Survival Tips for This Terrible Horrible No Good Very F&*$ing Bad Year
If you're a parent or teacher you know I've stolen the title from Judith Viorst's book and I hope she doesn't get mad at me but it's a perfect description for this year. It's been a rough one but we are going to get through it just like Alexander got through his no good day. And no, we aren't moving to Canada!
Here's a few tips to help you and our world survive-
- VOTE in every single election. Have a plan for voting because as this year has shown us- guano happens! You have to think beyond election day with an absentee or mail in ballot. Even with the ballot- be prepared.
Here are a few examples from my city. Posted recently on social media was an alert that the absentee ballot required additional postage. When the responsible citizen called city hall and inquired she was given the run around. While the city had included some instructions the simple statement "Ballot MAY require additional postage" was too difficult to include.
Another example, one election day was a "wicked pissah" it was pouring cats and dogs. A couple was before me and it was quite a long walk to the entrance. However, there was a nearby door but it was locked. The man decided not to vote while the woman forged ahead. He didn't want to get wet. Shortly after the election, I went into city hall and spoke about the experience and how I witnessed a voter decide not to vote. The city manager argued with me about the location of the door, blamed the closed door on petition signature collectors, "wah, wah, wah". I pointed out I simply wanted access to voting to be accessible despite the weather.
This examples are minor compared to what we are witnessing happening in other states. Be registered to vote and have a plan for your ballot to be counted.
- Support small businesses and sign up for their emails and newsletters. The past few days amongst all the chaos has been stories about social media, particularly FaceBook and Instagram and the rise of hate speech and hate groups. Large companies like Ben & Jerry's, REI, Patagonia and The North Face are participating in an ad boycott. Hey, we get it and believe in #votewithyourmoney. Most of FaceBook advertisers are small businesses like Dulse & Rugosa, who use the platform to reach a larger audience. Especially if you live in a rural, low income area you need access to a wider demographic. For businesses like us who want to vote with our money we need another way to reach our audience, a way that we can back with 100% confidence. With the Covid-19 pandemic the other ways we typically reach folks are non existent, including our favorite markets. So, please please join the mailing lists of small businesses you support. Join our mailing list (and other's) so that we have an alternative way of reaching people and we can continue to stay in business.
Honestly working with both FaceBook and Instagram has always been frustrating and now its become downright painful. Our best product to reach like minded people is our #resist creme. However, we can't use this in an ad because it's considered "political". #resistracism, #resistsexism, #resistwrinkles is too political but apparently the same algorithms that reject our hardworking creme introduce folks to hate groups. It's a bit incomprehensible to us.
And frustrating. We want to stay in business. We want people who value diversity and independence to know about our handcrafted skincare. Our business is more than simply selling. We aren't perfect but we try to be ethical and fair.
That's why we need you to sign up for our email list. I know some companies flood your inbox with way too many emails. Not us. Currently we send about one email a month- almost always offering a discount, sale or give away. We try to say thank you and not be too "salesy" but the harsh reality is that we need to sell our products to pay our bills and grow our business.
So in order to survive this Terrible Horrible year- Vote, in every single election and Vote with your money.
