Guiding Lights, Part VI: Weeee! Or, If Ms. Frizzle Taught at Yale

Posted on September 10, 2026 by gretchenwing

I mean the attitude, not the hair. Dr. Joanne Freeman is not in the least frizzy-haired. But spend a few minutes on one of her YouTube Channels–A Few Thoughts for Those Who Can’t Sleep; History Matters (and so does Coffee); or my favorite, with Heather Cox Richardson, What the Heck Just Happened–and you’ll see what I mean.

That big laugh. That scoop-you-in enthusiasm. And while she doesn’t own a pet lizard like the famous Magic School Bus teacher, Joanne does have Rosie the Resistance Bird, the parakeet whose occasional shrieks feature prominently on her podcasts.

Professor of U.S. History and American Studies at Yale (and rated as one of “the top young historians” way back in 2005), Joanne is very serious about teaching the facts about our nation’s founding…and even more serious about the power of community.

But almost every pod I’ve seen of her, she’s giggling. Or crowing, “LIVE!” (then laughing at her own glee). If what you need in these days of constant heartache and gut-wrenching worry about our vulnerable fellow Americans, environment, and democracy is a reminder of the “power of We”…Joanne Freeman is your woman.

Aside from her piercing insights on things like the role of white supremacy in our nation’s current ~~shitshow~~ state, and her abiding love for Alexander Hamilton, my favorite thing about Joanne Freeman is her tenderness with her listeners. “A Few Thoughts For Those Who Can’t Sleep” kind of says it all, doesn’t it? (Though her buddy HCR jokes that most folks call it “Freeman After Dark.) She’s there for us–literally.

At the end of each of these late-night (or evening, if you’re on Western time) sessions, Dr. Freeman has a set of rituals guaranteed to warm your heart. With a sense of joyful ceremony, she holds these items up, one at a time:

a whistle: to remind us to look out for each other, and stand up for each other, like the people in Minneapolis

2. a little tin labelled “Chutzpah”: to remind us to “Be strong and of good courage,” a quote from a onetime professor of hers, which she uses as a mantra

When it comes to Dr. Joanne Freeman, I say: Come for the scholarship. Stay for the…

…Community. Laughter. Truth. Parakeets. Coffee. Friendship. Challenge. Hope.

Chutzpah.

“Loving Forward”: Why America Needs Rev. Dr. William Barber Now…and So Do I

Posted on January 18, 2026 by gretchenwing

Do you recognize this man?

Rev. Dr. William Barber [photo courtesy Wikimedia]

If we were back in my childhood of the 1960s-70s, all watching the same 3 or 4 channels, everyone would know this preacher. Everyone would have seen him preaching, heard him cajoling or roaring from the pulpit. Though his accent is eastern Carolina, not Atlanta, we would have known him the way we knew that other Rev. Dr., the one whose birthday is now a federal holiday.

But we’re all in our separate media silos now; separate channels, separate apps. Rev. Barber is back on the east coast (managing to pastor a congregation at Yale even while doing all this political work), and here on the west, I RARELY meet anyone who’s heard of him.

I’m trying to change that.

One of my very earliest memories is of the civil rights movement in my hometown of Durham, NC: holding hands and swaying in a demonstration, singing “We Shall Overcome.” I learned later that Duke students and faculty–including my dad–came out in support of Duke’s all-Black custodians, probably 1965.

Without going into detail, suffice to say the civil rights movement was a big part of my family. My dad’s arrest at a sit-in led to a Supreme Court case, Klopfer v. N.C., which set the precedent that the right to speedy trial applies to the states. 50 years later, my dad was thrilled to get arrested again…following Reverend Barber. (You can read about that here.)

Out here in the Pacific Northwest, all that history feels remote. Or it did until Trump, the Supreme Court and Project 2025 started attacking voting rights again. Now here we are, right back in the mid-60s, fighting to maintain what we thought we’d won.

The only difference? “We” is more than Black Americans now. “We” is we.

If you find yourself thinking, “We sure could use Dr. King now,” then

a) you’re not alone, and

b) meet Rev. Barber.

State troopers watch as marchers cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama as part of a civil rights march on March 9. Two days before troopers used excessive force driving marchers back across the bridge, killing one protester. [Courtesy Legal Defense Fund]

This February, Rev. Barber’s group, Repairers of the Breach, will be leading a march modeled on the famous Selma to Montgomery March of 1965. They’ll start in Wilson, NC on Feb. 11 and walk almost 50 miles (15 miles/day), finishing in Raleigh on Valentines Day. How I wish I could be there! I can’t…but I plan to support the march financially. And I plan to tell everyone I can about it.

Starting here. Because, who knows? Maybe you can be there. Maybe you can be part of that history.

Can you? And if not…can you send this post to someone who might be able to join, or support the marchers?

And if you do that, will you tell me about it?

PS: For more information, or to contact Rev. Barber & the Repairers of the Breach directly, click here.

Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport: More Than a T-shirt Slogan

Posted on November 16, 2025 by gretchenwing

(Though it is a really good T-shirt slogan.)

This was my birthday present to myself, fresh from my Virginia-canvassing-and-family trip, and amped up–only a week later–by democracy’s powerful showing in the November 4 elections.

Notice I didn’t say Democrats (though they did well, and I’m glad). Nine months in to this presidency, people on all sides of politics–including no politics at all!–are starting to coalesce around the basic idea that things should work. And democracy, as Churchill famously said in 1947, is “the worst form of Government…except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” [ellipses added for emphasis]

In other words, for things to work (fairness, food, airplanes–that sorta thing), we need democracy. And when you look at election results more focused on immediate outcome than on party, here are some promising signs:

Maine anti-mail voting measure loses
Progressive DAs in Philly and NYC win
Colorado funds free school meals and SNAP support with taxes on the rich
Detroit elects first woman mayor
Cincinnati rejects JD Vance’s brother after endorsement
GOP Redistricting in Kansas failed
Charlotte approves transit tax
Maine passes gun control
Turnout in blue district US House election in Texas higher than 2024 Pres (thanks to Common Power for this compilation)

See what I mean? I have a lot of company in thinking, the IDEA of democracy is having a moment right now. And for democracy to work, we need all hands on deck.

“Wait a minute,” I can hear you saying. “I loathe phone-banking, and I’m donating all I can to things like food banks and my church. And now you want me to do take on ‘democracy’ too? I am SO not that person.”

Au contraire. I maintain that if you are looking out for vulnerable people; if you are protecting green spaces or animals; if you are reading to kids, or making art to share, or donating to organizations that multiply those values, you ARE a democracy standard-bearer.

I mean–don’t forget (or underestimate!) voting! Do all you can to keep your loved ones from feeling that voting’s not worth it. Point them to this book if they need a little inspiration…

I’m giving this book to everyone who’ll take it!

On my walk today I stopped to make a roadside bouquet. November in Washington State = pretty limited wildflowers. But the low-rent, multicolor assemblage I collected reminded me, there’s so many ways to be a flower!

You can be bright, demure, prickly, robust, delicate, complex or simple–and you can still call it democracy. Just do SOMETHING, keep doing it, and keep talking about it.

As Joyce Vance says, we’re in this together. And as Gretchen Wing says, “For things to work, we need democracy.”

What are some of your ways of participating? Anything new, anything especially challenging or rewarding, or both? Please share as many as you feel like.