There are so many ways that the onslaught of news keeps us disregulated, and there are so many reasons for despair in the current moment. We’re seeing a consolidation of authoritarian power across countless sectors, and are somehow expected to continue on with the tasks of capital in order to survive while our neighbors, friends and families are being disappeared. The amount of overwhelm we face is palpable, and I understand the instinct to move away from the firehose in this moment.
It’s important, however, to stay informed without staying inflamed; over the years, I’ve developed some personal habits that let me keep up with what’s going on in different fronts of the fight without having my attention hijacked by some of the worst people online. The most important of these is finding independent news sources that can provide reporting, analysis, history and context without needing to validate every comment against a pending right-wing takeover or massive conflicts of interest with the administration. For now, I’ll share some of the sources in my news diet that have been helpful in understanding and tracking what’s going on in the US at this moment in history:
Unbreaking.org is a newish community run aggregation effort, pulling together rigorously reported information, publicly available data and necessary context into an issue-based set of pages to keep track of what’s happening on multiple fronts; each section, whether it be on Transgender Health Care or funding for Medical Research is updated regularly; they provide a weekly newsletter with updates on all of their focus areas, and the content created is all available for re-use under a Creative Commons license.
You’ve definitely read a story by ProPublica.org, whether you know it or not; ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that offers some tremendous longform, deep dive investigative journalism and often shares pieces with other newspapers and sites as part of a co-publishing model.
Truthout.org is an incredible source of news on various fronts of social justice; lately I’ve been particularly grateful for their coverage of what’s going on in Higher Education and their work around immigration, Palestine and abolitionist work is extremely valuable. I’m a huge fan of Kelly Hayes and her Movement Memos podcast as well, and their work in creating a grassroots journalism movement is really special.
When I find myself bearing witness to one horror or another, I fall back on a couple tools in particular lately; Anne Kosseff-Jones and Kate Schapira put together this Procedure on Having To Behold— a guide for what to do when you find yourself observing some fresh atrocity and putting some structure around how to decide whether and/or how to acknowledge it through your activism work. I find a lot of value in identifying what I’m doing to address the root cause of the issue, and if there’s nothing in my primary lanes, how I’m supporting or responding to the calls of people I recognize doing valuable work there instead. Having folks putting together this kind of grounded resource as a freely available tool feels like a real form of community wealth that I’m grateful for this week.
I have a set of political posters I’ve developed called the Outside Agitator series, highlighting quotes that keep me centered when the world feels off kilter; sharing this piece inspired by the words of Audre Lorde:
To face the realities of our lives is not a reason for despair-despair is a tool of your enemies. Facing the realities of our lives gives us motivation for action. For you are not powerless... You know why the hard questions must be asked. It is not altruism, it is self-preservation-survival.
There is a lot out there to motivate us; I’m currently working on a few creative projects that I’ll be able to share soon, including a 2026 photo calendar! Until then, you can find the poster above as well as lots of other wildlife photography of mine on my print store at rhenyard.darkroom.com - I’ve added in a special coupon code for y’all, so enter ‘careiscool’ for 10% off your order. There are affordable options for most of those photos, but also larger format and pre-framed options from the site. While I’m gainfully employed, proceeds from art sales get distributed out as mutual aid support for folks here in Southeast Michigan - if you’ve picked up an eagle photo or a profile shot of a sandhill crane, you’ve inadvertently helped get someone housed, covered staples for one of my nearby food pantries, paid for needed insulin supplies or countless other opportunities for solidarity I’ve been able to contribute to.
We’ve got a lot of fights ahead, but there are people in motion everywhere finding ways to make life more bearable. I hope that approaching the torrent of information we’re facing in a more intentional way leaves a bit more room for joy and exploration - stay tuned for some photos this week that highlight the importance of awe and perspective. Til next time.