"Free Exchange/ Sea Breeze" in support of findhelp.org
Its been a weird week. Granted it's been a weird month, an even weirder year, and a unimaginably weird decade- so far.
Personally, I spent way too much time on social media following the turmoil surrounding the government shutdown and the loss of SNAP and other food health related benefits. Weaponizing food insecurity is a particularly heinous move by the current administration; especially when the vast majority of the 42 million (1 in 7) Americans who depend on food assistance programs are families with children. Apparently there's enough money to renovate the mansion, but not enough money to help keep food in the fridge.
A weird week indeed.
Then I came across this incredible excerpt by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti from his Populist Manifesto, 1975 :
No time now for the artist to hide
above, beyond, behind the scenes,
indifferent, paring his fingernails,
refining himself out of existence.
No time now for our little literary games,
no time now for our paranoias & hypochondrias,
no time now for fear & loathing,
time now only for light & love.
I was reminded that an explicit goal of NNH is to resist becoming another platform simply regurgitating the dark "news-of-the-day"- caught up in the ever spiraling doom cloud that has formed over the internet. There is no time for fear & loathing. Only light and love.
And I will say this... Spending all that time on I*******m really got my algorithm dialed into the Mutual Aid community's pro-active response to this ongoing crisis.
While the fear mongers were all focused on Nov 1st; groups like Mutual Aid Los Angeles, BeLoved in Ashville, Equitable Giving Circle in PDX, and Yellow Art House in Jacksonville knew the work needed to be done now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not if, or when, the people elected to serve this country decide to do their job. Small restaurants across the country announced they'd be giving away free food to anyone with a SNAP card- no questions asked. There is more than one reader of the NNH community who understands the impossibly thin margins that most restaurants are operating on in 2025- And still they commit. Everyone has something to offer.
Another particular bright light was being introduced to the website: www.findhelp.org
Find Help allows you to search local services by zip code- everything ranging from a full spectrum of food assistance programs, pregnancy resources, free legal council and much, much more. It's an incredible resource, one that will have a permanent home on this website moving forward.
Again, I was reminded of why NNH came to be- Now is the time we show up for the folx who are literally volunteering to the provide services that our taxes were meant to pay for. And with this idea still in our collective minds, any reader who supports a local food health effort will receive a signed copy of my print Free Exchange Sea Breeze
The print was first given away at my food collection installation titled Orchard at "Makers Communion" (Curated by Jay Lizo)
And by support I mean - sharing the Find Help website on your socials. Make a small donation of time, goods or cash to a local food pantry (now you know where to find them.) Reach out to a Mutual Aid group. Ask what you can do. Don't assume. Keep a case of water bottles in your car, and don't look away when the person in the median is asking for help.
I don't need receipts or proof of purchase. Just let me know what you're up to in the comments. No worries about accusations of virtue signaling or backlash for trying to do good (but not getting it perfect.) That's not how NNH operates. You can text or email me. Bring back the fax. I hear carrier pigeons are looking for work.
Connect people to helpful programs that improve outcomes for families, children, veterans, students, and employees with our comprehensive platform built on the nation’s largest and most engaged social care network.
Next week we'll close out our multi-part dérive into text/ sign based artwork with our first guest post by Paul Shortt- subversive sign maker extraordinaire, and the artist responsible for the "OK TO LOITER" piece that's been installed in my family's bathroom since 2017.
Lovers in the comments? We've got that too.
A call to action, commonly known by the initialism CTA, is a strategic marketing tool designed to spur an immediate response from an audience, guiding them toward a specific action.
NNH began with the (perhaps naive) hope that it could be of service to folks who needed it. I wasn't exactly sure who that meant- Was it the potential readership? The Mutual Aid groups that would be featured in each post? Or other creative types (equally fed up with the constant "me at the center" paradigm required by our Tech Overlords) looking for a place to get weird and do some good.
SO, if you're out there- whomever you may be- Let me know. Leave a comment. Click a link. Tell a friend. Pitch an idea. Do anything to feel less alone in the world.
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