprise the usual suspects on the fringe right in Arkansas oppose this bill.

Unfortunately, the state Senate and state House have passed a bill to end essentially all affirmative action programs in Arkansas, mirroring national attacks on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Several legislators who opposed similar legislation in 2023 flip-flopped to the side of the now-dominant right-wing narrative and enabled the bill to pass. Only nine of 81 Republicans opposed the bill in the state House.

I will generally not advise readers to waste their time on contacting government officials to vote against things they’ve stated they support. I feel this is likely the case in making an appeal to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to veto SB3, the anti-affirmative action bill. However, for those who feel so moved, the number is 501-682-2345. Should you do so, keep your case for veto concise, make sure you let the recipient of your call know you’re an Arkansas resident and voter, and be respectful to the person taking your message.

Similar to the ongoing national onslaught, an Arkansas legislative session is often a game of exhaustion. Fighting senseless culture war and big battles at the front, so that citizens lose focus and give up by the later weeks and they can slip through insidious changes after depleting citizen attentiveness. Developing a good practice of checking in on how to help and what authorities need contacting by subscribing to the above newsletters and following local journalism are going to be repeated themes this year.

In other news, Opening Day for Razorback baseball at Baum Stadium is this week. Baseball is one of my escapes.

That’s the move this week.