We can still rise

The election was bleak. But we have a future.

What a week.

I know this quote has been shared and reshared ad infinitum, but it gives me hope today, and I hope it will do the same for you:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” — Fred Rogers

You will always find people who are helping.

Some slightly disconnected thoughts:

Going forward, I don’t know that I want my private conversations to be accessible by any third party. Privacy and security were always important, but feel like even more of a necessity today. If you want to contact me, going forward the best option is Signal, the open source end-to-end encrypted chat app. I’ve been using it for years, but now I’d like to convince more of you to join me. My username is benwerd.01. There’s a Signal link at the bottom of every page on my website; if you have Signal, you can click here to contact me. I’d love to chat.

The first thing I posted this morning was a call to action for journalists: “your job, now more than ever, is to speak truth to power”. On every platform, I received replies that indicate a lack of trust in journalism that I think is well-earned. People believe that journalism has generally served to preserve the status quo rather than illuminate the needs and lives of the people who need it. At its worst, it’s carried…