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Susannah | Leader

Name: Susannah 
Age: 41
Occupation: Part-time school secretary at my child's school, part-time office manager for a children's publishing company, and mom
Role in the Resistance: Founding member of the REsisters
Location: Marin County, CA
When did you 'join' the Resistance or become politically activated? I've always been pretty progressive, a very left-learning democrat my whole life. I've never been active until the week before the 2017 inauguration. I think most of us woke up the morning after the election in the deepest state of shock, and disappointment and disbelief. I spent the next two months in total shutdown mode. I couldn't read stories about it or about Trump, I couldn't think, I couldn't do, I couldn't act. I wasn't going to do anything. I thought the Women's March was absurd because it wasn't going to get him out of office, so I just thought it was a bunch of people getting together. The week before the March, I was sitting in my family room and something just clicked in my head. I thought, "I can't do nothing. I have to do something." Probably mostly because I'm a mother, and a mother of a girl. I just thought "I don't know if one person means anything, but I can't do nothing." I didn't really knew what was going to come after that, but in that moment, I knew I had to go to the Women's March and do something. It was a huge turning point for me, because I had never participated in anything. Voting was as political as I had been. I followed the news, but never like this. It was a big one for me, not only because it was the first thing I was doing, but also because I'm an extreme introvert and have depression. The way my depression manifests is that I cocoon. I don't want to see anyone or do anything. I just want to be by myself in my home and with my family. It was so important for me to march that I was willing to step outside my comfort zone in a huge way for me. It wasn't just doing something I'm uncomfortable doing, it was doing something that could be potentially traumatic. It was one of the most moving things I've ever done, to be around so many people doing this for the first time ever. So I went home and I was in a few Facebook groups, but it was mostly just lamenting and bitching about the results and not knowing what we could do when Trump took over. After the inauguration is really when Indivisible and Sister District started and became bigger, and it's also when I really got in the mode of 'what can I do'. One of the first action items from Indivisible was 'hold a postcard party', so I did. I thought it was going to be just five of my neighbors, who were equally pissed off, and it ended up being much bigger than that, which was so cool. That group eventually became the REsisters. It grew from there and was completely organic. We held meetings, and planned actions and eventually we got to where we are today. We have an incredible group of women with more potential to change things than anywhere I've seen in my entire life. 
What is the most meaningful thing you've done in the Resistance, locally or nationally? There are two things I'm most proud of. The weekend after Charlottesville, I organized a rally. I thought it would be twenty of our REsisters, but it ended up being almost 200 people. It was such a cool thing to be a part of and to see our city come out and say "we won't stand for this." A week later, I launched a fundraising campaign on Facebook to 'Sponsor a Racist' and all donations went to the Southern Poverty Law Center which raised $5,000. I'm really, really, really proud of those things. Everything I've done is from home. I was worried, because I'm not going to be out there leading rally cries at protests every weekend, but I can do this. What I've learned is that you can make a difference in whatever capacity you have, and that it's also important to step out of your comfort zone. 
What results have you seen from your efforts (positive or negative)? The sustained activism of women. These women have shown up to every meeting, write postcards, if not every day, every week, they have their kids involved. The fact that now we are focusing on local government, and women who have never even been to an HOA meeting before are showing up at city council meetings. We are live blogging our local politics, because now we realize it all matters. If we can't affect the nation, this day, this year, this is what we can do and this is really, in a lot of ways, just as important. 
What have been some of the biggest challenges and how are you addressing those? Our biggest challenge is not really knowing how to do this, or how to get the biggest bang for our buck. Almost all of us are moms, and we have such little time. We believe in something, and we really want to do it, but when you have so little time, you need to do it in the most efficient way possible, and we don't know those things yet. We've been feeling it out as we go. Also, my own personality and introvert-ism. I don't want to lead meetings, I don't want to be out there, I want to stay in the shadows, but I  want to make a difference. Figuring out how to make a difference without having a big personality or leadership skills has been a big challenge to me personally. 
What non-traditional avenues would you recommend to those in the Resistance that have been effective for you or others around you? Recognizing how much of a difference you can make with just one person. Just get in there. I never in my whole life thought I would organize a rally. I went to look for a Charlottesville rally, clicked 'find a rally near you', and there wasn't one. I was like 'someone should make one'. Then an hour later, I was going about my business and thought 'Shit, I have to make one", and I did. Anyone can do anything. 
How can the average person with competing priorities make the biggest impact with limited time, energy and resources? You do what you can in the moment, and take breaks when you need them. Spend a week just not thinking about it if that what keeps you going. 
What inspires you to continue to fight? My daughter. That's the heart of it. 
Who should we all be following in the Resistance, if we aren't already (authors, social media, podcast, etc) My people, my REsisters. I actually listen to mostly non-political things. I know my REsisters who follow the media closely will post what I need to see, but I can't follow it myself. It takes too much out of me. There are too many potential areas in which to be pulled, so I focus on the local, and focus on my women. 

The REsisters is a Bay-Area based women's group, focused on local elections and politics, with an interest in the National Resistance movement. 

