Hi,  I first read Dune on the Chicago Red Line commuting between my organizing job and a side gig,   It was the middle of the 2019 aldermanic elections.   The first thing I noticed was, you know, all the notoriously not great parts. The misogyny, racism, homophobia.   It’s mostly it was hilarious to me that someone who most famous for the phrase ‘fear is the mindkiller” could be so obviously consumed by fear in the same book.   I still ended up hooked. The main character is a reluctant hero + colonizer of the sand planet Arrakiss. The "fear is the mindkiller" part comes from the litany of a band of witches determined for the main character to save that planet (and the universe. It's a whole thing).   --  During the aldermanic elections, I I had been thinking about an organizing project idea for a long time, something that could make the details of Chicago politics easier to organize around, more fun, create characters out of the many bureaucrats in different city departments that made critical decisions. I told a ton of people about this idea, with intense enthusiasm. People were supportive, cautiously enthusiastic about this idea. I launched the project haphazardly and got… zero response.   I continued to tell a ton of people about this idea, with intense enthusiasm, but the second iteration of the project? Never moved forward. That happened for about six months until I met up with someone who had a lot of experience working on this type of project. I was determined to pitch them on working on it with me. They were polite but also kind of incredulous.   “Okay. So…. why are you telling me? Why haven’t you done it?”  I was horrified by this question, but I knew the answer.   Because I felt afraid.   Fear is the Mindkiller.  --  It sucks to ask someone right now, especially during the pandemic, still figuring out what works, the 2 questions Studs Terkel asked workers in the 1970s. And, as you probably know, I have been kind of obsessed with those questions over the last year or so.   The reason it sucks is because... people's answers can be kind of a bummer.   What do people do all day? They don’t know.  How do they feel about it? Afraid.   When that is how you spend your days, all day, every day? Yikes.    So, how do you grapple with fear in the everyday? How do you deal with the uncertainty?    Stay strong, h