Weekly Check In October 22

[tanaqui]

As there haven't been any posts in the comm this week, I've just repeated most of the links for ways to donate to hurricane relief efforts. Feel free to add more links (for anything) in the comments or tell us what you've been up to.

Housekeeping (the usual stuff)
Reminder that we have a suggestion post if there’s a topic that you’d like to see discussed but would like to ask the mods to look into. This can be anything from general information, or a how-to-do-a-thing, or something you may want to discuss as a community. Folks are welcome to post directly to the comm as always, but if you’re not comfortable/don’t have spoons, we can help too.

As we don't always get the time to pull things out of the suggestions post into their own separate posts, it may be worth checking every week (or tracking the post) to see if there's any new information you're interested in.

Also if you need help with tags, PM redbird, who is our tag guru. Both tassosss and I are very grateful for the help.

Hurricane relief

Lin-Manuel Miranda made a thing for Puerto Rico
fandomlovespuertorico is live! Go and bid -- bidding for the main auction closes 6pm EST, Monday October 23rd but there are other auctions/activities listed over there
Links for how to help with the relief efforts for Irma and Maria
For lots of links for hurricane relief for Harvey, see the check-in post from two weeks ago

So, what have you all been up to in the last week or are planning to get involved in next week?

Poll #18974 The Week

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

View Respondents

This week, I....

View Answers

called my one senator
2 (40.0%)

called my other senator
2 (40.0%)

called my representative
2 (40.0%)

called my governor
0 (0.0%)

called my state reps
1 (20.0%)

sent a postcard/email/letter/fax
3 (60.0%)

attended a town hall
0 (0.0%)

donated money to a cause
2 (40.0%)

attended an in-person activist group
0 (0.0%)

participated in phone/online training
0 (0.0%)

View Answers

went to a protest
0 (0.0%)

signed up for alerts
1 (20.0%)

took care of myself
3 (60.0%)

not a US citizen but worked in solidarity in my own community
1 (20.0%)

did something else
0 (0.0%)

committed to action in the coming week
1 (20.0%)

Comments

FYI on resistbot

[redbird]

I looked at the resistbot website recently, and they're no longer faxing, but connecting to the House and Senate electronic messaging system. The reasons make sense: the message volume was overwhelming the fax system, so some offices were taking faxes offline, and constituents faxing to ask for help with problems couldn't get through.

So, this is now basically a way to email both my senators (or them and my congressmember) at once, from my cell phone. Useful, but it doesn't feel like a substitute for actually calling. Also, if I'm home rather than waiting for a bus, I can send emails more smoothly from my actual computer, with a real keyboard.

Side note: when I sent electronic messages to both my senators via resistbot, I got an autoreply from Ed Markey almost immediately (thanking me for writing about my concerns) but nothing from Elizabeth Warren. (When I lived in Katherine Clark's district, some of my phone calls got actual paper letters back; that hasn't happened yet with Mike Capuano, but I've only lived here two months and called him two or three times.)