Care for yourself and others!
Checklist 2.0
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Two months ago, now, the good Zach Teutsch and I shared out part one of a checklist with you, with promises that there would be a Part Two to come soon.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Remember this? Have you looked back on it recently? Have you been working on any of the items on it?
Well. Passover and a bunch of other things showed up and somehow now it's June. Which is... not too late to share out Part Two, so let's do that.
This is a(nother) checklist.
It includes a lot of things that you can do, and some things that you probably oughta do.
- Part One (above) was about connections between yourself and the larger community and world.
- Part Two, here, is about more of your own personal safety and closest relationships.
As with Part One, we tried to break it down into at least a few categories (arbitrary as they might sometimes be) to make it more manageable:
IMPORTANT ADULTING THINGS
Note: some of these presume certain levels of financial privilege, but many are more broadly applicable.
- If your specific, personal financial risks have increased, make sure you are building a bigger emergency fund to the extent you can. For instance, is your job at risk because of the shifting economy? Might you have to move because of changes in access to medical care? If youâre able to set aside for contingencies, this is the time.
- Keep a list of medications that you take, and get backup quantities if possible.
- Keep important addresses or phone numbers available in hard copy, and also email them to someone you trust.
- If you think you might be targeted, find a good lawyer ahead of timeâjust in case. If cost is an issue, some places to look are the Trans Legal Services Network, The LGBTQ+ Bar, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, National Immigrant Justice Center & ImmigrationLawHelp.
- Make digital copies of all your most important documents (birth certificates, social security cards, etc.) and have copies of them saved securely in a few different places and ways.
- Check whether everyone in your household has an up-to-date passport. If it will expire in the next year or so, start the renewal process now. It might take a while.
- Do all the hard adult stuff of getting your affairs in order. God willing, it wonât be relevant for a long time, but nonetheless: A) Name, in writing, what you want to happen if you are unable to make medical decisions for yourself. An advance directive may or may not be legally binding depending on the laws of your state, but can regardless inform your doctors and family about your wishes if you are not able to articulate them at a key time. If you want to specify who should be making these decisions on your behalf, set up a durable power of attorney. B1) Sort out your will, if you don't have one yet. Whether your stuff is materially valuable or more on the sentimental side, save your loved ones any uncertainty or legal headaches. (Depending upon the laws in your state, a revocable living trust could eliminate or greatly reduce hassles.) Make sure you finalize it; remote and electronic notarization are both options, too. Make sure your executor has access to an electronic version. B2) If you're a parent of minors, designate who you want to care for your kid(s) if, God forbid, the worst happensâwhich includes both talking with your potential future custodian and getting your wishes in writing. B3) For those who make art, music, writing or other forms of intellectual property, designate who you would like to controlâand potentially profit fromâyour work after you're gone. C) Get copies of (or at least access to) all your documents to people who love you so that they can ensure that your wishes are carried out. And D) make sure that your doctor and a trusted friend/family who lives local to you have copies of your power of attorney and advance directive as well.
- Identify people you know (or people you can find in your community) who could help you and others with legal issues related to education and housing. Identify who has expertise navigating healthcare coverage.
- If youâre tempted to make financial decisions out of ancestral trauma right now: Breathe. Recenter. Itâs probably a bad idea to buy gold, gems, or other specific precious items. You lose value every time you buy/sell and these items can be stolen, lost, or accidentally destroyed.
- If you have investments, check to make sure they still have your intended asset allocation. Many people have gotten over-exposed to stocks over the past few years as they have gone upâthis can create more volatility than you intended. If you donât know how to check your allocation, perhaps a friend does. If you think that youâre likely to need money later this year, it should be in a stability-oriented investment (like a money market account) not a long-term-growth-oriented investment like a stock.
In 1939, a group of Hasidic Jews from the Polish city of Lublin were backed up against barbed wire and ordered to sing for the Nazi soldiers, moments before their execution. One of the men⌠improvised: âMir veln zey iberlebn, iberlebn, iberlebnâ â âWe will outlive them.â An eyewitness at the scene reported: âInstantly the song took hold among the entire people, until it catapulted [them] into a stormy and feverish dance.â The commander at first laughed, historian Moshe Prager writes, but then âhe realized they werenât accommodating him; they were defeating him. He ordered them to stop.â But they continued. Even when the SS troops charged at them, swinging whips and clubs.
PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS
- You have Signal or some other actually encrypted texting app on your phone, yes? Yes??? Make it your default! Encourage others to do the same. Donât only use it for sensitive communication. Do not use it to plan a war. (Do not plan wars!)
- Make sure you're using Two-Factor Authentication on, well, all your online accounts. (You can search "two-factor authentication" or "2fa" and the name of pretty much any site to show you how to turn it on for that site, but usually it's in Settings âśď¸ Account âśď¸ Privacy or Passwords or etc.)
