Something you may not know about me: I have two 🎓 degrees in journalism from the institute that gives out the prestigious Peabody Awards.

I am incredibly proud of my J-School cred. When UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication hired me to come back and give a talk as a member of their distinguished alumni years ago, it was pinch-myself level amazingness. To be able to describe my degrees’ impact on the career and life I had built in Hollywood was a really big deal.

While it may have looked to some as though I was NOT using my degrees at all in my career, what’s actually true is that my life is exactly as cool as it is largely because of what I learned in J-School.

I’m leading off with this info because late last week — when several journalists were arrested for covering protester activity in Minnesota — I felt my blood boil. 🤬

We’ve already seen waves of influence over our free press by the regime in the form of stories being pulled from national news programs and reporters who refuse to kiss Cheeto-in-Chief’s butt being fired. And this is before we even get to the media influences beyond our “free press” (y’know, all the social networking platforms that have been influenced to no longer flag and remove inaccurate and dangerous stories; and to allow rampant use of bots as commenters in the feeds).

But when individual journalists are targeted, there’s a chilling effect on every one of us who shares an opinion out in front of an audience.

Every artist, every blogger, every musician, every micro-influencer, every single one of us with a 🎤 voice we use in front of anyone else… we’re feeling this SHIFT.

(And let’s be clear: Folks who bafflingly align themselves with fascism are feeling the shift too. They’re suddenly more emboldened to say horrible things because they feel as though they now have backup. These human rights rollbacks give THEM power, they feel. NOTE: This is a temporary condition and it’s not going to go well for these folks, long-term.)

So, why am I saying any of this?

One: I want to share my go-to source of balancing levity and awareness these days: the brilliant balance of current events and hilariousness, Josh Johnson. Please make sure you allow yourself lots of time AWAY from the news of the world so that you can weather what you DO expose yourself to (and try not to overdo it; a little news goes a LONG way right now, for those of us with empathy).

Two: I want to note that if you’re feeling anxious about being vocal in any kind of way lately, there’s a really good reason for that. We’re getting lots of data about how scared we all “should” be even to exist right now. It takes effort to ignore this. (And they’re counting on us not putting in that 🧘 effort. They want us scared, exhausted, and overwhelmed.)

Three: I want to amplify the voice of the phenomenal Tabitha Banks, whose vid is just below. Clicking here will take you to her really important take on why all of the journalists arrested last week are specifically NOT WHITE. And why that should matter to all of us.

Four: I want to invite you to experience free and fair journalism. I am agendaless when it comes to where you get it; I just want it to be free and fair. Not influenced by money, power, or threats of any kind.

Personally, that means following people who have been fired from traditional media to their self-produced podcasts and livestreams. Watching international news rather than staying in a U.S.-based silo. Most of all, I’m prioritizing the voices of people who are most UNLIKE that of dominant culture.

(This is the same thing I’ve been doing with my 📚 bookcase in the past decade: Prioritizing buying books ONLY by authors who do not identify as straight, white, cis males. I have enough on my shelves by this demographic already. It has to be a reeeeeaaalllllly special dominant-culture author to get into my library these days.)

I’m working on our Astrology of Activism space over here, which will include not only the replay of the webinar I did with Melissa Crim and Jacqueline Steiger a few months back but also loads of support resources, so you can feel well-equipped in many ways for what lies ahead.

In fact, if YOU have any resources you’d like to contribute to the free library of links and such, please share!

I do have a number FIVE for you, too. I’ve updated the EVENTS page at my website through to the first of May. 🤸 Yay! If you want to make a note of my various activities coming up, hit this link.

This short month moves FAST in woo weather, y’all. And it gets intense too. I did a 3-minute overview ⏰ within the first 5 minutes of my latest livestream, if you want a quickie!

Okay. Remember to ground yourself. Breathe. Thank your nervous system for knowing it should be on high alert about some stuff… and then let it know you’re feeling reasonably safe anyway, so it can turn down some of that activation now and then. Your system is just trying to enter into communication with you. Let it know that communication can be more subtle.

We’re gonna be okay. Trust that. ❤️

Sending love,

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!