Lighting What Up?
We are in a crazy new era up in these United States and really on the whole planet. There’s a bunch of chaos where there wasn’t quite as much before, and it’s fast on the rise.
It isn’t just the new US government and the spectacular changes that’s bringing. It’s climate change. It’s increasingly intense and frequent disasters. It’s shifts in the economy, in supply chains, and in the world order. It’s widespread firearms availability. It’s threats of disease in an era when public health has been eroded. And so on.
We need to light it up. We need to see all the things that are happening.
THE WRITING HERE
I’m going to talk about that stuff — the chaos — in ways other people may not be. This is not a news organization, nor is this analysis-focused.
It’s going to be focused on my work to help grow the nonprofit Fierce Community, challenges with that, my personal takes on rising instability in the US, and some spiritual stuff for those who are interested.
I’m big on metaphor. Thus “Lighting Up The Chaos” — it can be about many things.
DECISION SUPPORT + EMPOWERMENT
We make better decisions when we know what’s up. We work better together when we share all the things, the concerns, the courage, the fears, the risks, the news, the needs, the love, and the humanity.
I started my professional career as a wildland fire intelligence coordinator in the busiest interagency response coordination center in the world — in southern California where big fire in super complicated places is a way of life.
I learned something important: good information helps us make good decisions.
Some of what I write and talk about here will be designed to help people make decisions in the midst of what’s unfolding before us. It’s not going to be the detailed stuff, like what water filter to buy if you’re worried about infrastructure going out. It will be critical thinking stuff, systems stuff, community stuff, and analysis about how society works or might work in the midst of disruption from a person who spent years thinking about big chaos and catastrophes and what they could mean up in this country. That experience combines with time spent over the last decade analyzing the rise of authoritarianism in the US and what we can do as a society to navigate this recent development. Increased civic engagement is the short answer, but how we go about that is the stuff I’ll be talking about both here and at Fierce Community. It’s just going to be more personal perspective here.
Holler if you have specific questions. Fierce Community will be doing coaching and empowerment, too.
SEEING THINGS REALISTICALLY
Along with all that — decisions and actions — we have to be able to prioritize; to discern what’s actually important and critical.
We have to be able to step back and see the big picture. We have to call out urgent things that people might not be thinking about. We have to talk about cascading effects from things that are happening or that could happen. We have to update and iterate based on how things are changing. It all goes together.
Today in the chaos that’s fast rising in the US — we also have to see, recognize, and call out a thousand other things. Injustice. Waste. Meanness. Cruelty. The wanton destruction of institutions and information. Loss of knowledge. Injury. Death. Illegal government actions. Ignored court orders. Willfully compliant politicians. And also the champions. People holding the line. Persistent public servants. Intrepid investigators. Everyone who’s showing bravery. Successes. Coalitions. Pushback. Lawsuits. Rulings. People saving data. The lists go on, with much more to come.
The writing here will include my personal takes on some of this — and recommendations where relevant.
Okay if I’m honest I do a heck of a lot of recommending. I came up in government service. It’s my inclination to offer help, and to serve.
If I can help, I’d like to be able to. I can’t help with all the things, obviously, but where it works I will. Give me a holler.
FINDING LIGHT, & USING IT
All of us have a role to play. We can do so much.
Lighting up the chaos is something any one of us can be doing. This site is one of my attempts.
May we all bring the tiny sparks, the big bangs, the flashlights, the floodlights, the starlight, the spotlights, the rays of sunshine, the candlelight, the bright sparks, and the disco ball sparkles we all need to get all of this to go forward.
“Democracy dies in darkness,” we hear. But…
“What do stars do? They SHINE?” — Yvaine, in the movie Stardust
We have millions of humans up in this country full of light and ideas and skills and capabilities. Millions of humans who are able to shine; to bring light; to bring very large brains; to bring love; to bring so many things.
We find our fierce humanity in the light we bring to this moment. We can build and grow fierce community from here, and that’s what we’ll need to get through the rising instability and disruption coming to the US. We can get through it.
Humans will survive and this country can too. We can evolve it as we go.
We start by bringing the light. We go forward from there.
Vanessa Burnett is the director at Fierce Community. This nonprofit work promotes increased connection, community, resilience, cooperation, creativity, engagement, leadership, and empowerment in an era of rising instability, societal disruption, and fast change. Email: fiercecommunityteam@gmail.com.
Vanessa is a disaster management professional with over 25 years experience in resilience, critical infrastructure, emergency/incident management, big disasters, wildland fire, land management, park rangering, continuity of operations/government, homeland security, coalition-building, public communication, and disaster information sharing.