- Secure your data! ESPECIALLY when you travel these days, most especially internationally. Your citizenship wonât necessarily protect you from in-depth searches, including of any electronic devices you have with you on your travels. Encrypt your hard drive, shut off Siri/voice access from your devices, "hide" apps with sensitive material (or delete them), update password security, and more. Many helpful tips here. And make sure your phone doesn't use FaceID, especially if you're traveling. More specifically, before you enter customs, turn off your phone and make sure it canât be accessed via fingerpint or your face and you must manually enter a pin code (ideally a long one) to access it. Do the same with any computers or tablets. If you are at heightened risk, consider calling an ally you trust before you enter the customs process so they know to await an all-clear call afterwards. That way, if you are detained, they will know where to send legal help.
- If you can afford it, get abortion medication at aidaccess.org for you or for someone in your life or extended community who might need it after the zombie version of the Comstock Act is likely passed at some point in the near future. It's shelf-stable for two years.
- Make sure all your vaccinations are up to date. This includes not only COVID and flu and making sure your kids, if you have, are vaxxed, but checking to see if you're an adult in the window for a measles boosterâ talk to your doctor if you're unsure. And yes, please continue to be thoughtful about masking, not only but especially given all this other garbage on the rise. Other people are immunocompromised even if you're OK.
- Get CPR and/or first aid certified.
- Know your local risks for climate disasters (fire, hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, etc.). Have a go bag ready and a plan for your people and pets. Gather two weeksâ supplies for your household, and connect with neighbors to collaborate on shared resources.
- Keep your gas tank no less than half full, if youâre able, especially if you live somewhere from which leaving on short notice by car might be appropriate (because of the state you live in, because of climate change, because of your gender, your citizenship status, or for another reason.) Have an idea of some places you might be able to get to without a map. A paper road atlas is a good idea, too, in some cases. It may not be likely, but a temporary or ongoing disruption of apps is possible.
- To stay in the loop on things like, where the rapid-response activism is happening and that sort of thing, you want to be on BlueSky. Twitter is gone, but BlueSky is lovely (though not perfect, nothing is) and has, candidly, a lot of the good things about Old Coke Twitter without a lot of the ugly things about it. Because itâs non-commercial and algorithm-free, you are in charge of your own experience and can get the content you want and not what you donât. The vibe is relatively chillax; they donât tolerate the ugly. In any case, the wonderful comics writer/filmmaker Greg Pak put together a couple of âstarter packsâ (you click one button and insta-follow everyone) of folks who will get you in the loop right away. They are here and here. (Weâre @zteutsch.bsky.social and @theradr.bsky.social, respectively.)
âHope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.â Elie Wiesel
YOU MATTER
- As youâre able, spend time outside among green thingsâ parks, trees. Get oxygen and vitamin D. Move your body in joyful ways if youâre able.
- Plant some veggies or herbs. Or learn canning or pickling. Cook more. Besides being something that could be internally fortifying, these skills could come in handy.
- Make sure your own spiritual needs are attended to regularly.
- You know youâre more useful to yourself, the people you care about, and a world in need of healing if youâre getting some vague approximation of reasonable sleep, right? Right? Yeahhh. Do what you can to address the revenge bedtime behaviors. See the link at #21.
- Do things to take care of yourself for the long haul! Go to your doctorsâ appointments. Do your PT exercises at home. Donât blow off your dental checkups. And then, like, after you go to the dentist, make your next appointment before leaving. We will outlive the fascists and youâll want your teeth to be in good working order when we get out of crisis mode.
- Each day, write down three things for which you are grateful. Strengthen the neural pathways associated with positive emotionsâfeeding your access to better feelings of wellbeingâ and keep an alternate record of these times. It will help you remember when you showed up, and were part of this fight.
SH'MA by Aurora Levins Morales, from Rimonim
Hear all you who wrestle with life's meaning:
Ha Malchut, that which is sovereign in the universe,
unruled by king or corporation, the breath of life in all things, the web of reciprocity, this is our one and only guide.
This has been a ZT/RDR collaboration. Again, see PART ONE for, well, Part One of this list.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Zach Teutsch loves building communities; campaigns, organizations, mission-driven businesses, Jewish communities, you name it. He co-leads Values Added, helping progressives build financial lives they feel good about. He has also been active in community/political organizing such as chairing Janeese Lewis Georgeâs fiery, successful insurgent campaign in 2020. He loves playing ultimate frisbee and is active in several DC Jewish communities.
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Looking to support families under attack right now? The Immigrant Defenders Law Center is providing detained immigrants in LA and Orange Counties with the bond money that allows them to get out of detention, and return back to their lives and families while they build a case to gain status.
Looking to show up for families under food blockade? If you're Jewish, sign and donate. Whether or not you're Jewish, you can donate. "If they are hungry, one must feed them." (Shulchan Aruch YD 250:1)
