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With Christmas in the rear-view mirror, 2025 is around the corner. This week, we’re going to talk about why you should resolve to build community.

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Resolve to get organized in 2025

by Liam Nolan

2024 was, uh, certainly a year.

People talked about “holding space” for Wicked songs, Joker: Folie a Deux bombed, whatever is going on with P. Diddy, Blake Lively was reportedly the victim of a PR operation, and Donald Trump got elected again to serve as President of the United States.

There’s a fair chance that the next few years are going to be difficult for a lot of people, and while it’s likely we’ll hear a lot of “we survived the last time, we’ll survive this,” a lot of folks have not thrived or even actually survived the last decade. That’s where building community comes into play.

Individually, there’s not a whole lot you can do when the people in power want to do something bad to you or the people you care about. Outside of just legal means, they control things like the police force and army.

You’re at your most powerful when you work with other people. And what working with other people means depends a lot on your individual situation. When it comes to building community, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution or group that you can work with. At the same time, pretty much anything helps, though building community by joining existing organizations can be a really effective way both to meet people and help others.

It can be really daunting to figure out how to get involved with groups. The best solutions I’ve found are using search engines to find opportunities, or even just checking in through social media. If you’re more on the left, joining an organization like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) can be a great way to both learn about current social issues and find opportunities to do something.

If that’s not your cup of tea, consider volunteering for local organizations like food banks, homeless shelters, or other places that the most vulnerable rely on. One of the big truths about figuring out how you can do more and help others is to that, once you start, it’s easier to find other opportunities, because you’ll be more connected socially. Opportunities lead to opportunities.

None of us know what’s going to happen in 2025, and it’s entirely possible things won’t be nearly as bad as a lot of us have feared. However, it’s also possible they’ll be much worse. As far as I’m concerned, it’s better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all (and still ended up absolutely ****ed.)

Here are some recent posts over at TMS that you shouldn’t miss:

INTERVIEW SPOTLIGHT

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Ruby Rose talked action and perception in Dirty Angels.

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