One Civic Act

Today, I renewed my membership to the Somerville Museum. It’s a small but important community resource that stays particularly connected to the community through its community curator program .

Today, I made an important donation to the Brattle Film Foundation . The Brattle Theatre, like all movie theaters, has been hit particularly hard in the Covid-19 crisis with movie-going essentially going down to zero. Looking at Box Office Mojo data for April through September, box office receipts nationally fell 98%. That’s not a misprint — theaters took on just two cents for every dollar they took in last year. It’s not looking bright for the first couple quarters of 2021 either.

The Wide Awakes is a network of artists and cultural workers driven to activism on urgent social and political issues. Like, you know, the election. They’re “organizing communities, sharing knowledge, building art, agitating for change, and getting out the vote.” Today, I made a donation to the Wide Awakes on Kickstarter .

Today, I watched a screening of The Response , a short film about the success of mutual aid societies after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. After that, a panel pulled together by Climable talked about how distributed power grids are emerging, on a small scale, out of those same efforts. Today, I also joined a call for the We the People Massachusetts team, still pushing for democracy reform.

Today, I made a Kiva loan to an entrepreneur starting what may be the only ethnic media outlets for Pacific Islanders in the US. They intend to represent the Pacific Islander community through contemporary and islanesian indigenous music, and content from DJs and social influencers.

Today, I made a donation to Area Code , an art fair featuring contemporary artists with ties to New England — during a pandemic. Looking forward to celebrating the creative community despite these times.

Today, I took action to help save the country’s movie theaters . I wrote to my Congressional representatives to ask them to ensure that theaters like the Brattle Theatre get federal support to get them through the coronavirus lockdown.

Today, I joined a Zoom call hosted by the Somerville Museum and the Somerville Media Center, during which the edited community reading of “Reading Frederick Douglass together” was broadcast. I recorded a segment, so it was good to see the whole piece come together. It was followed by an amazing talk by Keidrick Roy, a Harvard doctoral student, on race in America.

Today, I joined a national mobilization call for the Movement for Black Lives . This call was geared specifically toward rallying environment justice advocates for upcoming Juneteenth actions. Today, I also recorded a passage of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is 4th of July?” speech for a Somerville Museum/Somerville Media Center project called Reading Frederick Douglass.

Today, I subscribed to the Somerville Journal , a local paper that’s been revived by its one reporter over the past couple of years. Today, I also donated to the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism . Because local journalism is important.

Cultural institutions are getting hammered in the coronavirus pandemic, without the ability to charge admissions for people to enter their spaces. That includes the Somerville Musuem , of which I’m a member. Today, I made a donation to the Somerville Museum, to help them keep running.

Today, I joined a webinar hosted by the Environmental League of Massachusetts about covering climate. The featured speaker was David Abel, whose beat with the Boston Globe is the environment.

I supported journalism start-up Postindustrial last year. The Pittsburgh-based organization tells important stories from the Rust Belt and Appalachia. Now, they need to adjust, to keep afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, and also tell new stories of challenges, hope and resilience across that region. Today, I supported them again on Kickstarter .

The Brattle Theatre has gone dark for the coronavirus crisis. It’s an existential threat, to be frank. But the community has really come out in support, donating about $38,000 in just a week or so. Today, I joined a Development Committee call to talk about opportunities to continue the momentum.

Today, I supported Pots on Wheels , a truck that brings ceramic arts to kids in disadvantaged communities, through Kickstarter. Pots On Wheels received a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, so my donation is doubled.

Today, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe . There was an op-ed today about the need for mandatory home energy assessments to help homebuyers. I made the case it was even more necessary for renters.

Today, I went to the Oscar Party held every year by the Brattle Theatre. Because of the timing, this was less of a fundraiser than in past years, but I wanted to spend some time cultivating members and donors.

Today, I was interviewed by a reporter from Scout Somerville , who was interested in hearing about the zoning and buildings advocacy that the Climate Coalition of Somerville has been involved with over the past couple of years.

Of course we should. Today, I let the Boston Globe know that municipalities need to lead the way in the transition to renewable energy through a reader poll .

I support public art because it has the ability to transform spaces as well as people. Today, I made a donation to Now+There , which is expanding its public art support in Boston, including through the accelerator it launched in 2018.