Dear Slient Spring, please read this now.

Friends,

Please listen to me. I have been following Professor Snyder's advice to talk to as many strangers as possible for years now. I’m telling you, way too many people don't know what's happening. They are not taking this seriously. I’m in the Atlanta area, and I try to tell everyone I meet to read Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny or watch the YouTube reading of it. I doubt anyone will. They probably just think I’m being overly dramatic about our current situation.

I’m talking to a blend of people of all backgrounds.

As I write this and discuss with my husband everything that many of you are posting. He just said to me, “Lidia, nobody has the time you have to read all of this shit.”

He is right. Most people do not want to invest the time I am investing in keeping informed.

Most of the people I am speaking with are not familiar with Bluesky, and many are not aware of Substack. Not many have read the books I have read.

Image: A sample of Lidia Page’s books, picture date 7.5.25

I ask people.

Do you know who Tymothy Snyder is? 100% Say No.

Do you know who Ruth Ben-Ghiat is? Most, if not all, say no.

Have you read Strongmen? Not one yes.

Do you know who Robert Reich is? Most, if not all, say no.

Have you watched the Movie Origin by Ava DuVernay? Most, if not all, say no.

What about the movie Green Book? Most, if not all, say no.

Yesterday, I was speaking with a teacher. I asked if he knew who Rodrigo Duterte was. He said no. I showed him the picture of Patricia Evangelista’s 2023 memoir. He has never heard of it or read it.

I’m exhausted. I am tired of debating my safety if I leave the house, despite being born here and holding numerous securities licenses, a real estate license, and having worked for an Apprentice Show contestant (T.T. Season 5).

I’m tired of putting myself out there, being social, and casually bringing up everything I know that everyone else should know. I want to focus on myself again.

I think that until the people in Mexico fight back through peaceful protest, nothing will change. I know hotel and resort workers don’t want to risk their jobs, paychecks, and tips. However, if peaceful protesters, town restaurants, and shops collaborate on impactful messaging for tourists, perhaps they can attempt to change hearts and minds this summer.

I hope people smarter than me figure something out soon.

Sometimes, I am feeling slightly brainwashed with hysteria about the obliteration of our democracy. Thank you to those who mention that in your posts.

I don’t know what I am going to do. I do feel (in more ways than I can share right now) more like a Ukrainian on the front lines than ever before.

I can’t unsee the videos and pictures of war and suffering all over the world. I can’t just go about my life as if everything is normal and okay when it is not. I don’t think I’m built that way.

I am not a writer. I didn’t want to live in a Star Wars movie and play the starring role of the Silent Spring resistance leader. I am just an American living with Rheumatoid Disease (aka Arthritis). I am just a Gen Xer who has put her college degree on the back burner once again.

I’m terrified to publish this.

I’m feeling like I just put a target on my back and am signing my death warrant. My sisters will reiterate, “Then why did you do that? You do this, you're just working yourself up when nothing has happened to you. You are spinning.” But I have fewer rights today than they did when they were my age. I don’t have the right to my body. I’m being targeted for having brown skin and being able to speak Spanish. I’m being hunted by masked armed fools who, in my opinion, don’t know what they are doing.

So my answer is, if not me, then who? I don’t have kids. I once asked America on my Blog (now pin-protected) if I was suffering enough for her, and she answered me loud and clearly: No!

I didn’t know that when I packed up my U-Haul to come to the Deep South to travel the world and fight for democracy (because we saw black women being arrested in the Georgia state capital just for asking questions to protect voting rights), that my entire life would be consumed by the idea of democracy. Why do I care so much? Why can’t I turn it off? Why can’t I be like those around me and pretend all is well on the home front? Why me?

I don’t know if I want to wait for people to start texting and knocking on my door asking me for the plan. I dream of a movie ending where Team MacKenzie Scott & Melinda Gates, or someone, saves us from insanity. I suppose I should just publish my college papers now, with their errors and all, and hope that someday someone will care enough to notice how long I have actually been in this fight. I feel selfish writing that because I know I am a speck of insignificant sand in this complex world.

I had hoped that free speech would forever be protected, but I suppose we will find out. I’m feeling Patricia Evangelista’s words on page xiv in her memoir prologue shouting at me as I hit publish.

Viva Ukraine! Viva Democracy! Viva Democracia! Viva the USA!

Lidia Page (Team Silent Spring)