Contribute to good causes

This is lesson 15 in Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny. It feels anodyne and bland. Snyder is essentially saying that voluntary association is anti-authoritarian. “But one element of freedom is the activity of groups to sustain their members. This is why we should engage in activities that are of interest to us, our friends, our families. Václav Havel, the Czech dissident thinker, gave the example of brewing good beer.” As a consequence, this lesson doesn’t seem all that different from the previous three: Establish a private life, Practice corporeal politics, and Make eye contact and small talk. All of these lessons are about establishing a life outside of the state.

Snyder concludes, “Today’s authoritarians (in India, Turkey, Russia, China, Brazil [presumably written before the electoral defeat of Bolsinaro]) are also highly allergic to the idea of free associations and non-governmental organizations.”

Today is “giving Tuesday”, a curious event that is designed to encourage people to support their favorite charities after gorging themselves at Thanksgiving or buying massive piles of stuff on “black Friday.” I feel a little manipulated by this ‘holiday’, but it worked on me. So today I gave money to organizations that will need it over the next year.

I’m an art guy, so some of my money went to an art organization, The Orange Show. It has been one of my favorite art sites in Houston for years, and has very gradually grown over the years. First they added Smither Park, designed by the late Dan Phillips, creator of Huntsville’s Phoenix Commotion. They purchased the pallet warehouse behind the original Orange Show house and have used it as a site for performances and festivals, including Zinefest. Now that Jack Massing is in charge, I know they have big plans going forward. Although it has been around for decades, it feels like the Orange Show is about to become a huge player in the Houston art scene. I was happy to provide whatever meager help I could provide.

Some of my money went to Avenue CDC, a Houston community development organization that I know mainly for the unbelievably cute neighborhood they built north of downtown. They exist to get people into homes, whether as renters or owners. They are a little like Habitat for Humanity, but focused on Houston.

This photo from Avenue CDC’s website shows their beautiful new urbanist Northside neighborhood. I have long supported their mission, but I worry that organizations like theirs will be the targets of the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is waging a jihad against non-profit community organizations.

Last but not least I gave a little to the Houston Area Women’s Center, an organization devoted to helping women, children and families affected by domestic and sexual violence. I started donating money to them after reading Lacy Johnson’s The Other Side. Johnson is a Houston woman who was kidnapped and raped by a former boyfriend. The new fascist regime in America is anti-woman and pro-rape. The people that they are nominating for cabinet positions are abusers. Our incoming president is a fucking rapist. A “pastor” at a Texas church has advocating executing women who make false rape claims. Houston women are going to need some help in the coming year.

OK—enough virtue signalling for the year.

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