Rain Perry

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We get inspired, there’s music, and use a set of tools for community and accountability.

Phew — every time I write a new essay, it seems like a year since the last one. Welcome back, and very glad you’re here. I’m very excited to announce that I have a new tool for you at the bottom of the page!

As Federal Government programs are cut, we find ourselves looking to our local communities in whole new ways. The adage “think globally, act locally” becomes not just a rallying cry but a necessity, as we face challenges in public health, food safety, civil rights, national security and much more.

But there is a very real silver lining, believe it or not.

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We get inspired, there’s music, and use a set of tools for community and accountability.

Like you, I suspect, I’m finding every day newly overwhelming in the breakage of our norms and the breaches of our institutions. I’m no longer going to hold back from acknowledging that the United States is undergoing an attempted coup d’etat. Six mostly-too-young-to-drink hackers rolling in and accessing the most sensitive US Government computer systems at the behest of their billionaire overlord sounds like the plot of a Die Hard sequel, one that might be a little too over the top to be greenlit. And yet, that is exactly what has happened. I really can’t believe it.

Where’s John McClane when you need him?

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We get inspired, there’s music, and use a set of tools for community and accountability.

Not gonna lie — it’s been a hell of a week. I don’t need to recount it here; you’ve all been through it too.

In what seems like a lifetime ago (but was January 22), sociologist Jennifer Walter wrote a thread you must read about “shock doctrine” and how to defend oneself against it. (I’ve included the text at the bottom of this post for those who aren’t on Threads.) (And, about that, my feelings about social media have evolved since some strident pronouncements I made recently. Now, since the LA fires and during this fraught time, I am approaching social media as tools like skill saws that are both useful and potentially dangerous.)

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We get inspired, there’s music, and — at the bottom of the essay — use a set of tools for community and accountability.

The Greatest, the GOAT, the Louisville Lip: everybody knows something about Muhammad Ali.

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy crossposted here and on Substack. We get inspired, there’s music, and — at the bottom of the essay — use a set of tools for community and accountability.

This week’s Person of the Week is a case study in what you do when you plan to do something big someday.

First, the backstory: since my kids have been grown, every election cycle I keep myself sane by going somewhere and being a cog in the wheel of Democracy, getting out the vote or doing Voter Protection. In 2020 I volunteered both as a poll observer in Phoenix and as Out of State Help for Mission for Arizona (the coordinated campaign of the Arizona Democratic Party, the National Dems and the Biden/Harris and Kelly campaigns).

I was part of a small team who led zoom trainings on how to use an app called “Vote Joe” to do an old thing — “relational organizing” — in a new way. The idea was that since it was the height of the pandemic, we couldn’t knock doors so we had to find other ways for volunteers to talk to friends and neighbors — hence an app that organized their own contacts for outreach.

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We get inspired, there’s music, and — at the bottom of the essay — use a set of tools for community and accountability.

Greetings from Southern California. You’ve seen the pictures of Los Angeles — the scope of the devastation is unimaginable. Up here in Ventura County we’ve had a couple fires start but thankfully they were quickly knocked down. Our power is back on after several days; neighbors just down the road are still in the dark. It’s a regular thing now that when there are high wind warnings. Edison shuts off the power prophylactically. We are all on alert.

It’s soooo dry. It hasn’t rained in Southern California since last May. Last year we got a ton of precipitation, which is so lucky because our reservoirs and groundwater basins are currently full. (Ignore the political lies about the water situation. Picture turning on all the taps and hoses in your house at the same time and you can understand why some hydrants had no water pressure in LA.)

Rather than give any attention to folks who would use a tragedy to gain political points, I prefer to do what Mr. Rogers said to do when things are scary: “look for the helpers.”

There are so many helpers in LA. I’ve seen videos of neighbors filling trashcans with water and hauling them across the street to wet down houses. I’ve read messages from dozens of friends offering a place to stay, a place to take a pet, a place to charge phones. There are the linemen and women working in hazardous conditions, day and night, often without much appreciation from frustrated residents, to get the power back on.

And then there are the firefighters - OMG, they are heroes. And the pilots. Check out this water drop. As someone posted: “nothing but net.”

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We begin with music, get inspired, and — at the bottom of the essay — use a set of tools for community and accountability.

Welcome back, everybody!

This week, I was going to write about Jimmy Carter. He’s the perfect kind of person for this newsletter, with his commitment to making the world a better place, propelled by a Christianity rooted in service and humility.

I have fond childhood memories of a Carter Presidency that was both transcendent and beset by challenges. But it’s his post-Presidency life that truly impresses, as he and his beloved partner Rosalynn devoted their lives to service to others via Habit for Humanity and The Carter Center.

But what can I say about him that others aren’t already saying very well?

So this week I’m going to introduce you to a different politician I’m very excited for you to meet: my aunt Francie Jacober.

This issue makes a month of this newsletter, A Habit of Hope. Thank you! I’m doing it for myself as much as anyone, because it’s so easy to feel powerless in the face of the craziness.

I’ve gotten lovely feedback from quite a few of you who are enjoying this newsletter. That fills me with happiness! Happy you’re here.

We Start With Music

This week is about a spectacular, daring rescue. So we have to start with a song about needing to be rescued! This is a great time to watch or re-watch the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia, because it’s all about grief and forgiveness. Also, as a songwriter it blows me away that the film was entirely based on the music of Aimee Mann, and that at one point there is a pause the action so all the characters can sing her song “Wise Up.”

What I didn’t know was that there was a correlating music video where the action of the story pauses and Aimee Mann appears in the scenes next to the stars and sings her own masterpiece “Save Me.” I mean, it’s fascinating from an artistic standpoint, and also I love picturing it logistically - like “okay, hold where you are, keep that mood - let’s bring in Aimee.”

Week Three. Thank you so much for being here!

I’m really excited to bring you the Person of the Week this week. It’s a story from my own backyard.

I was home doing chores one Saturday and my daughter texted me. “Mom, you have to listen to this. It’s a crime podcast and it’s about that girl who went missing up in San Luis Obispo — and it’s SO GOOD. It’s this guy - he’s from Orcutt and he’s a musician. You have to listen.” And she sent me a link to a podcast called, appropriately, Your Own Backyard.

Welcome to A Habit of Hope — a weekly practice of optimism and joy. We begin with music, get inspired, and — at the bottom of the essay — use a set of tools for community and accountability. This is a cross post also available on substack.

Week two of this experiment! Thank you for being here. Let’s start, as we usually will, with a song: Los Lobos’ lovely “A Matter of Time,” about a father leaving his family to cross the border, hoping someday to send for them once he finds work. From the heartbreaking opening lyric “Speak softly / Don’t wake the baby / Come and hold me once more / Before I have to leave” to the repeated mantra/plea at the end “we’ll all be together, in a matter of time,” it’s an old, old story. Like water flowing downhill, people have forever been compelled to migrate for work, for safety, in the hope of a better life. My great-great-grandparents did it; yours probably did too.