“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”—Oscar Wilde
Whether in America or Ukraine, we are a people at war. In America, we are in a hot information war, the precursor to kinetic war and/or bloodless coups. In Ukraine, the shelling and cruelty continues hourly.
When war correspondent Zarina Zabrisky stayed with me over the summer — we hosted the debut of the US premiere of the documentary Under Deadly Skies — she couldn’t wait to get back to Ukraine.
At the time, it was difficult for me to understand why she wanted to go back to the front. I understand now. In Ukraine, there is no confusion about the war, this war between good and evil, democracy and fascism, a future with rule of law or a future led by cruel and corrupt dictators. In America, there’s still a great deal of confusion. I’m embarrassed by that. How easily manipulated people are by internet influencers.
They have forgotten to read books by great minds.
I listened to a very smart friend yesterday praise Russell Brand —superspreader of Russian propaganda. I didn’t say anything. I just listened. I hoped my silence would echo through the canyons. I wanted my silence to be a scream.
Everywhere I turn, another brain bites the dust.
But here at Bette Dangerous, we push back.
Winning
Thanks to the many visits by David Pepper, Bette Dangerous community members phone banked and wrote postcards and were part of the win by Ohioans for women’s health care rights.
Bette member Dee Batiste, said she was inspired to join the efforts of Every State Blue after listening to David Pepper in a Bette Dangerous Tuesday check in — bluetennessee.org is now up and running, getting funding to help candidates run in every district.
And on Friday, when I learned Zarina Zabrisky and Paul Conroy’s apartment in Kherson was hit, this community stepped up and helped a Ukrainian volunteer replace his phone, which burned in the shelling.
You came through. 🥹
Lastly, when I asked you to share my Fight Fascism Toolkit, you did.
I needed to get the series out to a wider audience and inspire new memberships so I can afford to keep doing this work, and you came through, again.
This group doesn’t just wring our hands, we roll up our sleeves.
For that I am so grateful.
I realize that it’s important to focus on the successes as well as threats and to not forget to write beautiful things. Please accept my note of thanks.
Too often, we focus on the ugly and depraved words of those who are trying to steal America and trying to steal Ukraine and not enough on the good work being done by good people. We need to protect our psyche from their negative energy.
Yesterday, Trump threatened more violence — we know violence is his brand and should expect it.
But we don’t have to allow him to suck all the air out of the room — he’s a desperate carny throwing meat to the ever-shrinking mangy base — document but don’t glamorize. And always offer solutions.
Today, Jim Stewartson reports that Mike Flynn is threatening nuclear blackmail.
It’s vitally important to document and expose what these Putin fluffers do and say — so we can demand action from law enforcement and our Justice Department.
It’s equally important to document and support those doing the labor of democracy, and to recommend solutions and calls to action, because those steps are what will help us inevitably defeat the fascists.
After Biden’s powerful State of the Union speech, the Putin fluffers did their best to suck the air out of the room again, as noted by Orbán tiptoeing through Mar-a-Lago’s tulips. I documented the facts, but offered a way to go on offense by deploying Jason Stanley’s interview, which gave us practical steps to take.
I thought about the need to focus on solutions, goodness, and the actions we can do, and how to do so without missing the beauty along the way.
Nurture Yourself
I thought of this yesterday, as I ducked out of the rain into a darkened movie theater, to see Wim Wenders film, Perfect Days. It was so fucking beautiful.
A janitor in Japan has a simple, minimalist life — nurture plants, work, photograph his Tree Friend, read, listen to music, repeat.
He smiles at wind, pays attention to the sun, sees the light moving throughout the day, enjoys breathing in simple moments and never misses a moment to celebrate sunlight filtering through trees — he snaps photos daily of such moments with an old school camera. He is a content man. He is nurtured by nature and seems in one with the universe.
In this our one life, this may be it.
We may be fighting these monsters for the rest of our lives, which means we must also live our lives, not miss the beauty, celebrate the beauty of nature, celebrate the good in all of us. Celebrating the good feels good.
“The world is made up of many worlds,” says the main character in the film, played brilliantly by Kōji Yakusho.
Our world is made up of many worlds — our fight, our family, the beauty that surrounds us.
We must write beautiful things or paint beautiful things or photograph beautiful things — whatever we are good at. We must also feel good, feeling good allows us to work from a place of strength.
In the final scene of Perfect Days, the janitor is laughing and crying to Nina Simone’s Feeling Good.
It’s how I feel most days.
Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, yeah…
And I'm feeling good
Having just spent 36 hours in the desert is why I was able to get through last week. I came back refreshed and recharged, seeking the moon and celebrating the stars.
Yes, I curled up in a ball for awhile after learning of Zarina’s loss, but I got back to it. Spent an hour watching the changing shape of clouds, in awe of the various shades of sky colors at dusk, nurtured by nature, then went to the symphony for Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Dvořák.
As Bette Davis tells Paul Henreid in Now, Voyager:
“Don’t let’s ask for the moon, we have the stars.”
We have the stars, and often the moon. And birds and clouds, and love and music.
Recharge, feel good, protect your positive energy, and I’ll see you in the fight.
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Save the Date: Bette Tuesday’s Happy Hour on 3.19, 5 pm PT, please join us for an hour with Special Guest Dmitrii Kovegin:
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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with your generous coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. Some of you prefer making subsidizing donations via venmo, and it’s always greatly appreciated.
Also, a private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Begin each day with a grateful heart.
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