First, let me introduce myself. I am a retired teacher, or semi-retired since I’m still at it part-time.

My subject area is communications, and covers everything from public speaking, debate, to intercultural communication and journalism.

Most of all, I’m someone who believes we all have something to say and an obligation to speak up when we are called upon to stand up and be counted. Right now, wealthy, powerful, and toxic people are moving to consolidate their power and increase their wealth at the expense of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

My goal here is to have a place to speak the truth to power and to share resources and techniques that may be helpful. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but together we can make a difference. I still believe that.

Here’s a link to the current 119th Congress’s Senators. Contact yours, or contact other names you hear in the news that you want to thank for their courage or, alas more likely, call out for their inaction or questionable votes. And here’s the link to the House of Representatives. Finally, for what it’s worth, here’s a link to contact the White House.

You also may want to consider using old-fashioned mail. This may seem a bother, but it’s actually easier in many ways that navigating the above links. I say this because you will have to go through a process that takes several minutes just to “prove” you are a constituent and then a real human being. It also makes it harder to reach out to other politicians who may be more receptive to your concerns. And, finally, I’ve heard it said that physical mail is taken more seriously. It also takes time for their staff to handle, and this is something worthwhile. Of course, physically showing up at your local office sends a powerful message! Look for the address on their website or just Google it.

That’s it for what may be obvious advice, but it’s a start. We’ll do a deeper dive, too, and please drop me a line and let me know if you have information you’d like to share here or on social media. I think websites such as this one are necessary because our social media accounts may be snatched away from us, and there are, as we all know, algorithms that limit the reach of our postings.

Anyway, I’ll be adding more to this website as I can. I wish this weren’t necessary. Like you, I have other things I’d rather be doing. But if we don’t make time to act, and act promptly, we may not have the freedom to do with our lives, or those we love to do with theirs, as we see fit.

For now, the best I can suggest is to get over to Blue Sky social and put an “X” through X. Use Facebook with skepticism, if at all, and contact your reps. Write, call, or better yet, park yourself in their offices. Do this early and often. Be lawful. Be polite. Be persistent. And demand responses. Tell them that “silence is assent,” an debaters say. And that inaction now will be remembered, and that they will be held to account in the polls and in the history books. Look for me at @robblightfoot.bsky.social.

We may be down folks, but we’re not out.

Robb