What to do with all this rage?
A friend and I were talking on the weekend, and she said to me: "I don't know what's going on, but I feel so much rage right now, and I don't know what to do with it".
I think the rage we are feeling is actually understandable. It's the Epstein files, it's the enshittification of our country, it's the genocide and our government's lack of action, it's the highest unemployment rate in a decade, and AI taking our jobs, it's whatever Trump is doing, it's deep fake porn, and hungry kids.
Of course, we're angry. How are people not angry?
Feel free to skip to the comments if you read this already in your email!
There's a subtle marketing campaign against rage that's been going on for as long as we've had rage. This is particularly true of women's rage, which is deemed un-ladylike and ugly.
In Soraya Chemaly's excellent book, Rage Becomes Her she says:
“Anger is an assertion of rights and worth. It is communication, equality, and knowledge. It is intimacy, acceptance, fearlessness, embodiment, revolt, and reconciliation. Anger is memory and rage. It is rational thought and irrational pain. Anger is freedom, independence, expansiveness, and entitlement. It is justice, passion, clarity, and motivation. Anger is instrumental, thoughtful, complicated, and resolved. In anger, whether you like it or not, there is truth.
Anger is the demand of accountability, It is evaluation, judgment, and refutation. It is reflective, visionary, and participatory. It's a speech act, a social statement, an intention, and a purpose. It's a risk and a threat. A confirmation and a wish. It is both powerlessness and power, palliative and a provocation. In anger, you will find both ferocity and comfort, vulnerability and hurt. Anger is the expression of hope."
I think it's for that very reason that so many people with a lot of privilege want us to swallow our rage and stay quiet and compliant.
Hope is a dangerous thing. It makes us try. It makes us fight. So no wonder it terrifies those who benefit from the status quo.
So, use the rage, embrace it. Don't be afraid of it. Don't feel shame for feeling it. Turn it into fuel for the fight for a better world.
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Ways to help your community this month
Strong gun laws are needed to make New Zealanders safer. Any person owning a gun imposes risks and costs on all of us. Gun Control NZ is here to make sure our politicians listen to the majority who want greater control over guns.
The Associate Minister of Justice wants to rewrite The Arms Act. Sgn Gun Control NZ's submission to tell arliament that you support strong gun laws.
Join the call to end bottom trawling with Live Ocean. They're calling on the New Zealand Government to end bottom trawling on all seamounts – at home and in the high seas by the end of 2027 – and to activate a quick transition away from bottom trawling entirely. Sign here.
Sign this petition to show your support for Whaea Deb's bill: ‘The Seabed Mining Prohibition Act 2026’ to ban seabed mining permanently.
Sign the petition to call on the government to fund a teacher aide in every classroom in Budget 2026, value educators fairly and ensure their work is secure, attract – and retain – the best people to educate our tamariki, restore pay equity and uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi in education.
The petition also calls on the government to make early childhood education accessible, affordable, culturally appropriate, and high-quality for all tamariki by retaining 100% qualified teachers, ensuring pay parity, and improving teacher-child ratios.
Check out the fantastic Make it Stop campaign here.
If you're a renter, fill out the Aotearoa Renters' Survey. It should take about 10 minutes to complete.
Events to go to!
I'm hosting a fundraiser, and I'd absolutely love it if you could come or give a koha!
Feeling bleak about the state of the world? Come together to listen to some good music and help us raise funds for a great cause. There’s a school in your community in need, so we are doing what we can to awhi them!
This school works so hard to welcome all children and as we know - there’s very little support from this government for education.
This is where we can help! Join us at Meow for gorgeous local musicians, great people, great vibes and the warm feeling in your chest that you did good while drinking a beer! What more could you ask for?
Pay what you can and bring your mates. Shit is rough, but we’ve got each other!
Ramadan Kareem and Free Palestine
Aotearoa Irish for Justice & Peace Events are putting on a fundraiser for the Aotearoa 2 Gaza Mutual Aid Fund. It's going to be an amazing night of Irish music - Featuring Em Griffiths, Paddy McCann, Parcel of Rogues, Pat Higgins and Sláinte, along with special guest Adham and bean an tí Aedeen Boadita-Cormican, there will be some of your favourite Irish songs, along with songs of justice & peace, original music and a poem or two. S aoirse don Phalaistín! More details here. Tickets here.
On Saturday, 21 February, there will be a Courtenay Place rally for Palestine in Te Whanganui-a-Tara from 1pm to 2pm. Details here.
There's a Pedal for Palestine on the same day at 12pm at Pukeahu War Memorial. Details here.
Mutual aid and charities to support
My dear friend, and regular Emily Writes Weekly columnist, Helen Gilby, has been diagnosed with cancer.
Helen's most recent column On living longer after loss than before it outlined how she suddenly lost the love of her life Simon, when her children were just 22 months-old and four-years-old.
Helen Gilby
As you know, Helen is a solo mum. She gives so much to her community and she shows up for people she doesn't even know. Just the other week, she was making meals for a mama whose child is in hospital. That's our Helen.
So, I've organised a way for us to help Helen and her children. This will allow Helen to get some help caring for her little ones while she gets surgery and chemotherapy. And hopefully will allow her the chance to focus on fighting cancer instead of trying to find money to live.
Dyl is fundraising for surgery. Access to the surgery he needs is expensive and often not publicly funded in Aotearoa, and the waitlist can take years.
So Dyl needs to go private and that's going to cost $30,000. Any help will make a difference.
Support Summer Shakespeare in Palmerston North! This great community group is fundraising to be able to keep their shows available for koha instead of fixed ticket pricing, which may prevent people from being able to come and enjoy it.
I'm a big fan of the lovely people at Pōneke Ngeru Rescue is a foster-based cat rescue. I wrote about them this week, and you can read our little experience having a kitten cuddle here.
You can donate via their Givealittle below or directly at PONEKE NGERU RESCUE TRUST 06-0606-0940291-00. Donations $5+ are tax-deductible. For $50 you can sponsor a kitten. My son called his sponsored kitten Bacon Elordi for some reason.
Thank you for showing up for your community! You likely won't be able to do everything on this list (awesome if you can but money is tight!) Even doing just one or two things is pretty awesome.
So thank you.
If you're feeling as exhausted and as overwhelmed as I am - make sure you meditate with these bonkers meditations.
Emily Writes
Please feel free to share this post by forwarding the email or heading over to my website. The best way to support me is to subscribe, but I know subscriptions are challenging during a cost-of-living crisis. If you'd like to give a one-off koha, you can!
Emily Writes
Koha goes toward feeding my family and keeping a roof over our head - but also to paying for guest writers, paying for admin support, and it allows me to do things like run the Mutual Aid account for Palestine which I've been doing for a year and a half now. Arohanui, Emily x
Donations have been a game-changer since I switched to Ghost. If you can give a koha to the kaupapa, every little bit helps so much.
Thank you!
Please feel free to email me if you have a community cause or event you want the Emily Writes Weekly community to get behind! I'm Emily(at)emilywrites.co.nz.