Keeping Calm = Making Videos + Voting By Mail
Newsletter + On This Day
Here in the U.S., the election is just around the corner—on November 5th—and I’ll be honest: I’m nervous as fuck and stressed the fuck out!
It's not just the endless stream of campaign ads or contradictory polls and pundits. It’s the anxiety of hoping enough people show up for what I think is right.
This election feels heavier, as if more is riding on each vote than ever before.
I’ve felt this weight before—the 2000 and 2016 elections especially left me disappointed and discouraged by the direction the U.S. was and still is heading.
So how am I planning to get through the next few weeks? By keeping myself busy making new videos, of course. It’s what I do when I’m happy, sad, or somewhere in between. It’s what I do and how I cope.
There’s this delicate balance between staying informed and protecting my sanity, and making videos has been a lifesaver. It’s my safe space, where I can create something meaningful and tune out the media circus. At least for a while.
Pouring my creativity into videos I love is a far better use of time than doomscrolling through headlines and so-called “news.” Likewise, voting by mail is a much better use of my time than waiting to stand in line at the polls.
Despite my attempts to keep calm and create, there’s always the underlying tension of election season. For me, voting is the best option. I’ve already received my ballot, and as I fill it out later today, I’ll be thinking about the analogy Aussie comedian Adam Hills used to describe voting:
“So most people think voting for a party at an election is like hailing a taxi. And they’re looking for one that’ll take them exactly where they want to go. But the truth is, voting at an election is more like catching a bus. It’s never going to take you right to your front door. So your best course of action is to catch the one that you think is going in the right direction.”
Adam Hills on The Last Leg
I’ve come to terms with the “bus vs. taxi” analogy. No party or person is perfect. No party or person is going to represent every single value I hold dear. That said, I’m casting my votes for buses I believe to be headed in the right direction. Results may vary. And with elections, the results can be close calls. So please vote!
At the end of the day, what matters—to me at least—is progress, not perfection. My single vote might not count for much on its own, but it counts enough. The more of us who cast our votes for the things we care about, the better.
Voting is the foundation of our democracy. And not to be too histrionic or hyperbolic, but voting may be the only thing that saves our “imperfect union” from becoming a banana republic run by a former reality tv star turned wannabe dick-tator.
Political and social progress comes in many forms, and happens in fits and starts.
Today’s the anniversary of one of my favorite moments of pop culture “progress”: Singer and anti-gay activist Anita Bryant getting “fruit pie’d” back in 1977.
It might seem an odd thing to celebrate, but that fruit pie symbolizes the anger and frustration I still feel toward holier-than-thou busybodies who can't mind their own damn business. It’s a slapstick moment that reminds me activism can takes all forms—even sticky, sweet just desserts.
Today also marks Natalie Maines' birthday. She’s a personal favorite. Both musically and politically. As lead singer of the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks), in the early 2000s, Maines became a target of vicious attacks after speaking out against George W. Bush and his "war on terror" during a London performance. Conservative country fans lost their damn minds and launched wave after wave of hate and ignorance towards her, her bandmates, and their families. But she refused to back down.
Instead, Ms. Maines co-wrote and recorded one of the best fuck-you songs I've ever heard: "Not Ready to Make Nice." She—and her bandmates—may have paid a heavy price for speaking up, but I don’t think any of them regrets much, if anything.
Conservatives who cheered when Anita Bryant refused to "shut up and sing" in 1977 are the same ones who jeered when Natalie Maines spoke her mind before singing in 2003. Their self-righteous hypocrisy is glaring. Not that those of us on other parts of the political spectrum are free from hypocrisy—but the sheer lack of self-awareness and irony is truly astounding.
So as I fill out my ballot from the comfort of my home today, throwing fruit pies and singing fuck-you songs will be on my mind.
Cultural touchstones like these remind me the fight for justice and progress is often messy and usually involves pissing off a few folks. Oh well. In my book, it’s better to be pissed off than pissed on. (For anyone into water sports, do you!)
I won’t lie: I’m still nervous. So until at least election day, I'll keep making as many videos and creating as much art as possible to “keep calm and carry on.”
No matter how imperfect or messy our candidates, our democracy, our government, and/or our two-party system may be, voting remains the best way I know to catch a bus that's heading in the direction I want to go: A future so bright we gotta wear shades.
Thanks for reading and voting!
Clint
ON THIS DAY = OCTOBER 14
BIRTHDAYS
1927 = Roger Moore = English actor
1939 = Ralph Lauren = American fashion designer
1974 = Natalie Maines = American singer-songwriter
1996 = Lourdes Ciccone Leon = American model and singer
EVENTS
1884 = George Eastman receives a patent for paper-strip photographic film.
1930 = George and Ira Gershwin’s musical Girl Crazy, starring Ginger Rogers and featuring the stage debut of Ethel Merman, opens at the Alvin Theater, in New York City, New York, and runs for 272 performances
1954 = White Christmas is released in theaters.
1977 = Anita Bryant, a high-visibility anti-gay crusader, received a pie to the face during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa at the hands of gay rights activist Tom Higgins. After saying "at least it was a fruit pie," Bryant went on to pray and cry like the hateful, stupid bitch she was and still is.
1982 = POTUS Ronald Reagan proclaims a “war on drugs.”
1994 = Pulp Fiction is released in theaters.
1995 = MADtv premieres on Fox.
2001 = Degrassi: The Next Generation premieres on CTV.
MUSIC VIDEOS + SONGS OF THE DAY
“I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and i don't have time
To go 'round and 'round and 'round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if i could
'Cause i'm mad as hell, can't bring myself
To do what it is you think I should…”
Not Ready To Make Nice
By The Chicks
Written by Dan Wilson + Emily Strayer + Natalie Maines + Martie Maguire
The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
By Timbuk 3
Written by Pat Macdonald
NEW + FEATURED
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Of course you're nervous about the election, it's probably the most important election of our lifetime. It certainly doesn't help that it's being thrown at us from all different directions on a daily basis. The media is having a field day with it. And some jerk named "Scam Likely" keeps calling me several times a day. I don't know anyone by that name which is why I don't bother answering the phone. He's probably some damn robo caller. I have learned the best thing we can probably do is carry on as best as we can with our daily routine and try to block out the political stuff because it does get overwhelming. There is not much we can do other than get out there and vote and hope for the best, and maybe throw a commemorative fruit pie at the bullies.
Hey Clint, I feel for you and the entire 🇺🇸 We had our General Election recently too. Like your election it was the most crucial one for many a year. I couldn't support the Conservatives and neither could I support the Labour party. I tactical voted for an independent party. However I still maintain my support for Labour principles, if not the party. I'm not too sure of which are the equivalent political parties in 🇺🇸 Also of course whichever political party wins, they become the Government straight away. No 6 months lead in. There is no aggression or a lost leader throwing his dummy (baby soother) out of the pram. Here it's if you win, you win and lose, you lose. No charging the Capitol steps guns blazing claiming Fake results. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now 😎 Cheers DougT 🇫🇴