A Voting Plan Check-in. Plus Beauty.
I’m keeping today’s Word short—because what I mostly want to do is call you back to the questions I asked two weeks ago in this space: What’s your voting plan? Who in your orbit needs encouragement or assistance to get their votes cast?
I’ll keep asking you these questions because it matters that the voice of We the People is heard in this election. Especially that second question. Who needs your help?
Early voting began yesterday. If you’re a Story County resident, you can vote at the Administration Building at 900 6th St. in Nevada any weekday from now through Monday, November 2, between 8 am and 4:30 pm. Some satellite locations are available in Ames starting next Wednesday, October 21; check this link for those details.
If you’re not registered or an absentee ballot is needed, you have until Monday, October 19 to pre-register or to request an absentee ballot. Here’s a link with that information, and much more.
If all this talk of voting makes you twitchy, you’re not alone. Some of us are legitimately twitchy because the news is heavy with threats of possibly “rigged” elections and potential actions that could sow chaos on or after election day. We’re also worn down by the endless, dark attack ads—whether against or by candidates we favor—that have filled every commercial break and news feed for weeks now.
Still, this isn’t a time to turn it all off. This is one of those times when it matters that we face into what is unsettling, do our part (What, again, is your voting plan?), and then find ways to be well in the midst of the anxiety.
Which brings me to…beauty. Not as in beauty regimens and products and standards. By “beauty” I mean the things around us that are beautiful. That we care about. That bring joy, purpose, meaning, delight.
I heard it said last week that we’re living through a time where algorithms feed us a ton of pain and outrage—partly because we ourselves have reacted to those triggers, so we get more, and then we get even more.
And in the midst of the numbing, sometimes terrifying ugliness of all that, it’s critical that we find beauty. That we work as hard to see, notice and savor the beauty that really is near us as we do to see the harshness of this time.
I’ll tell you more about the context of that comment—and the amazing human who made it—another day. I’ve said enough for now. Especially alongside the very serious call to make your voting plan—and maybe help someone else do the same.
