A few notes:

• American polling stations and rights — everything you need to vote, if you’re American, can be found here: Vote.org
• Nearly one hundred years ago, women in America (with the help of men) won the right to vote, after a century of fighting for it. Let’s keep it going. The 19th Ammendment.
• Less pleasing alternative: Something like The Handmaid’s Tale.
• From Black Lives Matter
• From blogger/author/activist Glennon Doyle
• From creative coach and author Liz Gilbert: Be One of the Handful
• From artist Patricia Ariel :

• From RAICES: Ongoing news about separated families, imprisoned asylum-seeking children, the synagogue attack in Pittsburgh, and other things your vote may help prevent in the future.
• Last week in Brazil a president who is said to admire dictatorships and disparage blacks, gays and women, won the election with only 55.1% of votes (The Guardian).
• That fraction of a percent is really just a handful of the masses. Seriously every vote, every care, every share makes a difference. Politics are not fun, especially for most creative and peace-loving folks. I did not want to write, let alone publish, this post. Yet politics, like it or not, change the world. Politics happen because people like you and me make them happen, either by action or by inaction.
  
• Some of us are lucky. We’re (still) living in a democracy. Therefore, we are the ones with the Power. Let’s use that power. And/or share it. Now is when it counts.
  

And finally, to cheer us up and get us motivated:

With love,

xo n

***

Edit 2018-11-10: For further reading:

This post by Brandon Anderson: Yes, I Voted. I Hope You Vote Too, which recounts not only his own difficulties with politics and voting, but also quotes the story of his Asian-American friend Brielle’s experience with racism, at her local polling station for the midterm vote.

This post by Roshaunda Cade: When I Realized Someone Like Me Could Be Turned Away From the Library