Sunday ‘Speakeasy’ with David Pepper - Registration Link

Please register in advance for our ‘Speakeasy’ zoom forum with author and pro-democracy activist David Pepper

***Registration link for our Sunday ‘Speakeasy’ zoom forum with David Pepper at 4 pm PT; 7 pm ET, is below the paywall. If you would like to become a member and join us at our community events and gain access to all archived content and podcasts, please do so here.***

It was emotional watching ‘The Eastern Front’ in a theatre at our Hollywood premiere — but I didn’t fall apart until the next day.

I had seen the film on the small screen, but in a theater full of people on a silver screen it was a different experience. There’s a moment in the film, where a woman is sitting on a bench in a once thriving neighborhood park. Ruins are everywhere. She spoke of how years earlier, the community got together to plant some trees and how beautiful the park was. Now, it’s a desolate wasteland — trees were cut down in order to survive winter, a winter where the Russian military attacked power stations and people went without heat and electricity — forced to chop down their beloved trees.

And in one moment, the camera reveals some blue flowers growing defiantly in the destruction. I had cried before when seeing that moment.

But as I took a friend who had flown in from Canada for the premiere around the Huntington Gardens the day after the screening, I lost it in the herb garden. The artichoke plants had blossomed since my last visit, and they were a similar shade of violet blue.

In that moment, all the rage and sorrow swelled to the surface, and all I could think was how much I want Putin and the Russian military to face every consequence coming for their many crimes — how much I want to defeat the enabling leaders of the GOP in 2024 for their many crimes. How much I want to silence the lie factories. How much I want to see global justice rise up in defense of democracies — in defense of the Ukrainian people, who are defending their land, their homes, their very right to their own statehood, their own culture.

We can’t save the lives already lost, but we help Ukraine defeat Russia. We can force the return of 19,000 stolen children. We can save democracy here at home by rolling up our sleeves and fighting for it.

How we do that is simple — we collectively perform the labor of democracy.

We can’t all do everything, but we can each do something, Anne Nelson once told me.

A few months ago, David Pepper joined our Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ and he asked us one very simple question — do we give enough of shit to save it.

Our community does, and David — who is a one-man wrecking ball against the fascist creep — is going to tell us what we can each do in our own communities. We can each do something.

Many of you have already purchased his latest book ‘Saving Demoracy’ — A User’s Manual for Every American’ — thank you for that! For those who want to read it before Sunday, the ebook version is available for 8.99. Please purchase a copy in advance of our ‘Speakeasy’ here. Also, his substack is vital as well, and you can follow him here. His report from today on ‘Hope’ was powerful and empowering.

Hope: Notes from the Road

So please do join us on Sunday — if you are not yet a paid member, become one by joining at this special ‘Saving Democracy’ rate — 25% off for the first year.

It all matters.

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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. Thank you to everyone who pitches in with a monthly membership - each time they come in, it always feels like pennies from heaven. And to all of you who have upgraded to Founding Member, I am so humbled and grateful.

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.com. 🥹

Our next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, June 18, 4 pm PT, featuring David Pepper giving us a pep talk from his latest book, Saving Democracy; Paid members also receive invites to our weekly Bette’s Happy Hour, a wellness checkin every Tuesday. This Tuesday, our checkin is at noon PT.

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“I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth.”-Audrey Peterman.

“May the viral hope for truth and humanity wash away the chaos of these years.”-S.C., Bette community member

“Something Sacred never dies in almost all of us, who can hear the invitation of Truth…”-words from a Bette Dangerous community member

“Nothing but blue skies from now on…”-Irving Berlin

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Registration link below…