Remember Me?

I have a Substack and have been MIA for months

Let me reintroduce myself. I’m Lisa. I like to write about a lot of stuff. And I’m a busy girl.

Since my last post in August:

• Our Indivisible Twin Cities group held a 10 day protest in front of the GOP booth at the Minnesota State Fair. We turned our bodies into billboards to protest the “Big Beautiful Bill”, had a ton of great conversations with Minnesotans who are worried about how that bill will impact their lives, and managed to piss off some Republicans. It was a huge success in every way.

  

• We helped organize the largest protest in Minnesota history - the No Kings 2 event on October 18th exceeded all of our expectations. 100,000 people showed up to non-violently protest the MAGA takeover of our democracy. It was a surreal and beautiful thing.

  

• It wasn’t all work. I managed to spend two weeks in Italy in early October. One week in and around Naples and Sorrento. The second week in the glorious area on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. That week was spent at a writer’s retreat with the ever-talented John Roedel. I first met John two years ago at a retreat on Madeline Island, so when I heard he was holding one in Italy, I said to hell with my budget and signed up. It was magical and, like last time, was just the boost I needed to get started on Book Number Two (the working title). How I think I will find the time, I don’t know, but I manage to squeeze a lot out of every day.

  

I’ve also spent a lot of time driving back and forth between St. Paul and Rochester, Minnesota. The amazing folks at The Mayo Clinic seem to have figured out my mysterious heart issues. What others just didn’t see, the cardiologist there picked up on it quickly. Hopefully, I will respond well to medication and can get back to my walking/hiking routine that really helps keep me balanced. Being stuck in a recliner is not my style.

The work of resistance continues daily. This is not how I expected to spend my retirement but I have no plans to stop until our country comes out of these dark times or my light get turned off.

While in Umbria, I was kind of obsessed with all the gattos, who seem to be living their best life. To be fair, everyone in Umbria seemed to be living their best life. Instead of bulldozing history, they embrace it. The trains run on time, the wine flows and the food is always delectable.

Thanks for reading and I promise to write here more often.

Lisa