Writing to Congress from the World's Largest Mailbox

Image: The open door of the World's Largest Mailbox

Image: My college kiddo standing in the mailbox

While driving across half the country with my college junior to take them to school this year, we took a little time to explore some of the lesser known American landmarks…like the World’s Largest Mailbox in Casey, IL! Being an advocate known for encouraging people to write to Congress, I just had to pull over and write to all three of my members of Congress from a curiosity like that.

This mailbox is so big there are stairs inside leading up to the box where you can look out onto the big open door. There’s a normal sized box within the big box where you can put your stamped mail in to be picked up and delivered.

Image: Cindy walking up the stairs
to the mailbox

Image: My kid's eyes and the
mailbox staircase

Image: Cindy writing a postcard to Congress

We bought postcards and stamps at the little gift shop at the bottom and talked about what issues we wanted to write about. I wrote about global vaccines and to encourage U.S. support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to provide immunizations to low-income countries. That's a program which RESULTS, Shot@Life, and the ONE Campaign have all been advocating about this year.

A note to Congress doesn’t have to be long or fancy. A note postcard will do! Just remember to state a short, clear request and include your name and address as you would for any letter to Congress. Where will YOU write to Congress from next?

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Speak Out For Yourself (or someone else will)

Image: Cindy yelling into a megaphone

Have you ever had someone put words in your mouth? It can be simply annoying, like when someone finishes a sentence for you in a way you didn’t intend. But it’s far worse when someone deliberately speaks for you, saying the opposite of what you believe.

I thought about this as I listened to a BBC radio report in the car. British reporter James Menendez attended a rodeo in Defiance, MO to interview people about how Midwestern Americans feel about the U.S. presidential election. I’ve lived in the Midwest all my life in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and now Missouri. I consider myself solidly a Midwestern voter. It offended me that the only person who got to speak at length on his views was ultra-wealthy conservative Trump supporter Billy Busch of the famous Busch beer dynasty. As a Harris supporter fighting to keep Trump out of office, I felt misrepresented. I wondered if Trudy Busch Valentine, one of Billy’s relatives who ran as a Democrat for Senate in 2022 heard it, too, and felt the same way.

Moms’ Voices

As a suburban mom, it’s particularly important for me to speak out because there are all sorts of people trying to speak for me. I need to express my enthusiasm for providing nutrition for people in poverty, protecting trans kids and other LGBTQ+ folk, ending gun violence, and ensuring we have access to abortion as healthcare. Otherwise the “Moms for Liberty” group and conservative media will lump my demographic in with them when they lobby against LGBTQ+ rights and support book banning. Sure, I’m a mom who likes liberty, but that’s NOT me!

Image: Image of a TV screen showing Donald Trump and
Kamala Harris in their first presidential debate.

Male politicians repeatedly tell us what kinds of restrictions women want on our bodily autonomy. It happened last night at the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Trump falsely claimed that the Supreme court ruling to overturn Roe V. Wade was what everyone wanted, saying, “Democrats, Republicans and everybody else, and every legal scholar, wanted it to be brought back into the states.” Thankfully, Harris pushed back on this with poignant stories of women who most definitely did not want that. I didn’t want that, nor did the thousands of people in Missouri who scrambled to put reproductive rights on the ballot this November.

Image: My phone screen with Taylor
Swift's Instagram image with her cat,
Benjamin Button

Taylor Swift’s Voice

Even someone as famous as Taylor Swift had someone take try to take her voice. Her endorsement Kamala Harris for president, included this statement, “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.” 

(By the way, do you have any Swifties in your house who are too young to vote, but want to help Taylor's candidate win? Send them to the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate justice org that has AWESOME phone banks that is perfect for middle and high schoolers to join!)

Claim Your Own Voice

The best way to claim your own political voice is to use it. State your values in a way that is right and genuine for you. Maybe you can do it by posting on social media like Taylor, or writing a letter to the editor, or just putting out a yard sign or two. Don't be silent now. If we find politics distasteful and choose to not talk about it or - even worse - not vote, there are plenty of people on the other side who are more than willing to speak for us. They’ll be happy to pass policies that will serve them, not us and our families. Find a way to share your opinions, so no one can take them away from you. You might find you have more influence than you knew and can inspire others to speak out, too!

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Finding My Zoom: #CareGiversForHarris

Image: Izamar Barrios speaking on the #CaregiversForHarrisvirtual rally
with the closed caption of her quote "I stand proud saying I'm a caregiver."

