Heavy Victorian doors belie the modern interior of the house, a creative renovation that infused a sixties design with traditional elegance. Terraces only a brief walk from the front door are planted with lush tropical plants and flowers.
Formal Country Entertaining: At Home with Family & Friends, 1992
I mostly like looking at insects but also have to live in the world.
If, like me, you are horrified and looking for ways to help, this recent article may be of interest:
ICE can’t function without help from the private sector. So we should force the private sector to stop helping.
If you are in the US and have any Democratic senators or representatives, it is critical to call them and demand that no spending bill be passed without reining in ICE abuses. Here are Robert Reich's key points on that:
Please call your representative and senators today and tell them not to vote for the DHS spending bill unless it (1) disarms ICE agents, (2) prevents them from targeting people based on their race, language, or accent, and (3) stipulates that agents who harm civilians are liable under criminal and civil laws.
To reach your representative or senator, call the U.S. Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Tell them the state and city where you live. They will connect you to any member’s office.
You can read the full article here:
What you can do to stop ICE’s mayhem
None of this feels like enough, but it is better than doing nothing. Being silent means consenting to what is happening now, and the even worse things that seem to be coming next.
Let this - January 2026 - be a turning point and not just another step down this hateful and immoral path.
Here's an additional link, relevant in light of the ways things have gotten worse in the week (only a week!) since I posted this:
Last edited January 22, 2026 I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this, you more or less understand the situation in Minnesota and I d
The guide is specific to Minnesota, which has been ground zero, but much of it is applicable all over the US.
If you are an American and haven't been actively involved in opposing this federal lawlessness yet, please find ways to speak up right now. It is critically important and every voice helps.
(this list is mainly ways non-locals can donate but by extension offers a lot of resources and places to volunteer in the Twin Cities + there are specific ways to donate time under the cut which can be adjusted to your local neighborhood)
full credit to cataloo from r/minnesota [x]
🩵Immigrant support
Immigrant Defense Network – coalition of 90+ groups organizing rapid response and collecting evidence.
Immigrant Law Center of MN – free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees.
COPAL – advocacy, organizing, phone hotline. Focus on Latine community.
Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) – education and protest organizing.
Interfaith Coalition on Immigration – advocacy, aid, events.
Monarca MN – training and phone hotline.
Unidos MN – education, protests, advocacy.
Center for Victims of Torture – advocacy and mental health services for immigrants and refugees.
International Institute of Minnesota – refugee resettlement group that provides support and legal help to vulnerable new-to-country families.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota – offers services to refugees, including legal aid to non-citizens.
🩵Food support
If local, food donations are welcome, otherwise monetary donations help these types of orgs source what is most needed
VEAP
Second Harvest Heartland
Every Meal
The Food Group
Meals on Wheels MN
Find a local food shelf
🩵Mutual aid funds & community support
Community Aid Network
Twin Cities Trans Mutual Aid
Leo's Tow (Venmo @leostowingmn) is towing cars back to families if a car is stranded when someone is detained.
🩵More links
MN50501 Mutual Aid Linktree – well-organized list of various Twin Cities groups.
Mplsmutualaid Linktree – many neighborhood and individual GoFundMes listed here.
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine – see Food Drives and Fundraisers.
Stand with Minnesota – extensive list of organizations, mutual aid, and crowdfunding campaigns.
🩵Donate blood
Memorial Blood Center declared a blood emergency on Tuesday, Jan 13. MBC is the blood supplier for both tier 1 trauma hospitals in the metro area (Hennepin County Medical Center and North Memorial Health).
American Red Cross
🩵Donate food or other goods
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine – see Food Drives and Fundraisers.
Volunteer your time (under the cut)
🩵Mutual aid
Reach out to your neighbors – especially if you know they are staying home right now – and ask if they need groceries or toiletry items. Offer to pick up prescriptions, give rides, or shovel their driveway. If you know them well, bring them a treat that you know they'll enjoy. Or just ask them how they're doing and let them know you are there to support.
Connect with any of the orgs above and see if they are looking for volunteers.
Connect with a church or mosque in your area. From u/MuddieMaeSuggins: "I know a lot of regular Redditors are not religious (myself included) but like it or not this is a where a lot of community organizing happens, especially in immigrant communities."
