Maybe We Aren’t Angry Enough
Dear Community, I am angry. And apparently angry women make people uncomfortable. Especially angry liberal women. We’re dramatic. Emotional. Too much. Fine. Maybe the problem isn’t that I’m too fucking angry. Maybe the rest of you aren’t angry enough. Because stories like what happened at Cornell don’t land on neutral ground. Women are sending the…
33 Days!
by Sarah F. Thirty-Three Days THIRTY-THREE DAYS That’s it. Thirty-three days until November 3. And if I’m being completely honest, I’m asking you to give a damn about these next 33 days. Not because anyone expects you to give every waking hour. Not because you have to become a full-time organizer. And certainly not because…
While We Argue, Our Kids Are Afraid
There are 63 days until the November 3 election. Sixty-three days. And I keep thinking about what we are supposed to be doing with those 63 days. In less than a month of school being in session, students across our region have already had to confront things no child should have to consider when they…
The Ballot’s Most Unwelcome Guest
Dearest Gentle Readers, There is a curious little scandal hiding in North Carolina election law—and this one comes with petitions, percentages and just enough irony to raise an eyebrow. In partisan elections, candidates affiliated with recognized political parties have a fairly straightforward path to the ballot: file, pay the applicable fee and, when necessary, compete…
The Final 94 Days
With just 94 days remaining until the midterm elections, we’ve officially shifted into campaign season. The mission of Indivisible Uwharrie has always been rooted in local activism because we believe lasting change begins in our own communities. While national politics often dominate the headlines, many of the decisions that affect our daily lives are made…
Our Community Deserves Better Than Blind Loyalty
Dear Stanly County, Can I ask you a favor? Not as someone involved in politics. Not as someone who organizes events. Just as your neighbor. When the midterm elections roll around, please don’t walk into the voting booth and simply vote for every name with the same letter beside it. Do your homework. I know—that…
Patriotism is Participation
As America Celebrates 250 Years, the Work of Democracy Continues What does it mean to be patriotic? For many of us, the images come easily: the 68th Annual Oakboro Fourth of July Celebration, cookouts on Badin Lake, fireworks over Lake Tillery, Wampus Cats baseball, and the American flag displays organized by the West Stanly Lions…
Midterm Elections Matter
Dearest Gentle Reader: It has come to this author’s quiet notice that too many good people in Stanly County have started treating some elections like they are optional. Like voting is something we pull out every four years, post about once, and then tuck away until the next presidential race. And I say this with love: that mindset is costing us…
The Handmaid’s Tale
Dearest Woke Citizens, There was once a time when The Handmaid’s Tale felt like nothing more than dramatic entertainment for women sipping wine and whispering, “Surely it could never happen here.” And yet… here we are. One by one, rights women carried for decades as settled and sacred have become subjects of political negotiation. Reproductive…
They Said Roe Was Safe
by Tiffany D. They told us Roe v. Wade was “settled law.” Then they overturned it anyway. And women across America woke up to discover that rights our mothers fought for, rights many of us spent our entire lives believing were protected, were suddenly negotiable again. Not because science changed.Not because women changed.Not because pregnancy…
Finding Our Voice Again
by Sarah F. Winter funk, burnout, overwhelm, pick your poison. For the past few months, I’ve mostly been surviving. Doing the minimum necessary to keep our name out there and remind people we still exist. Not because we stopped caring, but because sometimes life hits all at once and passion alone doesn’t magically create more…
An Open Letter to Our Community: Stay Awake
by Tiffany D. Lately… it’s been a little quiet. Not long ago, there was real energy here. People were showing up, asking questions, and paying attention. There was this shared understanding that what happens locally actually matters—that the decisions made right here in Stanly County shape our daily lives far more than whatever is trending on cable news that…
Learning to Hold What Matters Without Breaking It
by Sarah F. I’ve spent some time thinking about how to put this into words. There are few things in this world that bring heartache like a life-changing connection coming to an end. What makes it sting even more is recognizing that parts of it may have been preventable. We tend to talk about endings…
“I’m Not Political”
Dearest Gentle Readers, It has come to this writer’s attention that one of the most popular phrases in our community—right up there with “bless your heart” and “I’ll pray on it”—is this little gem: “I’m not political.” It is usually said gently, sometimes defensively, often right before launching into a very passionate opinion about schools, gas prices, crime, taxes,…
Forms of Protest
Dearest Gentle Readers, It has come to this author’s attention that lately, some have begun whispering about what “real” protest is supposed to look like. As if democracy came with a dress code and a single approved way to fight for it. How dreadfully dull that would be. Yes, some of you stand in the…
