Follow-up Friday + Weekend wish

Julia Smith

31 Oct 2025 — 1 min read

From Anisa Makhoul's Instagram. Prints available in Anisa's shop.

Item 1. Weekend wish

That we access the antidote to despair, whether through...

➡️ an ICE Out of Home Depot protest

➡️ a Dia de Los Muertos #DisappearedinAmerica vigil

➡️ a local Get Out the Vote canvass, text, or phone bank

Or whatever makes sense for each of us.

Item 2. Food

Some things I've collected since Monday:

Talking points: Everyone benefits when people tap into food assistance (Bunny McKensie Mack, Facebook); grocery stores rely on food stamp sales (Gothamist); parents are stretching and electeds should hear (Melissa Morales, IG).
Erin Boyle has a roundup of food-finding resources, plus "do donate X, don't donate Y" advice from food pantry volunteers (Substack)
My cousin Lauren is a social worker in Pittsburgh. She's raising funds to support her dialysis patients who rely on food stamps and who require renal-friendly foods. ➡️ To help stock her clinic's pantry:

You can find her whole post on Facebook, or just use one of these giving methods to avoid clicking over to a Meta platform.

Take good care.

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Mark-your-calendar Monday is very short today.

Item 1. TONIGHT Emergency call: Keep ICE Out of Childcare Centers and Schools. Related reading: Kyle Kingsbury's I want you to understand Chicago and Kelly Hayes's In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together and this Instagram slideshow.

Close-up of a beaver with sticks in its mouth as it swims from one point to another. It looks focused and determined.

Today's one supermoon-of-a-Wednesday thing!

Item 1. Take a moment If you have the luxury of taking a pause for a bit of ritual and wonder... ➡️ Learn why it's called the Beaver Moon (via wickedmystics.com): It marks the transition from autumn’s fiery glow to winter’s deep introspection, reminding us to

Tuesday's one thing (assuming everyone who is eligible to vote has already done so)

Item 1. Have a plan for AFTER Election Day. Maybe you'd like to join this 30 minute Working Families Party mass call tomorrow (Wednesday) night, for example. Or maybe you're winning in other ways. Just do something to take care of yourself and be with your

Today's two countdowns*

Item 1. Halloween countdown Over the past decade, 18 year old Mari Copeny (aka Little Miss Flint) has done more for her community than many people do in a lifetime. Last week she posted: ...I want to purchase 150 costumes for kids that don’t normally get a Halloween costume.