News
Information for charting a path forward.
- Testifying Through Presence: Handmaids at the Maine State House
On Friday March 28 of 2025, members of the theater group of The Audacity traveled from their various home towns of the midcoast to the Maine State House in Augusta, donned the red robes and white bonnets that visually refer to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and stood outside the hearing room where the Judiciary Committee of the Maine State Legislature received testimony regarding L.D. 975 and other bills that would outlaw and criminalize abortion in the state of Maine. The visual testimony of this group augmented the written transcript of testimony by 34 members of The Audacity submitted to… Read more: Testifying Through Presence: Handmaids at the Maine State House - We Mainers need to talk more about Angus King
I received this from Becca Glaser, the original author, who told me she wants us to pass it on. — Nancy Galland Scroll down to sign on to register for King’s virtual Town Hall on April 9, TOMORROW – and when you do, there will be a form to fill out with your questions. We Mainers need to talk more about Angus King, and the fact that he may not be the “Maine treasure” many Democrats still seem to believe he is. King is taking part in a carefully curated virtual Zoom Town Hall this Wednesday, April 9th… Read more: We Mainers need to talk more about Angus King - Rep. Chellie Pingree to Hold Congressional Town Hall in Rockport 4/13/25
Summary: Click here to get a free ticket to attend a Town Hall meeting with Representative Chellie Pingree from 4-5:30 PM on Sunday, April 13 at the Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine. In early April 2025, The Audacity submitted a petition containing the names and towns of 1,089 Mainers to the offices of Representative Chellie Pingree, Senator Angus King, and Senator Susan Collins inviting each to visit Knox County for an in-person, listening town hall in which any person in attendance could ask their member of Congress a question. This is a classic mode of political representation… Read more: Rep. Chellie Pingree to Hold Congressional Town Hall in Rockport 4/13/25 - Handmaids -Augusta March 29
- Follow Senators’ Evolving Positions on a Continuing Resolution with this Google Doc
— March 14, 2025 The United States Senate has received a bill from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives that Republican leadership pushed through without any consultation with or inclusion of Democratic members of Congress. The bill, contains a wave of disastrous changes, and yet a shocking number of Democratic Party Senators are indicating their inclination to vote for the bill, under the theory that if they appease Donald Trump and don’t make him angry, he might not act as tyrannically as if they stood up to him. What you need to know: As independent media analysis and the office of… Read more: Follow Senators’ Evolving Positions on a Continuing Resolution with this Google Doc
Art
Works of original visual, literary, and performing creativity.
- Fine Is The Enemy Of Freedom
Have you experienced this? You hear a piece of news, and it shocks you. Maybe it’s word that a university student you know has been arrested by ICE and sent off to a secret prison camp. Maybe it’s Donald Trump declaring that he has asked El Salvador’s bitcoin dictator, Nayib Bukele, to open up 5 new concentration camps, each one capable of holding tens of thousands of prisoners, to confine American citizens as political prisoners. You hear this news, and then you go outside, into the world, down the street, and you see people just going about their daily business,… Read more: Fine Is The Enemy Of Freedom - Red Heart Signs – Pre-order by 4/21
After the fraught 2016 election Midcoaster Peter Baldwin took note when a neighbor painted over their political sign leaving a bright red heart over a stark white background. Peter says the simple symbol, “made me feel good when I drove by it.” And so, he headed to his woodshop and made a few of his own. When neighbors expressed interest, he placed an order. He started selling the signs at $10 a pop and donating the proceeds to the Wabanaki Cultural Preservation Coalition to support their effort to buy the land they had been renting. Peter says he’s placed several… Read more: Red Heart Signs – Pre-order by 4/21 - Testifying Through Presence: Handmaids at the Maine State HouseOn Friday March 28 of 2025, members of the theater group of The Audacity traveled from their various home towns of the midcoast to the Maine State House in Augusta, donned the red robes and white bonnets that visually refer to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and stood outside the hearing room where the Judiciary Committee of the Maine State Legislature received testimony regarding L.D. 975 and other bills that would outlaw and criminalize abortion in the state of Maine. The visual testimony of this group augmented the written transcript of testimony by 34 members of The Audacity submitted to… Read more: Testifying Through Presence: Handmaids at the Maine State House
- Song: We’ve Got to Change This World
I’ve written this song as a statement on our times. Please listen to it on substack: https://petermblachly.substack.com/p/weve-got-to-change-this-world Opening lyrics: Who owns the diamonds that are down in the mine? Who has the right to pollute the sky? Who owns the oil that’s beneath the sand? Who plays the market with a crooked hand? Brother, it’s not You or I… - Handmaids -Augusta March 29
Views
Perspectives, commentary, and discussion about the authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption of our time.
- Making Blasphemy During Holy Week
President Donald Trump has preaching the hell out of Holy Week this year. With Separation of Church and State left on the same garbage heap as the rest of American law, President Trump opened it up on Palm Sunday with a declaration that the United States of America is a nation of Christians. “I want to wish Christians everywhere a Happy and very Blessed Holiday. America is a Nation of Believers. We need God, we want God and, with His help, we will make our Nation Stronger, Safer, Greater, more Prosperous, and more United than ever before.” Who knew that the… Read more: Making Blasphemy During Holy Week - My Growing Activist Nihilism
The image you see here is the design of a bumper sticker I just ordered to put on my car. I’m also getting a t-shirt with the same design on it. The message is an invitation: Deport me, because this is not the country I grew up in. There are a huge number of things an activist can say in this particular moment. There are lots of clever slogans, and important issues to deliver messages about. This message best represents both the issue that feels at the center of everything that’s going wrong with America and the sincere feeling at… Read more: My Growing Activist Nihilism - We Mainers need to talk more about Angus KingI received this from Becca Glaser, the original author, who told me she wants us to pass it on. — Nancy Galland Scroll down to sign on to register for King’s virtual Town Hall on April 9, TOMORROW – and when you do, there will be a form to fill out with your questions. We Mainers need to talk more about Angus King, and the fact that he may not be the “Maine treasure” many Democrats still seem to believe he is. King is taking part in a carefully curated virtual Zoom Town Hall this Wednesday, April 9th… Read more: We Mainers need to talk more about Angus King
- Why Protest? Episode 2: Art’s Stories and A Community Web of Trust
This second video in the Why Protest? podcast series starts with a personal story from The Audacity’s facilitator, James Cook, about his night with a trumpet and why arts activism works. First, artists of all sorts know how to tell a compelling story that can hit different parts of the human soul. That’s convincing. Second, by doing works of activist community art together we will weave a web of community connecting people who know each other, who know how to work together. That web of community is a safety net of trust… because they will be able to take any… Read more: Why Protest? Episode 2: Art’s Stories and A Community Web of Trust - The Power of a Lie
When I was in college, a friend of mine was dating my roommate, so it alarmed me when I heard him having sex with the other roommate. When my friend confronted me about it, I had a choice: either tell the truth, or lie to cover for my roommate. It struck me that in situations like that, the truth is the only place to stand. Only truth has integrity. Because if you lie, you are lying FOR somebody. My friend was crushed to learn that her boyfriend was cheating on her, but she was grateful I had told the truth.… Read more: The Power of a Lie
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