Last week, I wrote about how I had spent the week before trying to follow Heather Cox Richardson’s encouragement to do all we can to “Fight Back With Fierce Joy” against the Trump administration’s many illegal, unconstitutional, and authoritarian policies and practices. If you missed it, you can find out more about that at: https://blissfullu.com/2026/01/12/fight-back-with-fierce-joy/.

That post dealt with the things I had done the week of January 4-10, during which Renee Good was killed, sparking some pop-up protests. But today’s post is all that I did to defend Democracy in just ONE DAY!

Of course, it wasn’t just any day. It was January 20, the one year anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration for his second term. So it was a crazy day, just as it’s been a crazy year since then.

It began with a regular group prayer call a minister at my spiritual center leads weekly. Always a good way to start out a day, focused on spiritual principles. Then I wrote a blog post about how my son and I celebrated Martin Luther King’s day itself. We invented a new dish we called the MLK Stir Fry. If you missed that one, you can read it at: https://blissfullu.com/2026/01/20/meatless-monday-mlk-day-edition-mlk-stir-fry/.

Next on the agenda: sending emails to both my US Senators and my US Representative to convey my alarm about President Trump’s continued and aggressive statements (complete with a fake AI image) about the US taking over Greenland. I asked them to do all they could do to prevent an assault on Greenland, which would be an assault on NATO itself.

While I was eating lunch, I watched a video that Heather Cox Richardson had recorded earlier that day. I already knew a lot about current politics, including Greenland, but I never fail to learn from, but also to be uplifted, by HCR.

Then it was time for what I considered to be the main event of the day. I went to my neighboring town of Apex to participate in a Free American Walkout protest. The intent of these nationwide activities was for Americans to “walk out” of their workplaces, schools, homes, and normal activities to protest current federal government policies.

This social action movement was organized by the Women’s March. They were the organization that led The Women’s March on Washington at the beginning of President Trump’s first term. That event drew nearly 4.5 million demonstrators and set a record for the largest-ever women’s rights march.

Here is how the organizers described their intentions for the Walkout:

“One year into Trump’s second regime, we face an escalating fascist threat: ICE raids on our communities, troops occupying our cities, families torn apart, attacks on our trans siblings, mass surveillance, and terror used to keep us silent. It is time for our communities to escalate as well. On January 20 at 2 PM local time, we will walk out of work, school, and commerce. We will withhold our labor, our participation, and our consent. A free America begins the moment we refuse to cooperate. This is not a request. This is a rupture. This is a protest and a promise. In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable.”

The one I attended was at a store in the historic Apex Downtown Commercial center. The owners were actually out of town at the Walkout protest in Washington DC, and left their daughter to run the store and the protest. As shown above, they turned away anyone trying to buy something during that hour, and invited them to protest with us instead.

Inside the store, organizers had created postcards so participants could write about their concerns and their desires to their elected federal and state representatives. They had a list of local officials and their addresses for our convenience, and agree to pay for the postage and to mail them.

So, for the second time that day, I wrote to my US Senators and US Representative, although this time it was a physical postcard. Fortunately, I have opinions on MANY policies, so I was able to address other issues this time around. I also wrote to my NC Senator and NC Representatives, who I don’t contact very often. All together, I wrote 8 postcards to elected officials in North Carolina.

While I was writing postcards, other participants were standing on the sidewalk with signs and cowbells, waving to cars driving by and talking with people walking by on the sidewalk.

That’s how we spent the first hour. I never really got outside because I spent all my time writing. But the sign holders seemed to have a good time. I counted up the postcards and we had written a total of 114 cards for numerous different elected officials.

The second hour was special as well. Three of the five elected Town Council members for the town of Apex were there to meet with about 50 of us participants. The major topic of discussion was the rumors that ICE was returning to the Triangle NC area in February. The Council admitted there wasn’t much they could do to oppose ICE directly. However, they have directed the Apex Policy Department not to assist with any ICE operations. They also intend to show up on the front lines in support of endangered Apex residents and to oppose any illegal operations. Both the Council and the participants had a lot of positive back and forth about sharing resources, how to coordinate communications and operations, and various ways we can support our targeted neighbors if ICE does show up again.

All in all, it was kind of the epitome of Fighting Back With Fierce Joy. No one in the room likes the fact we have to face these kinds of circumstances. But I think we all left buoyed up by the fact that we are operating as the face of true democracy–and we are not alone in doing so. I know I certainly was! The only disappointment for me was that this was happening in Apex and not in my home community of Cary. But believe me, I will contact my own mayor and Town Council and urge them to do something similar in our area.

And yet, can you believe it? I wasn’t done yet! For that night I tuned into the First Anniversay webinar by Red Wine and Blue (RWB). If you aren’t familiar with us, you must follow Fox News, which calls us “organized gangs of wine moms.” But as the saying goes, don’t get mad, get even. RWB immediately produced a fundraising T-shirt with that phrase, and I love it so much I think I’ll buy one.

Anyway, RWB invited back the speaker they had for their webinar on Inauguration Eve last year, who was…any guesses? That’s right, it was Heather Cox Richardson! But this time she was speaking live, recapping the past year to some extent, but also talking more about RWB and other groups and the difference they are making. There was also a taking action component of the evening, which included doing a group email blast to the US Senators and Representatives of the attendees who agreed to do so–which I did. They talked about other plans they have for the future and the many electronic tools RWB has created to making working together easier. It was another great and inspiring event.

So that was my January 20, 2026. One mass protest, two doses of HCR, and THREE contacts to my Senators and Representative! All done with Fierce Joy.

I had one final treat for the day. I had been searching for some information about another project I was working on, but had been unable to find it online. After the webinar, I tried one last time and…EUREKA! I found what I needed to do something else really cool.

But I think I’ll keep that as a surprise for tomorrow…