Sowing Seeds of Change

Hello Friends in the Computer,

I rolled into 2025 HOT. I had plans! I had schemes! I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish! Number one on the list? Set up this newsletter. Which I did!

And then I got the flu.

I don’t know what strain it was since I didn’t go to the doctor as I never felt like I was in any danger of dying. So I tried to stay hydrated and basically slept for 4 days straight.

It was a bit of a momentum killer.

I was lamenting this to someone after I could sit up again and they said, “I don’t know why people have big to-do lists in January. It’s winter. You’re supposed to be hibernating.” It was actually very liberating and helpful to be reminded of this!

With the pressure off and the need to play catch up gone, I still was thinking about the things I want to do in 2025, but with less frantic urgency. As you may have noticed, I tend to think in metaphors, and I think I stumbled upon one for my current vibe.

As you also may have noticed, I am an avid gardener. Because of ~ reasons ~ , I am amping up my vegetable patch this year and adding a few new beds. I live in a colder area - USDA Zone 5b if you’re nasty- and so I don’t bother putting plants in the ground until mid-May. And because of still more ~ reasons ~ I have some concern about the availability of plants in 3 months. So I am looking into starting some things from seeds. Just in case.

Starting plants from seeds is very possible but can also be a massive pain in the ass. Plus, to really do it successfully, you have to invest time and money and space and basically get everything you would need turn your basement into a marijuana grow-op. Which, because of ~ reasons ~, don’t think I haven’t considered as well.

In my research, I found an alternative option - winter seed sowing. In case you don’t feel like clicking the link, here’s the relevant quote: “Winter sowing is a seed-starting technique where seeds of certain vegetables, flowers, and herbs are started outdoors in containers in late autumn or winter. The cold weather stratifies the seeds and prompts germination when the time is right. Many native perennials require stratification, a treatment that uses temperature and moisture to soften the seed coat and break seed dormancy. Winter sowing is an easy technique and results in healthy, strong seedlings.”

It looks like this:

I’m going with this option because it’s low maintenance, uses stuff I already have around the house, and has a high probability of success (for certain types of plants).

But I also like the idea of while it looks like you’re doing nothing, you and the seeds need to take some time to experience the cold so that you are ready to do your things when the time is right.

Okay, if you do not wish to confront reality, stop reading now.

On Friday I did a unplanned guest appearance on the Legaltech Week show, which I mentally refer to as “The Bob Ambrogi Power Hour.” I’ve been really busy and haven’t listened live in a bit but I saw that my co-worker Stephanie put my recent piece that I wrote for work as her article pick for the week, so I was like “let me listen it to see what people say about me.”

The segment right before mine was VERY HEAVY and about current events and then I came bopping in to talk about JELL-O so I felt like a bit of an asshole. Also, I was wearing a Muppet hoodie. I wanted to be like “follow me on Bluesky! I’m mad all the time about this shit over there!”

This morning a lot of the conversation on Bluesky is about how to react when people realize that their face has been eaten by a leopard.

Reference for those of you that don’t spend all of the time that you could be having a fulfilling life online:

So never one to shy away from ~ DISCOURSE ~ I wrote a thread which I kind of liked and inspired this post, so I’m basically recreating here:

“So I’m angry as hell about what’s happening in the world. But as someone who’s professional life has been literally to try and make people understand why they should do or try things that they don’t want to do, are scared to do, or are simply ignorant about, confrontation and sneering rarely works.

Also, I grew up on a farm so this is more a large animal husbandry experience thing than my professional life, but when trying to move a cow, you don’t run at them or chase them but instead make the place that you want them to go the most attractive option. Also, get one going and the rest follow.

Anyway, at some point in every interaction, you need to ask yourself “is my goal right now to make things better and to increase the number of people working for change? Or to prove to the other person that I’m right and they should feel bad for what they’ve done?”

I don’t always do the former!

Sometimes you gotta spike the ball and do the Icky Shuffle right in their fucking face.

People have a really hard time admitting that they are wrong and that they may have contributed to a bad situation. For example, think about how pissed you may be right now reading this thread. So you gotta give people a way out and an off-ramp to the path to righteousness.

Even when I telling my piece of shit senators that they are violating their oath to the constitution and a disgrace to Hoosiers and the senate by rolling over for Musk and Trump, I try to say “it’s never to late to do the right thing. You can salvage this.”

I don’t know if it’s because of failed justice system or humans have always done this, but I think about the snark subreddits and similar and people are always trying to “hold [instagram influencer] accountable!”

And baby, once you let that responsibility for yourself go, you can do so much more.

It’s not your job or responsibility to punish people. At least right now. Leave that to karma, higher powers, the justice system, the post revolution military tribunals, etc.

Right now we’re trying to get more people to channel their anger at what’s happened to them towards the people that are actually responsible for it.

Don’t be a rodeo clown and distract them from that.

I used to be a public services law librarian at a law library open to the public. To say I was trauma dumped on would be an understatement. But I learned that people CRAVE someone to listen to them and acknowledge the wrong done, maybe more than an actual ending that I would consider a resolution.

So….

✅ Yes that sucks and here’s what we can do to make that better…

🚫 Well what did you expect and you deserve it.

I feel like this is not rocket surgery here, people.

Again, don’t be mistaken, I am very angry and I am making a mental list of everyone who doesn’t take the opportunity to do the right thing. I’m gonna be shitty as Hell to them and make sure they forever carry their Mark of Cain.”

But that’s all for the future.

I’m assuming if you’re reading this you have a basic understanding of the way law and government work. So you know things are Not Normal. I’m also assuming that if you’ve made it this far you have a least some feeling that this is also Not Good. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but I do know that it can’t go on forever and it’s probably going to be more unstable before it gets better.

With the current political landscape and even with my professional advocacy work, I feel like this is the plan: (1) make sure as many people as possible survive the bad times (2) get as many people as possible to join the work in overturning the status quo or fixing the other things that are stopping progress (3) start figuring out what you want the new future to look like so that we are not just replicating the past but actually creating the world we want and need and so we can hit the ground running once the way is clear.

Be well,

Sarah