Lemons and Porcupine Mayors

Hello,

Earlier this week, while I was raking leaves, a canvasser walked up to me wearing his Jon Tester hat and holding his clipboard. He knew that everyone in my house had already voted (once your ballot is in, you get crossed off their list) but we chatted a bit anyway, which was nice because the leaves were wet and I was freaking tired. But we have a leaf pickup day here and, if you don't get most of them off the yard, they get snowed on and, by the time the snow melts, you've just got a solid mat of gross.

Here's something weird...I just started to pre-emptively tell you why I rake my leaves because I know the internet has told some people that it's better to leave the leaves! There's even a slogan: Leave the Leaves! The leaves are good for little bugs and pollinators and that keeps the food webs of our urban forests healthier. But I don't want to leave the leaves because if you do, the thick mat of maple leaves will absolutely kill your grass, and we have some grass, which I know some people also think people shouldn't have anymore, but it is nice when you like to have kids over to play with your son outside...

I'M DOING IT AGAIN!! 

I have been trained by making stuff on the internet to be constantly aware of all issues that currently exist because I want to avoid (and I can't stress this enough) the 0.01% of people who are going to reply to my tweet or leave a comment on my video giving me a hard time for doing something that is totally normal. I need to get my head wrapped around the extent to which I tiptoe around attempting to decrease the odds that someone will yell at me on the internet. 

But when I was talking with the canvasser, I did not for one moment think "I wonder if he thinks it’s weird that I'm raking," both because he's from Missoula so he knows the situation, and because THAT WOULD BE A BIZARRE THING TO THINK!! Instead what he thought was "It's nice that this guy is taking care of his yard," and what I thought was, "It is nice that this guy is taking care of his country." 

I am pretty demoralized, but I've been thinking about that canvasser this week, because of course the candidates he was hoping to get out the vote for (some of whom are friends of mine) did not get close to getting elected. It feels like a lot of work was done just to fail. But the work that he did, talking with neighbors and deepening the web of our community was in no way wasted time. If you did any canvassing or phone banking or volunteering for causes you believe in this election, please send along a note that you did (if you want to send some proof we can feature, that would be awesome), and I'll send you a good.store gift card. 

Thanks, y'all.

Still processing over here,

Hank

You can always email us at [email protected]

This Week in Stuff

The first nine December origami tessellations

Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]

Most immigrants in high-income countries have legal status

Simon van Teutem

Immigrants without legal status are only a small fraction of the total immigrant population in most rich countries.

For example, just 7% of immigrants in the United Kingdom lack legal status. It’s 4% in Germany and less than 2% in the Netherlands. The United States stands out, with 22% of its immigrant population lacking legal status — that’s about one in five.

The estimates of immigrants without legal status come from the Measuring Irregular Migration (MIrreM) project and are for one specific year between 2017 and 2023. The total immigrant numbers are from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2020).

Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.

This Week at Complexly

The first episode of Crash Course Political Theory is out now, and we're jumping right into the deep end with a look at the theory of democracy.

Over 13 episodes, this series will offer an overview of some of the major questions that western political thought tries to address. What is justice? What is liberty, and what are its limits? What is the justification for government, or should there be government at all? What role, if any, should morality play in politics? What role, if any, should our private lives play in public politics?

From ancient Greece to the present, we’ll examine the origins and evolution of ideas that have shaped political life for at least two and a half millennia. Surveying a variety of perspectives, past and present, we’ll develop both a rich understanding and critical analysis of the key concepts and arguments of political theory in a way that will help inform and facilitate public discourse around contemporary politics.

Some Games to Play!

SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)

Download Gubbins on iOS or Android!

This Gubbins postcard was made by Suria. Send yours to [email protected]

If you post your results on social media, we’d love it if you post a link for folks to subscribe to “We’re Here” (https://werehere.beehiiv.com/subscribe)

Spread the GOOD

It is time to deploy the power of nerdfighteria and #spreadtheGOOD. Our friends at Good Store designed a printable flyer you can post in your local cafe, message board, or telephone pole to introduce your community to the wonders of charity-based e-commerce. It's simple: print the flyer, post it, and then take a picture and tag it with the hashtag #spreadtheGOOD.

We’re Here

Last week, we asked folks to create a “we’re here” in a medium of their choice. We’re so happy to be here with you all!

Created by Ashley

Created by Stacey

Created by Sophia

Created by Leonie

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Created by Brianne

You made it to the end!

In addition to using #spreadtheGOOD, we’d love to see your flyers and hear the story behind their locations.

Send your flyers to [email protected]

We're Here is the newsletter of Nerdfighteria; the community of people that sprung up around Hank and John Green's YouTube videos. That community has many focuses and has spawned many projects but the overarching theme is that hopelessness is the wrong response to imperfection. What makes the world better is groups of people trying to understand and solve problems, and people can only do that for an extended period if they're having at least a little bit of fun.

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