Lydia Likes It

Football or soccer, it's the World Cup

In the past 10 years, I've become quite the football nerd. (Soccer, not American football.) It started with trying to keep up with my husband Ted, who's long been quite the football nerd, but it quickly morphed into a nerdiness all my own. So it's my duty to remind you that the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament begins tomorrow in Qatar, with the host country taking on Ecuador. FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, organizes national teams from Europe, the Americas and Caribbean, Africa and Asia in a months-long elimination contest every four years, culminating in one team winning the prestigious World Cup. Thirty-two teams have qualified for the final rounds in Qatar. In the first stage, teams are divided into eight groups of four and play round-robin style. The top two teams in each group advance to the knock-out stage. As with any competition, it's more fun to watch if you choose a team to follow. The US, England and Canada have made it to the round of 32, as have football powerhouses Germany, Belgium, France, Argentina and Senegal. Matches are broadcast in the US on Peacock, USA, and other networks. For the past few World Cups, I've chosen Brazil as my team -- because several good players from my regular team, Liverpool, will play for Brazil -- and I'm sticking with them this year, too. Who's your team?

The volunteering life {postcards to voters}

In early 2017, just after the election of you-know-who and the Women's March that brought millions of people all around the world out into the streets in protest, a small group of friends gathered in my kitchen. We wrote and decorated dozens of postcards to send to the White House as part of a nationwide event called The Ides of Trump, the goal of which was to have one million postcards land on March 15 on the doorstep of the most reviled American president in recent history.

While we wrote, we talked about our feelings of helplessness. What could we do to get the country back on track? Writing postcards together was fun, we realized, so we decided to keep going, and try to get some Democrats elected.

That small first step more than five years ago became Postcards for the Resistance. I posted an invitation to our next postcard party on Facebook, and that brought Stephanie and Deb into our group, and Stephanie brought Erica, who brought Liz, and.... you get the idea. We met every 4-6 weeks, writing for campaigns all over the country through several small volunteer organizations that would work with candidates, craft a postcard campaign, procure lists of names and addresses, and create a script.

We had some successes (both Georgia Senators) and some near-misses, and we continued to meet and write and share baked goodies and wine and laughs. And then the pandemic changed us, as the in-person parties were out of the question.

So, we changed, too, and the change allowed us to grow (42 people now, from all across the country) and get more cards in the mail. We continued to write postcards from home, in support of Democratic and progressive candidates up and down the ballot, all around the country. We also wrote to get out the vote, and to support important issues. I invited friends from everywhere, and they invited friends.

Our model is simple: I provide everyone with appropriate "be a voter" type postcards, and every week or two I send an email detailing several campaigns that are looking for writers. Each person chooses what appeals to them, and if they don't have time to write that week, that's fine. I take care of getting lists of names and scripts. Our group writes hundreds of postcards each month.

We've recently begun to meet in person in Boston again, and the write-from-home operation will continue at least through the 2024 election. 

Postcarding is a great way to channel our frustration with our world at this moment, and to reach voters in a nonintrusive way. Our goal is to turn occasional Democratic voters into habitual voters.

If you'd like to join in, or get more information or ask questions, please reach out to me by email lydiawalshin42 AT gmail DOT com, or leave a comment on this post and I'll get back to you. All writers are welcome. (Sorry, US only.)

Hat Not Hate

When you're bullied as a child, the hurt stays with you for a lifetime. The owner of my new favorite yarn and craft store turned me on to Hat Not Hate, an anti-bullying project created by a woman who was bullied as a young girl. Knitters, crocheters and loomers have crafted more than 65,000 blue hats to be distributed to school kids in time for National Bullying Prevention Month in October. There's plenty of time to join in. Make any style hat, in any shade of blue. Find instructions, advice, and a list of drop-off locations on the Hat Not Hate site.

Welcome blanket

The women who created the pink pussyhat project just wrapped up Welcome Blanket, which posed this question to knitters, crocheters, and sewing mavens everywhere: "The proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico is almost 2000 miles long. Imagine if the massive distance of this wall was re-conceptualized and re-contextualized not to divide, but to include. Instead of wall, a concrete line, to keep people out, what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?" 

As someone whose volunteer work involves helping refugees and immigrants learn or improve their English skills, and who knit a whole lot of pussyhats at the beginning of the year, I couldn't help but be drawn to this project. I decided to re-teach myself to crochet granny squares, which I first learned from my own immigrant grandmother. I made two giant granny square welcome blankets, 40x40 inches, using machine washable wool, and with each I included a note about my family's immigration story as well as some general words of welcome and encouragement. Both blankets, sent to the Smart Museum in Chicago, will be donated to new Americans at the end of the exhibit. For more information and photos of the show at the museum, check out Welcome Blanket.

The volunteering life {another piece of the puzzle}

When you commit to an issue and open your heart, all sorts of opportunities find their way in. And so, next week, my husband Ted and I will be at Faneuil Hall to help MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, of which the International Institute of New England is a member), register newly-naturalized Americans to vote. There's no greater privilege of citizenship than voting, and participation in the political process has never been more important, as the 2016 election demonstrated. Voter registration is a natural extension of the work I've been doing all year with refugees and immigrants, preparing them to live full and fulfilled lives in this country, and I'm excited to help them take this step along the path.