Yesterday I wrote about what is happening in Minnesota.
There are a lot of ways individuals can help in this current situation, whether you live in Minnesota or not.
In response to my post yesterday a friend who used to live in Minnesota wrote she was going to donate to the Immigrant Defense Network. (This is very much needed.)
Minnesota Center for Book Arts sent a notice out this past week acknowledging they would be closing on January 23 for the protest yesterday. They included a link to Stand with Minnesota.
The Stand with Minnesota site provides information on where you can volunteer or donate.
Stand with Minnesota also lists news providers posting truthful coverage of the situation in Minnesota. MPR has reported the shooting death of a civilian this morning.
The Stand with Minnesota site also has a list of actions you can take.
Their list includes phone calls you can make to your state and federal officials. This is particularly useful if you are unsure of how to word your call and how to ensure the call is tallied. There are many issues you can click on besides those involving getting ICE out of Minnesota. (The other issues will appear in the sidebar at the left when you click on this ICE out link.)
While checking for additional information yesterday I found a blog post by Naomi Kritzer, a St. Paul writer who blogs about local politics.
Kritzer’s blog post has a list of ways you can help with food, laundry, personal assistance, and more.
She has tips for community defense; countering disinformation; and also a section on self care so that you don’t exhaust yourself.
I recommend you read her post. It is concise and full of detailed help.
About Self Care
Besides sleep, nutrition, and hydration, you do need to take care of your mind and recharge.
If you have been drawing and painting previously, but all your energies are being spent right now on surviving and helping your neighbors, or working out how best to donate or help, it can all seem overwhelming.
Here is something you can do whether you have a journal practice or have never cracked a blank book open before
“Do Anything” Exercise:
Find 15 minutes in your day to do something in your journal to decompress.
Gather a few materials: some paints, color pencils, some paper scraps, a glue stick or some tape. It doesn’t matter. It can be anything you have on hand. The simpler the better.
If you have never journaled before you can pull some magazines out of the recycling bin to cut out text or images for collage; you can simply scribble with a ballpoint pen or a pencil. If you have kids you can borrow their crayons.
If you want to document your day you might want to print out a photo to paste on a journal page to jumpstart your thoughts.
Open your journal to a blank page spread.
If you have never journaled before you can use a blank book or notebook from from a local store—you do not need fancy art paper pages.
Or you can take bond copier paper and fold it into a pamphlet. I have a free six-part course on binding pamphlets starting here.
If you are using bond copier paper/printer paper do not worry about grain direction for this process. Just fold your sheets in half so the folded sheet is 5.5 x 8.5 inches with the fold running with the 8.5 inch side. (Copier papers are made to go through a printer without curling so the grain direction isn’t set up for binding—but the goal here is to make a simple pamphlet QUICKLY.) You do not need to make a cover, though you can use any card stock you have. You can use any thick thread or yard that you have for this quick book.
Depending on the materials you have, start working by making marks, patterns, doodles, or cutting shapes out of scraps and arranging them. (Glue the scraps down.) Movement of your hand is important here.
At some point in the process allow your mind to speak up. Jot down what it is telling you. If all that is coming out is pain and frustration listen, write down some points, and then make a conscious effort to stop, breathe, and think of one good thing that you witnessed, heard, or somehow experienced in your life. (Not something online.) Jot that good thing down.
Some days there will be slim pickings for the good thing—so remember that the light coming in through the window onto your cutting board where you have a pepper waiting for dinner, that can be a good thing. Something you saw and took in. Light has beauty and energy. We note these things down so we can fix them in our minds and call up their light when we feel there is not light around us.
It is important to allow yourself to vent, but it is as important to realize the good around you in life, even amidst dire circumstances.
Example
As an example I posted two simple collages on a journal spread from March of 2025. I was pushing myself against physical limitations. I wasn’t able to do my regular drawing, but needed to get something on the paper.
Too many people start a creative practice and then allow all the pulls of life to stall them out. Doing 15-minutes of journaling to recharge in this way helps you retain your journaling practice so that you are ready to take advantage of more time when it becomes available.
There are days when all I want to do is get the gouache out and paint something lavish, to move the paint around. But the energy and mental focus is not there. Instead of doing nothing I show up for myself and make page after page of quick pen and ink sketches—not to have something to show people, but to have something to remind myself that I will get back to my practice. In fact that I have not left my practice at all. It has simply morphed for the present moment. And that reminder clears my mind for other challenges.
Do NOT judge what you’ve put down on paper. If you have any of your 15 minutes left you can sit with the open book quietly and think about what came up. But remember the process is not about doing a perfect or decorative page. The process is about getting something down on the page so you can get some of your breath and attention back, so you can reclaim your focus.
It doesn’t matter if you have an established art or journaling practice. You can still recharge in this way.
Over time, if you look back at those 15-minute page spreads you will see how your mind was working through the stress, and you will see what was positive in your life. This allows you to recognize the good in your life and move forward with renewed energy.
Most important, this will help you to show up every day for yourself. Afterwards those pages will stand as a reminder to yourself of your own resilience.
And this small action will push you to make other actions in your life for positive outcomes and free up new energy to help others.
Good advice. Great links.
Thank you Diane for being a strong friend.
Thanks, Roz –
Always teaching us ways to BE. Sending strength for these grim times.
Lynn S.
Thanks Lynn!