Susan | Founder




Name: Susan 
Age: 60
Occupation: Retired
Role in the Resistance: Founder of Indivisible Marin
Location: Marin County, CA
When did you 'join' the Resistance or become politically activated? While living in Boston from 2006 to 2016, I did anti-genocide activism, focused on South Sudan. That's really more, well, it's not politics, it's activism. I haven't been as involved in things like elections and US politics until recently. 
What prompted your political interest?
I actually gave up the genocide work a year and a half, almost two years, before the election. I stopped because I didn't feel like we were progressing. I didn't feel like there were enough people who cared to make a change. 10 years is a long time to be working on something, when you don't feel like you are making a lot of progress. Then I spent two years, essentially trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I've always wanted to be someone who contributes to the world, and I couldn't quite figure out how to plug in. I did some volunteer activities and didn't quite feel passionate about any one thing and then, as everyone always says, Trump was elected. I knew I had the skill set with my marketing experience, and I certainly had the motivation to get involved. So, I just got together with some neighbors, we were brainstorming 'what can we do?'. One of them, actually, had read about Indivisible, and we were like 'yeah, let's start an Indivisible chapter'. That was in January. If anyone knows the Resistance movement, they have probable heard of Indivisible, but we barely even knew what we were doing. We just grabbed the name. We were sitting around, drinking white wine, and we said, 'yeah, let's start an indivisible chapter. This neighborhood is called 'Upper Lucas Valley. We'll be Indivisible Lucas Valley.' A glass of wine later, we were like 'No, that's no big enough, we will be Indivisible San Rafael." A glass of wine later, we said "No! Indivisible Marin!" 
What is the most meaningful thing you've done in the Resistance, locally or nationally? Founding Indivisible Marin and learning to be a leader, because I haven't really been a leader in my prior career. It's been a pretty steep curve, but it's very rewarding to learn a lot and watch myself become a better leader.
What results have you seen from your efforts (positive or negative)? A lot of times, people will ask me if I feel what I'm doing really makes a difference. The way I answer that is, to create a mass movement, you need mass, and we are part of the mass. Anyone can say, I'm just one person, or we're just one chapter, so it doesn't matter, we can't help, but if we all said that, there would be no movement. It's analogous to voting, if you say, I'm not going to vote, I'm just one vote, then our whole system of democracy is meaningless. I feel our biggest accomplishment at Indivisible Marin is that we contribute through sheer numbers and our energy. We've also started action teams around specific issues like women's health, and the environment. These teams are getting involved, oftentimes locally, and I feel like they are making a very obvious contribution. Now, we are also getting people involved in preparing for the midterms, and taking back Congress in 2018 is the way we will really be able to change things. 
What have been some of the biggest challenges and how are you addressing those? The biggest challenge is keeping people engaged. There was obviously a lot of energy and passion after the election. People wanted to do something, and many people have kept up that energy and passion. A lot of people, though, have gotten discouraged because it's so much worse than we expected, or they've just kind of slipped back into their lives. It's hard to carve out time to do this work. We are constantly trying to keep people engaged, drawing new members, giving people new ways that they can participate. Our mission, which is a bit different, is that we are trying to appeal to new activists. People that have never done this before, but because of the election, want to get involved. Everything we do, we try to gear towards that. What we are trying to do now to get more people involved is creating a campaign team. They will be our foot-soldiers for the midterms. Those people won't necessarily have to make a big time commitment, but maybe they can phone bank once or twice a month, or maybe some text banking from your home. That's another challenge in Marin, the demographic is older, the people who have time are retirees, and we are trying to reach all ages and demographics. You really have to tailor options for busy people. If you go to our website, you'll see our whole website is laid out like that, 'If you have 5 minutes a day, do this. If you have an hour a week, do this.' We are trying to make the message clear that there is something for everyone. 
What non-traditional avenues would you recommend to those in the resistance that have been effective for you or others around you? Text banking is one of the newest techniques being used to reach voters in the red states, and it's something everyone can do from home. We want to encourage these voters to call their members of Congress. That's the most powerful way to make change. If we can text voters in red states, and get them to turn around and say to their representatives, 'Yes, we want to protect the ACA', or 'Yes, we want to help the dreamers', that's where you can really start turning votes in Congress. 
How can the average person with competing priorities make the biggest impact with limited time, energy and resources? I think they should become a member of a progressive group, like Indivisible Marin. Through the e-newsletter, through the communications of that organization, they will learn of opportunities to take action. It could be a 5 minute opportunity, it can be a one hour opportunity. They can pick and choose, but at least they'll be in the pipeline to get information. You have to plug in. 
What inspires you to continue to fight? All the corny stuff. Making the world a better place for my children and my grandchildren, for myself, and for all the people I don't know in the country and the world who are suffering, being treated unfairly, and who don't have a good quality of life because of these decisions being made by our terrible government. Helping change people's lives. That's what it's all about. 
Who should we all be following in the Resistance, if we aren't already (authors, social media, podcast, etc) Pod Save America. What I love about them is that you learn a lot, and it helps you be really informed since they are in the inside, but they are so funny. So I'm laughing out loud, even though it's a really upsetting topic. Laughing sometimes, it helps you cope. 

 You can find out more about Indivisible Marin by joining their Facebook group here, or visiting their website here. 
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