Connect with your local school's admin office and/or their PTA. It's ok to reach out even if you don't have kids at the school. PTAs are organizing mutual aid for school families, safe rides, school observers.
🩵Activism
Find an official protest or other event via Indivisible, 50501, FREE AMERICA, or MIRAC. Students at many high schools are staging walk-outs; if your local school is doing this, reach out to school leadership or the PTA and ask how you can support as a community member.
Join the effort to stop Hilton from housing ICE by booking hotel rooms and then cancelling at the last minute. This action can be done from home! The effort is being organized by Sunrise Movement, who are telling activists to target specific hotels one-by-one. More info: SHUT DOWN HILTON
Find people in your area who are actively monitoring ICE and/or stationing themselves in high-traffic areas and ask how you can help. Check for local FB events where people are organizing and just show up.
At minimum, read the COPAL Handbook before you go out to observe. The DFL, Monarca, and other orgs have been hosting online trainings for constitutional observers (though these fill up quickly).
When you see ICE in action, start recording. Be as loud and as disruptive as possible: honk your horn, set off your car alarm, blow your whistle. Let people know that ICE is in the area. If you see someone being detained, try to get their name and a phone number to call their emergency contact.
If you do not feel comfortable observing ICE in person, there are ways you can support from home. Just ask the people who are organizing in your area. I have social anxiety, and I had never participated in any kind of political action before this past Saturday. If I can do it, you can!
Local organizers are requesting that people who help monitor ICE DO NOT participate in 1-to-1 mutual aid efforts, as these can put the families you are helping at risk.
If you have friends/acquaintances who are sympathetic but not politically active, reach out to them. Show them that they're not alone in feeling helpless. Pick a few low-commitment actions from this list and do them together.
For anyone who wants to learn mandarin chinese as well, I've combined a few apps that have helped me start learning and make sense of everything in the very beginning.
Most of these are (as is usually the case with language apps) only fully available with premium, but if you just want to make sense of how the language works, how to read pinyin, write a few characters and work on your listening skills, they're quite enough to get started.
No app has been perfect, so I mixed and matched until I found a few good ones that work for me. They're each good for something else, so I use all of these at once!
1. HelloChinese.
It's good for getting started without getting too overwhelmed. The most friendly, duolingo-like app. It even looks similar! But it feels a bit different. For one, there are actually many videos of native speakers incorporated into the exercises to help you with natural listening! They teach you how to write the occasional hanzi character, but it's mostly focused on listening, speaking and reading pinyin. You can even toggle pinyin off if you want, but I've found it helps me a lot.
2. Chinese Writer
Simple and to the point. Lots of characters are behind premium, but most of the ones you'll need at the start are not. It can be very overwhelming if you're just getting started, so I suggest making your own character folder and slowly adding more instead of straight up going in and playing the pre-made HSK1 A folder.
3. Pleco
It's pretty much just a dictionary but you wouldn't believe how often I use it. I'd say every day. You can either write a character in by hand or type it in english or pinyin. It will not only spit out the main character meaning, but also any other meanings and example sentences, which is awesome.
4. Immersive Chinese
Very listening based. What I like about it is that it starts out very slow, walking you through words one by one, using them as bricks to create sentences. It won't just tell you that méiyǒu means "to not have" but it will show you 5 examples using that word, spacing them out between other sentences to make you recall it. Works best if you try to translate the sentence without looking at the translation first. Explains things that usual apps skip.
5. Memrise
The big classic for learning languages. The chinese course is very good! Many of the sentences are recorded by multiple native speakers which it's very good for practicing listening. They teach you a lot of phrases that you'd use in everyday life or that you need most, which other apps often omit. Like "Excuse me" and "call the police" are among the first things you learn. Out of all the apps, I think this one is the most worth paying premium for.
5. Anki
I use it only occasionally because I don't really enjoy the pure flashcard format, but there are some great decks out there! I currectly use this one and so far, I'm really happy with it. Great for learning to read hanzi. The audio quality is sometimes worse, but you can still tell what they're saying, so it's fine. I really like it, but you can choose whatever deck you want :D That's the wonder (and sometimes curse) of Anki.
That's all from me I think (^_^') Where are the days of having one workbook per language, huh? But at least I feel more secure using multiple sources... If you try any of these, lmk! Or if you have apps you think are better, also lmk, I'd love to add or switch up some of mine or at least try them out.
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