When I first got invitations from friends to attend a virtual political rally called “White Women for Harris,” it unsettled me. As a mixed-race person, the well-meaning invite stirred up uncomfortable memories of feeling like a non-white outsider. Then, I heard that more Zoom rallies were happening attached to other identities: “South Asian Women for Harris,” “White Dudes for Harris” (with THE Dude Jeff Bridges, no less!), “Out for Kamala Harris,” “Outdoor Community for Harris,” “Deadheads for Kamala,” and, of course, “Cat Ladies for Kamala.” Ah…I get it now!

Using Identity Politics to Bring Us Together

Identity politics has been shaping elections for years. The Harris campaign is cleverly tapping into it in a way that seems to separate folks on the surface, but actually says, “There is room for everyone in this movement.” I felt better when I understood it wasn’t all about race, but more about communities. Where Trump uses race politics at his rallies to divide his followers from others to create a sense of belonging for his base, Harris is naming all these different identities to help us feel at home in our virtual rallies, then draw us together under a big, inclusive umbrella.

Image: My vacuum cleaner all 
cleaned out and fixed using #MomPower

So, which Zoom should I choose? I knew I should get on one to witness the phenomenon, but having missed “Authors for Harris,” I wasn’t sure what to pick. Then, “Caregivers for Harris” appeared in an email from MomsRising advocacy group. Bingo! That’s on-brand for me as someone who speaks and writes about mom-advocacy! #CaregiversForHarris is for “all of us who need care, rely on care, and give care in our lives.” I might have been on the literal eve of empty-nesting (we were packing to take the youngest kid to college the next day!), but I’ve been giving care to my kids for 20 years and this was the call for me. Also on-brand was the fact that I was mommy multi-tasking by watching the Zoom and simultaneously fixing a vacuum cleaner.

Finding Commonality and Joy

Supportive, familiar leaders - Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising, and Elena Hung, co-founder of Little Lobbyists - who were kind to lend their words and wisdom to the pages of my book showed up on the screen. Yup, these are my people. I was in the right place!

I heard story after story from care givers, struggling to provide for the kids and parents they love at the sacrifice of jobs and sleep and self-care. I expected to witness their determination and hardship. I did NOT expect to see such joy and energy! Sure, we talk about caring for kids with joy, but it's a trickier dance to navigate serious issues like caring for people with failing health or mental capacity yet still convey joy and enthusiasm. Having Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller Rogen talk about Lauren's family history of caring for family with dementia and their advocacy on the issue added to the nuanced presentation. The number of times I'm hearing the word "joy" connected with this campaign makes me smile and feel more hopeful. Shouldn't that be what a rally is about? I have not felt such hope from a political event since the 2008 Obama campaign! 

Single-Issue Voter?

Image: Elena Hung speaking on #CaregiversForHarris

I want to share a portion of Elena Hung’s remarks because she hit a point that resonated with me as a non-partisan activist. For context, Elena is the co-founder of Little Lobbyists, a family-led group advocating for children with complex medical needs and disabilities. She said,

“For the past decade, I have been a single issue voter. That issue? My daughter. I enthusiastically vote for whoever fights for Xiomara to survive and thrive. And not just Xiomara, but all kids with disabilities like her. They deserve a childhood. They deserve to live at home and grow up in their communities. They deserve fully funded home and community-based services. Kamala Harris has been by our side defending the Affordable Care Act when she was a U.S. senator and leading the Care Agenda in the Biden Administration as our vice president. She listens. She understands, and she has lived our lives. She was a caregiver to her mother when she was diagnosed with cancer. She gets it, she gets it. That’s what we want in our leaders!”

I get that. Before parenthood, I wasn’t an active participant in my government and had little political opinion. Caring for my kids shaped how I feel about all kinds of policies, but those policies always connect to their safety and well-being or the well-being of other children...even when those children live on the other side of the world. And it’s not a far leap for me to empathize with people struggling with policies that make it difficult to care for their elders. So, yes, I’m a non-partisan advocate, but when election season rolls around, I DO choose sides.

I support whoever is fighting to keep kids well-fed, well-cared for, safe from gun violence, breathing clean air, drinking clean water, choosing what’s right for their bodies, and living in the best future we can make for them. This Election Day on November 5th, I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris for President this November and I hope you will, too! If you'd like to see the recording of #CaregiversForHarris virtual rally, you can see it on YouTube here. If you want to support her campaign, donate at this link or scan the QR code below today. 

But most importantly, visit vote.org to check your voter registration and get info on absentee ballots or whatever you need to get ready to vote!

Image: QR code to donate to 
Harris-Walz campaign

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!