13 Comments
Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Like others have said, thanks for sharing. Your words are great, but your example already demonstrated what it is I have felt for months, years, what I should start doing: acting within my own city.

I'm just a handful of years younger and I think back on going from having a burgeoning political consciousness during the W. Bush years to fully forming a sense of futility over national politics in the transition from good-but-not-good-enough Obama to the chaos of 45 and Biden. Over that same timeline I moved between St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Chicago. And in all of them I've ended up feeling like what happens on a national level is impossible to interact with. Marches and protests against vague national events are a placebo. Did protesting for Ferguson in 2014 on college campuses feel constructive? Did the women's march in Chicago in 2017 feel inspiring? Yes. But they had the federal level as targets.

Seeing your work as an advocate for the unhoused—passively, as a fan of your comedy podcast—has demonstrated for me how acting locally can be personally centering and genuinely impactful. On HH this week you made a joke that was something like, you know how ants can survive falls from 100x their own height? I want to be that ant. Falls on the larger, federal/global scale are going to happen. But I wanna just be working to make sure the people in my hive are doing ok. I've been looking for ways to do that in my home, Chicago, going forward. I hope I find the right ones, but even if I don't I gotta thank you for your example. It means a lot.

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Nov 6Liked by Hayes Davenport

Thanks for this hayes

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Nov 8Liked by Hayes Davenport

I love this, Hayes. Here in Australia where I live, the people have chosen not to re-elect a premier who had plans for free lunches in schools, cheaper public transport, increase of rental relief payments for a state that is in the middle of a rental crisis, among other things. Instead, they chose a man who voted against decriminalising abortion, doesn’t “believe “ in it,, who doesn’t care about how many unhoused people there are and instead is focussing being “tough on crime” and fearmongering.

I felt so helpless watching it unfold but reading this has motivated me to do anything to help change, even if it starts out small. There’s so many people who need our help.

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Thank you for articulating so beautifully the biggest lesson I’ve learned in recent years

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Needed something like this. Thank you.

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Thank you so much for this, one of the only things I've read that hasn't felt suffocating the past 24 hours. Do you know a good resource to start with? (LA Podcast was truly my favorite window into the city during COVID)

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author

Been talking to Scott about recording some more shows together here! Also LA Podcast is back with Alissa and some others, run by LA Forward, which also has a primer on local government at la101.guide. I also love Torched, Alissa's newsletter (torched.la).

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Love Torched! Excited about all the rest - thanks for replying!

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

I appreciate you, Hayes, genuinely thank you.

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Hayes, thank you for sharing this. Your comment about needing agency resonated with me - I blasted a similar sentiment into the void while Tweeting Through It last night. To borrow a famous quote by a Hollywood darling, “Thanks, this helped.”

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Nov 7Liked by Hayes Davenport

Thanks Hayes man, do you happen to know of any good orgs to get involved in in the Boston area?

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author

I think it helps to pick a lane first: housing/tenants rights, homelessness, immigration, etc. But I think Boston Cares has programs in all of those categories so that could be a place to try different things. Don't know much else but I many years ago I did some tutoring for inmates working on their GED through the Petey Greene Program, which was great and I believe is still around.

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Nov 6Liked by Hayes Davenport

Thank you Hayes.

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