How to Be a Damn Good Community Advocate
(Without Losing Your Mind or Your Manners in Food Lion)by Tiffany D. Let’s just go ahead and say it out loud—advocacy is not just protests, politics, or those perfectly worded Facebook posts that hit your timeline at 11:47 PM after somebody’s had enough. Advocacy is showing up. It’s speaking up. And sometimes, it’s simply refusing…
Free Speech Is A Right – Not An Alibi
There’s a difference between speaking boldly and speaking badly, and in recent years, too many politicians have decided that the latter is more efficient. Vulgarity, insults, and slurs have gone from occasional slip-ups to full-time political branding. Leaders model the behavior, and the public copies it. What used to sound like fringe chatter now echoes…
ICE v. Public School
by Tiffany D Here’s a wild fact: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is barely old enough to buy a beer. It was created in 2003. It is not woven into the founding fabric of this country. It is not constitutional bedrock. It’s not even older than my favorite pair of bootcut jeans. Public education, on…
Intro to Indivisible
Dearest gentle reader, It has come to this author’s attention that society insists on pretending conservatives and liberals are species so foreign they cannot possibly share the same air, much less the same hopes. How dramatic. How exhausting. How… incorrect. Yes, there are extremists on both sides. Those who shout the loudest; clutch pearls the hardest, and mistake outrage for…
The State of Our Country
A country shaken, a conscience stirred, and a question that can’t be ignored: how do we confront rising cruelty without losing ourselves in the process? This piece looks at how we got here, and what we can still do, together, to push back with clarity, courage, and truth.
Happy Anniversary Indivisible Uwharrie!
A Year of Showing What Community Can Do by Sarah F. February 25th marks one full year of Indivisible Uwharrie. A milestone that somehow feels like both yesterday and several lifetimes ago. That’s what happens when a group of determined neighbors decides to stop waiting for change and instead starts making it. Our first major…
Silence Isn’t Neutral — It’s Permission
by Tiffany D. Stanly County has a participation problem, and pretending otherwise is costing us. Too many of our local decisions are made in nearly empty rooms, approved with little debate and then defended with, “Well, no one showed up.” That’s not community leadership. That’s governing by default. When public meetings are sparsely attended and…
The Constitution Isn’t Comfortable
by Tiffany D. The U.S. Constitution is often treated like a trophy; held up when it’s convenient and ignored when it’s not. But it was never meant to make us comfortable. It was meant to hold us accountable. The framers built a system rooted in tension: between power and restraint, majority rule and minority rights,…
When Principles Outweigh Party: Why I Left the GOP
by Peter A. Leaving the Republican Party to Unaffiliated was not a sudden decision. For me, it was the culmination of years of reflection, discomfort, and a growing sense that the values the Republican Party once espoused, disappeared. Once in power, Republican principles like limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and a respectful, solutions‑oriented approach…
Who We Say We Are vs. How We Treat the Stranger
by Sarah F. Last week, scrolling social media, I saw a post from a supporter of this group, stating he was sure that leaving the GOP was the right choice. What helped him arrive at this conclusion was a Department of Homeland Security Facebook image showing Santa beside a military plane with the caption: “Tis…
December Welcome
Every year we seem to say how much we can’t believe it’s December already, and how quickly time passes. Usually, that sentiment comes with a chuckle and a shrug. These days, though, it hits a little differently. Now, it’s paired with the quiet awareness of a clock ticking toward November 2028 with a sharp inhale…
You Are The Perfect Candidate
Let’s be real: the people who know how to actually run things in this country are not the ones in the marble halls of Congress or tucked behind mahogany desks. It’s the moms juggling soccer practice, dinner, and bills in the same two-hour window. It’s the dads figuring out how to stretch a paycheck to…
Different Roads, Same Direction
What We Share Matters More Than What Divides Us I brought along a friend and my mother-in-law to the No King’s 2.0 protest on Saturday, not really knowing what to expect, especially after the rumors that protesters could be labeled enemies of the state. It was meant to scare people into staying home, to make…
The Tightrope of The Liberal Woman
Being a liberal woman in today’s political climate feels like performing a circus act without a net, balancing on a high wire while juggling the weight of the world, knowing one slip means everything crashes down. On one side, we’re fighting for reproductive rights, racial justice, affordable childcare, healthcare, and a planet that isn’t literally…
From Shock to Solidarity
How a Rural Community Found It’s Voice On election night last year, like many of you, I sat in disbelief and shock. I had just begun a new chapter of autonomy and freedom, only to watch, hour by hour, as the future I imagined for myself, and my daughter shifted into something uncertain and frightening.…