In November, eleven of us went to the Indivisible Massachusetts Conference in Worcester where we learned strategies to Connect * Affect * Elect in 2018 and beyond. Of the many valuable lessons learned, some of the most valuable are those of hope and connection. In an invigorating speech, Elizabeth Warren reminded us that the actions of Indivisible groups like ours are working; that when people rise up and take a stand, the world changes.
As we write this, Senate Republicans voted hours ago for a massive tax cut for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class and the poor. Their success is tarnished by the revelation that retired general Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about communications with Russia on Donald Trump’s behalf, bringing the Russian investigation deeper into the White House. The antidote for that sickish feeling is action: make a donation to someone who voted no, text voters in Alabama to win back a senate seat, or call Sheila Harrington and ask her to support Automatic Voter Registration.
Our next meeting is Sunday, December 10th at 7 pm at First Parish Church in Groton. It’s our First Ever Holiday Potluck/Bring a Friend meeting so please bring a nut free dish to share if you are able and/or a friend, perhaps someone who came to an early meeting but hasn’t been back in a while.
Our mini-meetings on Saturday mornings have been a huge success and we’ll continue them in January. During our most recent one on Nov. 25, 10 of us wrote 120 postcards in an hour to support the “Doug Jones for Senate” campaign in Alabama. It was fun! Many of you have dropped in to simply say hello, share your concerns, and find out how you can help.
Thank you for all that you do!
Deborah Santoro & Margaret Scarsdale
Co-chairs of Indivisible Nashoba
Events and Calls to Action
Tuesday, December 5th, 7:15-8:45 pm
Minuteman Indivisible Elections meeting, Lexington Community Center, Room 232. Deborah S. and Margaret S. are going. You are welcome to join us/carpool.
Thursday, December 7th
Day of Action for Net Neutrality. There are protests in Boston, Lowell, and Nashua at Verizon locations. Deborah is (probably) going to this one and there are more listed here.
Sunday, December 10th, 5:00 pm: Senator Ed Markey Town Hall at University Crossing, UMASS Lowell.
Sunday, December 10th, 7:00 pm
Indivisible Nashoba First Ever Holiday Potluck and Bring a Friend General Meeting- we need a few people to come at 6:30 and set-up, email if you can help!.
Tuesday, December 12th
Special election for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sign up to text with Indivisible to GOTV in Alabama.
Action items and calls are posted on Amplify and will be included in weekly emails (we’re working on it). We need you to suggest action items and help write these scripts. See the Amplify channel on Slack or use the google form.
SenateWatch
Senate Watch is tracking Senators Warren and Markey as well as select Senate committees. We will be reporting on significant Senate events in an effort to help IN members stay informed and be in a position to take actions in line with the IN mission. Read our most recent SenateWatch report here.
HouseWatch
Indivisible Nashoba is in the 3rd congressional district of Massachusetts. Our Congresswoman Niki Tsongas announced in late June that she will not seek re-election in 2018, so this seat is opening and many candidates have announced their candidacy in the ensuing months.Deborah and Margaret will continue to work on elections and we plan to attend a Minuteman Indivisible Elections meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5th to coordinate our plans with theirs.
Deborah went to a fundraiser planned by Monica Burke, our regional Elections Coordinator, for Angie Craig, a Congressional Candidate for Minnesota’s 2nd district.
Deborah is putting together a texting team. Email her at deborah@indivisiblegrotonarea.org if you’re interested in joining.
Read our most recent HouseWatch report here.
StateWatch
Sherrill Rosoff met with State Senator Eileen Donoghue in a group meeting with members of Indivisible Westford and 350 Massachusetts to discuss environmental/ clean energy bills that are moving through the Massachusetts legislature. Sherill will share what she learned at our meeting.
StateWatch member Mike Metzger wrote a letter to the editor on Automatic Voter Registration that was published here (scroll down to find his letter after following the link). Sharon Jordan (also StateWatch) of Lunenburg wrote another for the Lunenburg Ledger and Deborah Santoro and Margaret Scarsdale co-wrote a LTE that was published in the Groton Herald (sorry- only subscribers can read). You can find out more about Automatic Voter Registration in Massachusetts here:
Media and Messaging
Look for a short survey that M&M will send out to our membership this month. We are also working on a flyer to attract new members and we will be moving toward updating the website on a weekly basis. We welcome new blog posts and will help you edit and get them ready for publication. Please share your ideas with us!
Steering Committee
Steering met on November 28th and decided to update the website more frequently with action items and reports. We updated the bylaws and will post a final version on Slack shortly. We also agreed to publish weekly calls to action across all of our platforms: Amplify, Facebook, website, email and Twitter. This will take some committed work on our parts and we need help from everyone with ideas for actions and call scripts. Thanks to everyone who has already stepped up to write scripts for Amplify- Mike Metzger and Beth Garcia in particular, and to Deborah Burton who wrote a blog post that can be found here.
Book Recommendation
This month’s book recommendation is from Carolyn McCreary, Indivisible Nashoba member and former Ayer Selectwoman.
Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want. By Frances Moore Lappe and Adam Eichen.
